Amazon leaks full Adobe InDesign CS4 feature list, screenshots
Online retailer Amazon.com has leaked details of Adobe InDesign CS4 on its website, revealing a slew of screenshots and features such as Live Preflight, conditional text, SWF file export, interface enhancements, and an availability date of November 1st, 2008.
An capture of the Amazon page, which was visible in the public domain until recently, is being republished below for reader appreciation. The software is due for a public unveiling, alongside the remainder of Adobe's Creative Suite 4.0, next Tuesday.
"New Adobe InDesign CS4 software breaks down the barriers between online and offline publishing. Now you can create compelling print materials, immersive content for playback in the Adobe Flash Player runtime, and interactive PDF documents all with beautiful typography and stunning design. InDesign CS4 professional page layout software is the ideal tool to deliver sophisticated layouts for traditional and online media."
An capture of the Amazon page, which was visible in the public domain until recently, is being republished below for reader appreciation. The software is due for a public unveiling, alongside the remainder of Adobe's Creative Suite 4.0, next Tuesday.
"New Adobe InDesign CS4 software breaks down the barriers between online and offline publishing. Now you can create compelling print materials, immersive content for playback in the Adobe Flash Player runtime, and interactive PDF documents all with beautiful typography and stunning design. InDesign CS4 professional page layout software is the ideal tool to deliver sophisticated layouts for traditional and online media."
Comments
So, is it Intel only??? Would be surprised if they ditched PPC for this release. (Dreamweaver CS4 Beta is universal)
For me the release of CS4 is total non runner, i'll wait for CS5!!!
Wow, proportional frame scaling when placing a photo. Just like Pagemaker has done since the 1990s. What will they think of next? Seriously, it's about time, but it's laughable it's touted as a new feature. What's next, you won't have to switch to the rotate tool to rotate an item? Say it ain't so!
I don't understand. inDesign has had this feature forever. Press + shift and drag the corner to scale.
Adobe is undoubted becoming more like Microsoft each and every day - a glorified complicated mess! This would be about time for Apple to one-up them. They already have a superior video-editing suite. Why not take on the entire Adobe product line? I already emailed Steve about this, and I hope Apple can work its magic because - quoting Will Smith in Men In Black - "DAMN!"
Dear Mr. Jobs,
I am a college student who currently uses an iMac to create digital art. You might know already that Adobe is ready to come out with Adobe Creative Suite 4. Many people also know that you really hate Flash. I personally agree that we need not have these proprietary programs to view content on the web. After all, the World Wide Web should be "Wide" open, shouldn't it? Anyhow, I think Adobe is really losing its creative edge. Your company, on the other hand, has not lost its creative edge and continues to astound me with each new product release, whether hardware- or software-based. I also think that your company has already surpassed what Adobe can do with video editing and photography software. Hence, I think it would be a great opportunity for your company to redefine creative software once again.
My idea is a software package called "Vision Studio". It would be a bundle comprised of several different software programs that would tackle each and every major function of Adobe's Creative Suite tools while giving the user both unprecedented ease of use and more features and usability than Adobe can currently conceive. Instead of just functioning as either a design, web, or video package (like Adobe Creative Suites currently do), this bundle would encompass all three with just six programs (ten if you count the utilities). Most of these programs I have in mind are ones that Apple already has on the market, but each one would still be upgraded to massively expand its present potential.
The first program I have in mind is appropriately titled "Vision", a program that would inhabit the realm of both 2D and 3D illustration. Right now, there are 2D illustration or image editing programs and 3D editors and modelers. While both do their respective job very well, a 2D program cannot pull off the look of a 3D program and vice versa. However, I do believe that your company already has a tool that does a great job of bridging that gap. With Motion, one can create motion graphics in either 2D or 3D space. Imagine if you applied that same functionality to illustration and/or modeling. For example, one could create a 2D composition that looked like something Jackson Pollack did with raster paint tools. By flipping that into the third dimension, the user could sculpt those same brush strokes so that they not only look like 3D paint but go off in different directions as to create a spider web of paint drops. The same thing would be possible in this program with virtually any digital illustration tool: drawing tool emultion, raster image editing, 3D modeling, digital sculpting . . . you name the illustration method it, would be possible. It would also become possible for users to create his or her own tools as well via a Quartz Composer-like environment.
While "Vision" would be sort of like Adobe Illustrator, "Aperture Pro" would be the complimentary Photoshop software. Whereas Aperture 2 is to Photoshop Lightroom, Aperture Pro would be to Photoshop CS3 Extended; it would be focused on photo manipulation rather than be a photography tool. It would do everything Photoshop could do now and have a few tricks up its sleeve. For example, it would not only support Core Image Units and Filters, but one could create their own image manipulation filters just like in Quartz Composer right inside of this program. Literally anyone could develop his or her own unique look to their compositions. Also, the same supposed 2D/3D switching capabilities in Vision would be present in Aperture Pro. All the tools a Photoshop user would take advantage of, such as masking, cloning, warping, etc., would become available in the third dimension. One could perhaps even map front, side, and back view of a person onto a 3D model in Vision and go from there to create a photo realistic character with little effort.
A fourth version of Motion would also be present. Not only could the user create Motion graphics with ease but literally animate anything he or she imports. This would be accomplished via kinematic and inverse kinematic rigging. One could import things from Aperture Pro or Vision and literally animate them. An enhanced physics engine would also be present, allowing even more detail and manipulation with objects created in Motion's environment. For even more variety, one could use Aperture Pro's features as mentioned above on their Motion compositions. Why not also put the digital compositing abilities from Shake in there as well and make it a full-blown Video Effects and Compositing program as well? Another major addition to Motion's repertoire would be interactive Quicktime export. Since Quicktime, according to the Apple Developer website, is also made for authoring and interactive content, I imagine that Apple could easily make Quicktime behave like Flash as well. In other words, this type of export would allow for Motion's graphics to also become useful on websites. The sixth program in this bundle, soon to be mentioned, will allow for this and more interactive wizardry.
A second version of Color would undergo an even more drastic transformation. To give you an idea, color, of course, is a result of how we perceive light, which of course varies with our environment. Furthermore, what if one could manipulate the physics of how a block of color reacts to light? Not only could one digitally grade color, one could literally create color that responds exactly like it would in reality - or even break the rules altogether.
Also making an appearance would be Final Cut Pro 7. Up until now, one could use this to edit video for television and motion pictures. Today, video also is broadcast on larger than life screens and on mobile devices of every kind and some even use it as a performance tool. Final Cut is ingenious, and with features like custom screen layouts and extended internet and mobile device support it would once again redefine how video is delivered. One would also be able to apply cinema quality video effects to live footage by either manually engaging them or setting audio and video triggers for the footage to cue the animation. Plus, Aperture Pro - like Photoshop - could also be used on video, and the Core Image Filters/Units within could also be applied. As Quartz Composer also allows for video transitions, people could create their own transitions inside of Final Cut with a similar environment. Of course, the existing ties to Motion and Color will also be present.
The sixth program, called "Nexus", would be the secret weapon of the bunch. Right now, your company has consumer software called iWeb that allows people without coding experience to create web sites. You also have partnered with Sproutcore, the server-agnostic web appliction tool. Adobe, in stark contrast, has that dreaded Flash protocol (allowing for interactive media viewing) and a program called Director (allowing for rich interactive authoring). They also expect users to use Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Contribute to create, format, and update sites respectively. To create Rich Internet Applications, one would need a myriad of other programs to use. As you can imagine, the process of creating interactive content is fairly tedious, and Adobe has probably only made it worse. Basically, Nexus would allow for all of these functions with the simplicity and ease of iWeb, only in a professional package. The user would practically be able to create everything from sharp, cutting edge websites to Flash-like animations to online and CD-ROM games. The best part is that instead of just coding and scripting one's way through the entire process, users could actually create interactive content without even having to know any code. For example, one could bring in something from a Page Layout program (like Pages '08), add behaviors as one would in Motion for animation, and end up with an interactive website without even having to touch Flash. Using this methodology in a more expansive context, one could not only import 3D into the mix but even create interactive games. All of this would be possible to put on the web or to disc all with one program. If users did want to still code, one could still open a Code Editing Window and view the compatible code for this in Sproutcore, XCode, Cocoa, Carbon, or Applescript.
Like your other Studio bundles, there would also be some utilities. Pages would make an appearance so that one could export their work to PDF or Print media. An updated version of Compressor would also be there to format everything properly, and a third version of QMaster would also be there for complex rendering tasks. An updated Soundtrack Pro quite possibly could be implemented for any sound design applications within this bundle; it could be updated for interactive applications as well.
In summary, this bundle idea would make a great idea to compete with Adobe. This would not just perform all the functions of Adobe's Creative Suite; it would accomplish that in a much more efficient and creative manner. If one was creative enough, literally all of those functions could subsequently be performed on one computer. It is not just about being proficient in one digital craft or the other in many creative fields. Many of them overlap with each other, making it very critical to be multidisciplinary. This suite alone would enable that, especially with tools already familiar to Final Cut users. Best of all, it would be a much more cost-effective solution than buying creative software from separate vendors, as this suite would cover virtually all of the possible functions of such programs.
I know that it is normally not your company's policy to accept ideas from those outside Apple. I am not sending this email to you to waste your time; if I have, I am very sorry. I am a college student who uses an iMac because I believe that Apple represents the future of computing. No other company has made as user-friendly or brilliant hardware and software as yours. I am sending you my idea because Apple cares about the user and delivers accordingly. If I did not believe that my idea would be somewhat beneficial to that mission or even work in the first place, I would not have even bothered.
Anyway I hope Steve listens to what I wrote:
Dear Mr. Jobs,
I am a college student who currently uses an iMac to create digital art. You might know already that Adobe is ready to come out with Adobe Creative Suite 4. Many people also know that you really hate Flash. I personally agree that we need not have these proprietary programs to view content on the web. After all, the World Wide Web should be "Wide" open, shouldn't it? Anyhow, I think Adobe is really losing its creative edge. Your company, on the other hand, has not lost its creative edge and continues to astound me with each new product release, whether hardware- or software-based. I also think that your company has already surpassed what Adobe can do with video editing and photography software. Hence, I think it would be a great opportunity for your company to redefine creative software once again.
My idea is a software package called "Vision Studio". It would be a bundle comprised of several different software programs that would tackle each and every major function of Adobe's Creative Suite tools while giving the user both unprecedented ease of use and more features and usability than Adobe can currently conceive. Instead of just functioning as either a design, web, or video package (like Adobe Creative Suites currently do), this bundle would encompass all three with just six programs (ten if you count the utilities). Most of these programs I have in mind are ones that Apple already has on the market, but each one would still be upgraded to massively expand its present potential.
The first program I have in mind is appropriately titled "Vision", a program that would inhabit the realm of both 2D and 3D illustration. Right now, there are 2D illustration or image editing programs and 3D editors and modelers. While both do their respective job very well, a 2D program cannot pull off the look of a 3D program and vice versa. However, I do believe that your company already has a tool that does a great job of bridging that gap. With Motion, one can create motion graphics in either 2D or 3D space. Imagine if you applied that same functionality to illustration and/or modeling. For example, one could create a 2D composition that looked like something Jackson Pollack did with raster paint tools. By flipping that into the third dimension, the user could sculpt those same brush strokes so that they not only look like 3D paint but go off in different directions as to create a spider web of paint drops. The same thing would be possible in this program with virtually any digital illustration tool: drawing tool emultion, raster image editing, 3D modeling, digital sculpting . . . you name the illustration method it, would be possible. It would also become possible for users to create his or her own tools as well via a Quartz Composer-like environment.
While "Vision" would be sort of like Adobe Illustrator, "Aperture Pro" would be the complimentary Photoshop software. Whereas Aperture 2 is to Photoshop Lightroom, Aperture Pro would be to Photoshop CS3 Extended; it would be focused on photo manipulation rather than be a photography tool. It would do everything Photoshop could do now and have a few tricks up its sleeve. For example, it would not only support Core Image Units and Filters, but one could create their own image manipulation filters just like in Quartz Composer right inside of this program. Literally anyone could develop his or her own unique look to their compositions. Also, the same supposed 2D/3D switching capabilities in Vision would be present in Aperture Pro. All the tools a Photoshop user would take advantage of, such as masking, cloning, warping, etc., would become available in the third dimension. One could perhaps even map front, side, and back view of a person onto a 3D model in Vision and go from there to create a photo realistic character with little effort.
A fourth version of Motion would also be present. Not only could the user create Motion graphics with ease but literally animate anything he or she imports. This would be accomplished via kinematic and inverse kinematic rigging. One could import things from Aperture Pro or Vision and literally animate them. An enhanced physics engine would also be present, allowing even more detail and manipulation with objects created in Motion's environment. For even more variety, one could use Aperture Pro's features as mentioned above on their Motion compositions. Why not also put the digital compositing abilities from Shake in there as well and make it a full-blown Video Effects and Compositing program as well? Another major addition to Motion's repertoire would be interactive Quicktime export. Since Quicktime, according to the Apple Developer website, is also made for authoring and interactive content, I imagine that Apple could easily make Quicktime behave like Flash as well. In other words, this type of export would allow for Motion's graphics to also become useful on websites. The sixth program in this bundle, soon to be mentioned, will allow for this and more interactive wizardry.
A second version of Color would undergo an even more drastic transformation. To give you an idea, color, of course, is a result of how we perceive light, which of course varies with our environment. Furthermore, what if one could manipulate the physics of how a block of color reacts to light? Not only could one digitally grade color, one could literally create color that responds exactly like it would in reality - or even break the rules altogether.
Also making an appearance would be Final Cut Pro 7. Up until now, one could use this to edit video for television and motion pictures. Today, video also is broadcast on larger than life screens and on mobile devices of every kind and some even use it as a performance tool. Final Cut is ingenious, and with features like custom screen layouts and extended internet and mobile device support it would once again redefine how video is delivered. One would also be able to apply cinema quality video effects to live footage by either manually engaging them or setting audio and video triggers for the footage to cue the animation. Plus, Aperture Pro - like Photoshop - could also be used on video, and the Core Image Filters/Units within could also be applied. As Quartz Composer also allows for video transitions, people could create their own transitions inside of Final Cut with a similar environment. Of course, the existing ties to Motion and Color will also be present.
The sixth program, called "Nexus", would be the secret weapon of the bunch. Right now, your company has consumer software called iWeb that allows people without coding experience to create web sites. You also have partnered with Sproutcore, the server-agnostic web appliction tool. Adobe, in stark contrast, has that dreaded Flash protocol (allowing for interactive media viewing) and a program called Director (allowing for rich interactive authoring). They also expect users to use Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Contribute to create, format, and update sites respectively. To create Rich Internet Applications, one would need a myriad of other programs to use. As you can imagine, the process of creating interactive content is fairly tedious, and Adobe has probably only made it worse. Basically, Nexus would allow for all of these functions with the simplicity and ease of iWeb, only in a professional package. The user would practically be able to create everything from sharp, cutting edge websites to Flash-like animations to online and CD-ROM games. The best part is that instead of just coding and scripting one's way through the entire process, users could actually create interactive content without even having to know any code. For example, one could bring in something from a Page Layout program (like Pages '08), add behaviors as one would in Motion for animation, and end up with an interactive website without even having to touch Flash. Using this methodology in a more expansive context, one could not only import 3D into the mix but even create interactive games. All of this would be possible to put on the web or to disc all with one program. If users did want to still code, one could still open a Code Editing Window and view the compatible code for this in Sproutcore, XCode, Cocoa, Carbon, or Applescript.
Like your other Studio bundles, there would also be some utilities. Pages would make an appearance so that one could export their work to PDF or Print media. An updated version of Compressor would also be there to format everything properly, and a third version of QMaster would also be there for complex rendering tasks. An updated Soundtrack Pro quite possibly could be implemented for any sound design applications within this bundle; it could be updated for interactive applications as well.
In summary, this bundle idea would make a great idea to compete with Adobe. This would not just perform all the functions of Adobe's Creative Suite; it would accomplish that in a much more efficient and creative manner. If one was creative enough, literally all of those functions could subsequently be performed on one computer. It is not just about being proficient in one digital craft or the other in many creative fields. Many of them overlap with each other, making it very critical to be multidisciplinary. This suite alone would enable that, especially with tools already familiar to Final Cut users. Best of all, it would be a much more cost-effective solution than buying creative software from separate vendors, as this suite would cover virtually all of the possible functions of such programs.
I know that it is normally not your company's policy to accept ideas from those outside Apple. I am not sending this email to you to waste your time; if I have, I am very sorry. I am a college student who uses an iMac because I believe that Apple represents the future of computing. No other company has made as user-friendly or brilliant hardware and software as yours. I am sending you my idea because Apple cares about the user and delivers accordingly. If I did not believe that my idea would be somewhat beneficial to that mission or even work in the first place, I would not have even bothered.
I applaud your enthusiasm! Reminds me of myself back in the day - don't lose the excitement! Hopefully Apple will keep innovating in ways that are worthy of this kind of energy. Really good ideas, many of which I hope Apple actually has up their sleeves to be released in the not too distant future. Well done youngster!
I don't understand. inDesign has had this feature forever. Press + shift and drag the corner to scale.
Not scaling. Placing a photo and in_the_process_of_placing_it, it will scale *proportionally* while at the same time filling the box with the image. As it exists now, the image is placed at 100% size regardless of how you draw your box. So right now you have to place the image, use a kb shortcut to proportionally reduce/enlarge the photo to your box size, then double click a corner so that the box snaps back to fit the image perfectly.
As for rotating, I mean we need rotation handles on the boxes as in AI. Why do I need a tool or kb shortcut to rotate an item?