Adobe updates Illustrator CC and InDesign CC with new features

Posted:
in Mac Software
Adobe on Thursday issued updates for Illustrator CC, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and InDesign CC, introducing new features and user interface improvements to the professional design software.




Announced through Adobe's official blog, Illustrator CC takes a cue from users by incorporating a number of highly requested features like straightforward image cropping, a function previously accomplished by offloading documents to other apps.

With Image Crop, Illustrator CC users now have the ability to immediately crop images placed into a document with intuitive crop handles. Much like cropping tools offered in other Adobe products, including the flagship Photoshop CC, Image Crop in Illustrator CC comes with measurement tools and a familiar dotted bounding line.

In addition to inline image edits, Image Crop automatically discards unused image data to reduce file sizes and improve overall performance.

Aside from the new cropping option, Illustrator CC introduces a Color Themes Panel for creating, exploring and saving color themes for later use. The panel UI also extends to other Adobe apps, offering users consistency across various platforms. For example, themes can be generated from pictures taken with the Adobe Capture mobile app, which are then pushed to Illustrator through Adobe's cloud.

As for InDesign CC, the document layout software received a new UI that lets users jump between Adobe apps and flagship cloud features. A redesigned New Document Panel is included for quickly starting new projects with document presets and recent document settings.

Further embedding Adobe CC elements into the main app is integration with templates from Adobe Stock, which can be accessed via the New Document Panel.

Adobe's Creative Cloud plans start at $19.99 per month for single apps like Illustrator CC, while access to all CC apps comes in at $49.99 per month.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 2,663member
    I'm cool with some of the overdue new features. 

    But it stop freaking messing with the UI every other update. You guys are killing my productivity. 
    EsquireCatsstevenoz
  • Reply 2 of 21
    polymniapolymnia Posts: 1,080member
    It's nice that Adobe drops feature upgrades every few months these days.

    funny how motivated they are to keep innovating when they want you to keep paying every month.
    ajl
  • Reply 3 of 21
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    I kept my CS5 suite and refuse to "upgrade" to this rentware lunacy.
    EsquireCatsfotoformatking editor the gratebdkennedy1002stevenozjdw
  • Reply 4 of 21
    slprescottslprescott Posts: 765member
    I recently learned Illustrator as a side activity to game development.  While it's a great tool, the subscription model of about $250 every year is hard to justify for an occasional artist. Freeware alternatives like Inkscape can often suffice.
    EsquireCats
  • Reply 5 of 21
    lorin schultzlorin schultz Posts: 2,771member
    I recently learned Illustrator as a side activity to game development.  While it's a great tool, the subscription model of about $250 every year is hard to justify for an occasional artist. Freeware alternatives like Inkscape can often suffice.
    Try Affinity Designer. It's very reasonably priced (CAD$69.99, so about USD$52-ish), and in my opinion more intuitive and in many ways better than Illustrator.

    Although I like Illustrator, I, like you, got tired of feeding the Adobe monster every month for something I only use every couple of months. I got Affinity as a way to ease my withdrawal but it turns out it's so good I haven't missed Illustrator at all.

    You can buy it on the App Store. There's a link to a free trial at the bottom of the product page on their web site: https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/designer/
    ajlfotoformatstevenozjdw
  • Reply 6 of 21
    lorin schultzlorin schultz Posts: 2,771member

    I kept my CS5 suite and refuse to "upgrade" to this rentware lunacy.
    I know the feeling, and I'd love to tell you that you're not missing anything, but I was surprised by how much better the CC version of Illustrator is compared to CS5. It's been about a year since I cancelled my subscription and went to Affinity (see my previous post) so I no longer remember exactly what all the improvements were off the top of my head, but I do remember that node handles are MUCH better and layer handling was more intuitive. If you use it a lot, you may find the new version more enjoyable to work with.

    You may also want to check out Affinity Designer. I'm surprised by how good it is.
    jdw
  • Reply 7 of 21
    EsquireCatsEsquireCats Posts: 1,268member
    One day they'll fix the gradient tool, or vector handles needing pixel-perfect clicking, or defaulting to rotate instead of resize when pulling anchors, or the absurdly long wait time to get to tool alternatives in toolbars, or the general pixel-sized hot areas for things like transform corners... *runs out of breath and dies*
  • Reply 8 of 21
    polymniapolymnia Posts: 1,080member
    I kept my CS5 suite and refuse to "upgrade" to this rentware lunacy.
    Right?

    what am I thinking, paying for software I use everyday and getting regular feature upgrades. 

    I should really get therapy.
  • Reply 9 of 21
    polymniapolymnia Posts: 1,080member
    ajl said:
    One day they'll fix the gradient tool, or vector handles needing pixel-perfect clicking, or defaulting to rotate instead of resize when pulling anchors, or the absurdly long wait time to get to tool alternatives in toolbars, or the general pixel-sized hot areas for things like transform corners... *runs out of breath and dies*
    And one day they'll fix the way InDesign handles tables, such as the lack, inside the table style options, of a selection for a cell style for the very first cell where column and thread crosses each one, or the lack, in the cell and/or table style, of a height measure option, and maybe they'll add the ability to select and even evidence parts of text related to a determined character or paragraph style (like – surprisingly – Word does) instead of using workarounds with GREP functionality... I agree with Polymnia: funny how motivated they are to keep innovating when they want you to keep paying every month – Maybe Adobe will fix or add new features one per time just to keeping people paying every month.
    I'll take it. Better than being stuck with CS5. How often are features added to that application?
  • Reply 10 of 21
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    I kept my CS5 suite and refuse to "upgrade" to this rentware lunacy.
    I know the feeling, and I'd love to tell you that you're not missing anything, but I was surprised by how much better the CC version of Illustrator is compared to CS5. It's been about a year since I cancelled my subscription and went to Affinity (see my previous post) so I no longer remember exactly what all the improvements were off the top of my head, but I do remember that node handles are MUCH better and layer handling was more intuitive. If you use it a lot, you may find the new version more enjoyable to work with.

    You may also want to check out Affinity Designer. I'm surprised by how good it is.
    Thanks for the Affinity Designer recommendation. I'll check it out. 

    You have to realize something though, I've used Illustrator ever since (unless I'm misremembering) version 2 or 3, back in the early 90s, so I'm very used to the workflow and toolset.
  • Reply 11 of 21
    lorin schultzlorin schultz Posts: 2,771member

    I kept my CS5 suite and refuse to "upgrade" to this rentware lunacy.
    I know the feeling, and I'd love to tell you that you're not missing anything, but I was surprised by how much better the CC version of Illustrator is compared to CS5. It's been about a year since I cancelled my subscription and went to Affinity (see my previous post) so I no longer remember exactly what all the improvements were off the top of my head, but I do remember that node handles are MUCH better and layer handling was more intuitive. If you use it a lot, you may find the new version more enjoyable to work with.

    You may also want to check out Affinity Designer. I'm surprised by how good it is.
    Thanks for the Affinity Designer recommendation. I'll check it out. 

    You have to realize something though, I've used Illustrator ever since (unless I'm misremembering) version 2 or 3, back in the early 90s, so I'm very used to the workflow and toolset.
    Me, too, though not quite as long in my case. I started with CS3.

    I found that the new version didn't require learning new working methods or tools per se, just that the existing ones worked much better. I'm not an Illustrator power user though, my uses of it were fairly basic. Mostly hand tracing bitmapped logos to create vector versions. That's node-handle intensive though, which is where I really felt the improvement in CC.

    Obviously I didn't love it enough to keep paying though! Affinity is suiting me just fine now.
    edited April 2017 SpamSandwich
  • Reply 12 of 21
    volcanvolcan Posts: 1,799member
    polymnia said:
    I kept my CS5 suite and refuse to "upgrade" to this rentware lunacy.
    Right?

    what am I thinking, paying for software I use everyday and getting regular feature upgrades. 

    I should really get therapy.
    And a full-time graphic designer with some skills can make tons of money with CC. Pays 100% of my bills with plenty to spare.
    wlym
  • Reply 13 of 21
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    The panel UI also extends to other Adobe apps, offering users consistency across various platforms.
    Oh, good, consistency was mentioned. Now my rant about how Adobe has no fucking balls will be justified. Adobe has no fucking balls. (echo, echo…) They’ve added new features to the software obtained through the companies they’ve purchased, but that’s about it. They’ve made no effort to unify the UI or UX of them. Yes, I know that many people individually don’t use the full range of their software. Yes, I know that they’ll be upset about the changes initially. But come the fuck on. I shouldn’t have to remember that the lasso tool (pencil, pen, full select cursor, direct select cursor, shape tool, paint bucket, etc. etc. et-fucking-cetera) use different keys across applications by the same company. PITA, and not the flatbread.
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 14 of 21
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    The panel UI also extends to other Adobe apps, offering users consistency across various platforms.
    ...PITA, and not the flatbread.
    Ha!
  • Reply 15 of 21
    polymniapolymnia Posts: 1,080member
    volcan said:
    polymnia said:
    I kept my CS5 suite and refuse to "upgrade" to this rentware lunacy.
    Right?

    what am I thinking, paying for software I use everyday and getting regular feature upgrades. 

    I should really get therapy.
    And a full-time graphic designer with some skills can make tons of money with CC. Pays 100% of my bills with plenty to spare.
    Mine too. 
  • Reply 16 of 21
    polymniapolymnia Posts: 1,080member
    The panel UI also extends to other Adobe apps, offering users consistency across various platforms.
    Oh, good, consistency was mentioned. Now my rant about how Adobe has no fucking balls will be justified. Adobe has no fucking balls. (echo, echo…) They’ve added new features to the software obtained through the companies they’ve purchased, but that’s about it. They’ve made no effort to unify the UI or UX of them. Yes, I know that many people individually don’t use the full range of their software. Yes, I know that they’ll be upset about the changes initially. But come the fuck on. I shouldn’t have to remember that the lasso tool (pencil, pen, full select cursor, direct select cursor, shape tool, paint bucket, etc. etc. et-fucking-cetera) use different keys across applications by the same company. PITA, and not the flatbread.
    Someone with the grit and tenacity to post 41,000 times on AI can probably spend some time configuring his keyboard shortcuts the way he wants to. 

    Or maybe you don't have the balls for it?
  • Reply 17 of 21
    MicDorseyMicDorsey Posts: 100member
    Now, now SpamSandwich and Polymnia. Stop – you're both right. Like SS, I am using a pre-subscription suite (CS6) because I won't be adopting Adobe's subscription model. I find it unreasonable, though not unlike Adobe's other ways of strong-arming users into upgrading before they'd like to. There's a reason Adobe has shifted to subscription software, and to think it has to do with anything beyond $$$ is naive. Polymnia uses the software every day and I'd bet he either writes off the expense on his taxes or his company pays for the subscription. So the little guy is being squeezed, whether he pays for the subscription or decides to abandon Adobe. Since I don't hand off files anymore, I'm in the latter group. Too bad, Adobe, because you will be losing a customer who has been with you since Illustrator 3. And I know you couldn't care less.
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 18 of 21
    polymniapolymnia Posts: 1,080member
    MicDorsey said:
    Now, now SpamSandwich and Polymnia. Stop – you're both right. Like SS, I am using a pre-subscription suite (CS6) because I won't be adopting Adobe's subscription model. I find it unreasonable, though not unlike Adobe's other ways of strong-arming users into upgrading before they'd like to. There's a reason Adobe has shifted to subscription software, and to think it has to do with anything beyond $$$ is naive. Polymnia uses the software every day and I'd bet he either writes off the expense on his taxes or his company pays for the subscription. So the little guy is being squeezed, whether he pays for the subscription or decides to abandon Adobe. Since I don't hand off files anymore, I'm in the latter group. Too bad, Adobe, because you will be losing a customer who has been with you since Illustrator 3. And I know you couldn't care less.
    I both write it off on my taxes and my company pays for the software since I work for my own company. 

    I understand being bummed, but on the flip side, your CS-whatever license will work forever. Eventually you'll need a dedicated Mac to run legacy MacOS, but if it's important to you and you're unable/unwilling to join the current license model, that's what you need to do. 

    I don't work for free. I expect ongoing payment for ongoing work. I can't fault Adobe for following the same model. 

    Software, especially cloud software is a service. The fact that it was initially marketed as a tangible product is going to go down as a historical footnote. 

    When software is is treated as a service it generally gets better. 

    Adobe, Microsoft are good examples.

    even if you hate the licensing model, the software has objectively improved functionally since the change. 

    Hell, even my hosted time tracking software (Harvest) is light years beyond the old perpetual licensed tracking app I used to use. 
  • Reply 19 of 21
    polymnia said:

    I don't work for free. I expect ongoing payment for ongoing work. I can't fault Adobe for following the same model.
    Just to play Devil's advocate for a moment, I don't expect every client to make an enduring commitment. I bid on a project, and when the project is completed, so is the contract. I don't bill the client for any subsequent work I do correcting my own mistakes. Changes or additions after the initial project is completed are billed separately.

    From time to time I am able to offer my clients things I couldn't when I did their project. They may decide that what I offer now justifies paying me for another project, in which case we enter into a new contract for that project.  Or, they may decide that the new offering doesn't add sufficient value to the product I make for them, and choose to stay with what they have.

    What I create for a client becomes theirs, and doesn't disappear when they stop paying me.

    I disagree with the argument that software is a service (in most cases, certainly in the case of things like Photoshop and Illustrator). It is a "tangible" product, in that it requires no further intervention from the provider after delivery to perform its intended function.

    The subscription model puts me in the position of paying in advance with the hope that added features will both materialize at all and actually benefit my work. I believe the onus should be on the provider of the product to create an incentive for me to provide them with additional revenue by making newer versions of the product attractive to me.
  • Reply 20 of 21

    polymnia said:

    When software is is treated as a service it generally gets better. 
    I don't accept that premise. You haven't said how it gets better or why it would as a result of treating it as a service. I can easily tell you why it would not: there's less incentive because the revenue will continue (at least for a while) whether the developer does anything or not.

    If additional revenue REQUIRES substantial improvement, then there's an incentive.

    polymnia said:

    Adobe, Microsoft are good examples.
    ...whereas Avid is an example of how it can go the other way. Old bugs persist and the features added are not the ones users want.

    On the other hand, Final Cut Pro X is sold as a "product" rather than a "service" and it has improved significantly since its disastrous launch (or so I'm told, I don't actually use it myself).

    Recurring billing is absolutely not an assurance of development that is beneficial to the user.
    SpamSandwich
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