Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Design Premium Upgrade Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm a long-time fan of Adobe, and eagerly anticipated CS3. I hoped they would work out the many Macromedia bugs, but they managed to add a few of their own! And the promised product integration simply isn't there:
The Dreamweaver inteface is unchanged, except for renaming the Layers panel, and adding a new Objects tab. It won't correctly display interactivity in a SWF preview (the first click works; subsequent click are treated as a right-click, showing the FlashPlayer drop-down menu rather than the functionality in the SWF!)
Photoshop may be the reason most people upgrade, but its most touted new feature--non-destructive filters--is implemented very poorly. Rather than working like adjustment layers currently work, SmartFilters, as they are known, convert the underlying Photoshop layer into a SmartObject and places the SmartFilter on top. You CS2 users know that you can't edit a SmartObject in Photoshop--you have to go to the object's native application. So to edit the image under a SmartFilter, Photoshop opens it in a new document window (meaning you can't see its interaction with layers underneath as you edit it, and can't see how the various SmartFilters make the changed composition look until you save and return to the original document.
Flash was the reason I purchased this upgade: I was elated about importing layered PSDs and AI files. PSDs work great; AI files cause Flash to crash! (and Adobe tech support will not even respond)
Flash added a couple of new tools: shape primitives, which came from Macromedia Freehand: they allow you to easily edit the corner radius of a rectangle long after it's drawn--even editing each corner independently!
But do they offer a Primitive Star or Polygon tool like Freehand had (which allows you to edit the number of sides on stars and polygons)?
No.
Are the new Primitive Shape tools in Illustrator or Photoshop?
No.
Are the tear-off tool sets from Illustrator and ImageReady CS2 in Photoshop or InDesign CS3?
No.
Speaking of ImageReady, does it exist anymore?
No.
Can Photoshop CS3 open and edit multiple frames of an animated GIF?
No!(Don't delete ImageReady from your hard drive yet!)
Can you move the new collapsable tool panels onto your second monitor?
No.
Does Flash correctly auto-format ActionScript?
No.
Can you open an InDesign CS3 document in CS2 if no CS3 features were used (would be useful for all the non-early-adopters, such as printers receiving the jobs files)?
No.
Can you open a Flash CS3 .FLA with Flash 8, even if no CS3 features were used?
No.
Should you buy CS3?
No.
Not even at the academic price. It's a beta-version at best; wait for CS4.
UPDATE: A week later I'm STILL waiting for Adobe's reply, even after opening a second support case! It's like they outsourced their software development and support to Microsoft.

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Adobe CS3 Design Premium Mac Upgrade.Upgrade from Creative Suites Premium or Standard or Studio 8.

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Macromedia Studio MX 2004 Win/Mac Review

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(More customer reviews)I have been using Macromedia Products since version 2 of Dreamweaver. I have a thorough knowledge of Dreamweaver and Fireworks. I have a bit less of Flash yet I do use it from time to time to create flash elements in sites that are primarily driven by html or xhtml code. I don't use Freehand because I think it is perhaps the most poorly implemented of all illustration programs bar none. I have always hoped that Macromedia would take Freehand seriously... and till this day I am still hoping.
Regarding the software...
Dreamweaver is by far the most popular web development software on the planet. In fact it has more users than all other web development platforms combined. This is a definite strength since you are able to find a tremendous amount of help around the Internet and in book stores.
Dreamweaver is still very good at what it does, however it has gone downhill with this most recent release (yes, I have installed the newest updater which does improve the software to a degree). The problems with the software are many. Macromedia has sacrificed a nice usable and professional interface for this 'flowery' looking gradient mess. Oh... it's pretty alright. The problem is I'm trying to get work done! The previous versions of the Studio have a much more professional interface. The program seems taxing to the system no matter how powerful your processor or how much ram you have. It also seems to have screen redraw issues. This is especially true when designing forms. Why that is... I have no idea. The way the program handles CSS is quirky at best. You need to basically go thru and make all these changes to the default behavior it is shipped with in order to get it to work and write CSS in an external style sheet else it will be written to the head of the current document (How stupid is that?). Macromedia should have used the Define Site Dialog box and asked developers if they wanted to create a CSS based site or used the older HTML methods. If a person chose CSS the program should have required them to enter the name of an external style sheet that all CSS would be written to by default. Then when using the property inspector, any changes to the design code would automatically be written to the external style sheet and not to the head or body of the document. It definately needs drastic improvement if it will ever be at the level of other Professional CSS coding software (think TopStyle Pro).
Another issue with Dreamweaver that I have is with its lack of ability to support a dual monitor configuration without major bugs, headaches, and screen redraw issues. I know many developers that have gone over to the dual monitor approach to development because of a tremendously improved work flow. YOu could have the design Window in one monitor and the code window in the other (Go to Window -- Code Inspector -- or hit F10). Once the code inspector is open, you can drag it over to the second monitor and thus develop both visually and with code. However, the newest DW version has some serious issues when you do this. First of all, you can't maximize the code window... so you have to manually drag one corner and size it yourself. The other is when you are between documents and have no current document open. The program seems like it just wants to crash, drawing and redrawing the entire interace. 'What in the world is going on here?' is the question that comes to mind minus profanities!
Flash has improved and is more powerful than previous version being more 'coder friendly' and allowing flash apps to be built using a forms based approach although I think they made a big mistake in making two versions of the software. It just confuses people and now is harder to share work within a team unless everybody is using the exact same version! Bad decision Macromedia.
Fireworks is probably the program in the group that deserves the highest honors. It is tops in the field of web graphics and functionality. I put it over Photoshop/ImageReady because it is specifically designed for the web whereas Photoshop is trying to be all things to all people. And to people who need that functionality, Photoshop is King! However, Fireworks is significantly easier to learn and use than PS. It will do anything you could possibly want in creating web graphics and eliminates all the functions that a print designer needs. Fireworks is for the web... not print. If that is acceptable for your work load.... use it!
Freehand is dead at this point in my eyes. Illustrator and Coreldraw are both vastly superior in usability and power. Freehand is a clunky and bug ridden program that does poorly what Illustrator does masterfully! Evidently Freehand has also taken a back seat in the eyes of Macromedia too. Freehand has always been delivered much later than the rest of the Studio. Even to this day in June of 2004, Freehand is still one version behind the rest of the software even though the MX 2004 Studio has been released for nearly a year (August 2003)! Some have argued that Macromedia purposely delays Freehand so that they can make more money off the developers who have already bought the current Studio and then need to purchase an upgrade to the latest Freehand. So perhaps this is a marketing ploy used in order to make more money. My opinion is that they will make more money if they improve their software, eliminate bugs, drop the 'flowerly' interace, and release the Studio as one release for both Mac and Windows (This means no 'pro' and 'non-pro' versions, all version share the same name...MX 2004 or whatever). Another note, Mac users should not be considered second class web developers. This particular offering for Mac users is particularly bad because of the bugs and speed of the software.
The best I can rate this offering is two stars... hopefully things will change in the near future. All that being said, I still consider myself a fan of Macromedia software... and just think they had a major hickup here with this latest offering.

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Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Review

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(More customer reviews)- FEATURES - I like it! From the beginning, gave me a screen on what I would like to make and had a simple template for everything. Movie sizes were smaller and liked how I can preview movies in another tab.
- COMPATIBILITY (HEADACHE)- If you want to use their latest components or library, be prepared for users to install Flash Player 7.0+. This part is giving me a headache since my users are very novice with these things.
- UNSTABLE - This has to be the biggest flaw of this software. Now I'm use to saving after every change because of how unstable it is. I get the annoying "Windows cannot recover Flash MX 2004" and it crashes out.
- OVERALL - NICE, if it worked the way it's suppose to be. I would NOT recommend it to other buyers. Develope in Flash MX until Flash Player 7.0 has gone around the world. Remember to save frequently. I wish I can get my money back =(.

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Macromedia Flash MX 2004 is the industry standard tool for creating effective rich content across desktops and devices. Designers and developers use Macromedia Flash MX 2004 to accelerate projects while maintaining a high degree of creative control. Jumpstart projects with Templates and Components, and take advantage of the vast Macromedia online Resource Library. Speed workflow by directly importing media including digital video, PDF and EPS files. Add interactivity with powerful scripting. Enhance content with custom effects from third-party extensions. Deliver consistently to over 97% of Internet users worldwide across all major platforms and on popular devices with Macromedia Flash Player.

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Macromedia Flash Pro 8 (Win/Mac) Review

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(More customer reviews)Macromedia Flash is essential if you are looking to make professional web pages that are very design oriented and interactive (animations, games, rollover images, anything). With that said, I do believe that the price is a little too high for the product.
All in all, it is worth the buy if, like I said, you are serious about web development. Check any top notch website and you are guaranteed to find flash.

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Adobe Flex Builder Pro 3.0 Review

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(More customer reviews)Flex 3, the framework and the Flex Builder 3 Pro IDE (just "Flex" from now on), are perhaps the best kept secret in programming I've witnessed (this being the first Amazon review for a product released back in February? Amazing!). Specific to web development, I've worked with several other scripting languages (e.g., Javascript, PHP, Python, and Ruby) and their available frameworks, assistive text editors, and integrated development environments like Dreamweaver, Servoy, and Eclipse (which is what Flex Builder runs on). These are all fine approaches to building web applications, but for my time, effort, and money, Flex 3 and Flex Builder 3 Pro (Eclipse) is my top choice.
Flex offers a three-tiered approach to building powerful applications and "rich" user experiences. The first tier is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) design mode editor. You can create the lion's share of your application, and practically the entire user interface and design themes (which are CSS-based), in design mode. Next, Flex offers a simple and lean XML-based language (MXML), which serves as a framework and front-end for ActionScript (i.e., Flash). You code in MXML (with considerably fewer lines of code than it would take to code directly in ActionScript), and the the compiler automatically generates your ActionScript from your MXML. For maximum tweaking and customization, you can code directly in ActionScript. You can and usually will, of course, mix the three approaches within one application, and this is remarkably easy and integrated. Documentation is comprehensive. The Flex component and style explorers are awesome. The community is generous and helpful, and there's lot's of free source code, examples, etc.
So, this is as much a 5-star review for Flex 3 as it is for Flex Builder 3 Pro. I cannot imagine using one without the other.

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Item #: Q41374. Adobe Flex Builder 3 Professional offers all of the powerful features included in Adobe Flex Builder 3 Standard plus powerful memory and performance profiling tools, the new Advanced Datagrid, support for automated functional testing, and extensible charting components for rich data visualization. Product Description: Adobe Flex Builder Professional - ( v. 3 ) - complete packageCategory: Development toolsSubcategory: Development tools - web applicationsVersion: 3License Type: Complete packageLicense Qty: 1 userLicense Pricing: StandardLanguage(s): Universal EnglishPlatform: Windows, MacOSDistribution Media: DVD-ROMPackage Type: RetailOS Required: Microsoft Windows XP SP2, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Apple MacOS X 10.5, Apple MacOS X 10.4.7 - 10.4.10 Customers also search for: Technology\Software\Developer Software Discount Adobe Flex Builder Professional - ( V. 3 ) - Complete Package, Buy Adobe Flex Builder Professional - ( V. 3 ) - Complete Package, Wholesale Adobe Flex Builder Professional - ( V. 3 ) - Complete Package, 0883919144580, 38044388, Developer Software

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Anime Studio Pro 7 Review

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(More customer reviews)I've had so much fun making animated shorts! It's become my main hobby lately, and with this software you can produce animations that are as good as the pros (if you have some experience/knowledge of story, design, and graphics especially). Warning: As with any powerful software program, there is a learning curve here. The first few hours you will find yourself floundering around and getting pretty angry... and even once you start to get the hang of things, you will make mistakes or find yourself wondering why things haven't worked out... But once you've put in your time, the sky is the limit! Things become very easy and intuitive with some practice. And the software gives you a lot of power. Anime Studio 7 is awesome! I'm so excited with the movies I've made.
I'm just doing this for fun and as a creative outlet, but after seeing my initial results, I'm beginning to have some aspirations to make things other people would actually want to watch. I will say, though, that I think even true professionals would find this software to be excellent.
I have a couple suggestions for new users:
1. Until you really to get to know your way around, an easy way to learn is to play with the characters that come pre-loaded. Practice moving them, sizing them, transforming and turning them, adding sounds (you can even have the mouth move automatically with your recordings--look for tutorials on youtube to learn how (youtube user: contentparadise, if I remember correctly). Get accustomed to "bones" "switches" and "layers" and "keyframes".
2. Workflow and Rendering: You might want to make your longer movies in segments (in fact, I did about 20 different files with 30 seconds each to make a short movie)... This is partly in case you mess something up, and partly because rendering can be a little slow and create HUGE files (I think like 2GB per minute!... IF you are using the top-notch, lossless render... And what worked best for me was to use this lossless render of all the short segments, then use Adobe Premiere (you could also use Roxio I think, or Microsoft Movie Maker) to edit them together and re-render into a much smaller file format. I used WMV9, and the end result is a 10 minute film that's in 720p HD, super sharp, only taking 200 MB. You don't have to first render into the "lossless"--you can create a wide variety of file types and sizes with Anime Studio 7, but lossless will look sharper. I wanted to add that in this review because I'm very picky and had to do about 20 different rendering trials to figure out the sharpest results. Render lossless from Anime Studio 7, then edit and re-render into wmv9 720p 100%. Honestly, it looks like DVD + quality in the end.

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Anime Studio Pro is the ideal application for professional artists and animators looking for an alternative to tedious frame-by-frame editing. Bolstered with powerful features like bone rigging, lip syncing and audio recording, 3D shape design, physics, motion tracking, and more, Anime Studio is the indispensable tool in your production pipeline.

Create High-Quality Animations
Make your own characters, objects, and scenes using powerful vector-based drawing tools combined with the ability to import your scanned drawings and images.
Powerful Production Tools Robust bone-rigging and drawing tools make character creation and animation easier than ever. Save time animating with the new Curve Profile, Follow Path, and Stroke Exposure tools, plus new automatic line-smoothing features.
Physics Simulation Intuitively integrate simulated physics into your projects and create stunning animations where you set the density, gravity, friction, and springiness of objects and see how they collide.
3D Shape Design Make your own 3D objects from vector layers and bring them into your 2D animation projects. Choose from Extrusion, Lathe, and Inflate, then select from multiple shading options for your 3D model, including Smooth, Toon, and Hatched.

Unlimited Output Formats Output to formats including NTSC/PAL D1/DV Standard and Widescreen; HDV and HDTV 780p and 1080p; AVI, MOV, Flash, and more.
Features
NEW! Set the density, gravity, friction, and springiness of objects and see how they collide with Simulated Physics
NEW! Make 3D objects from 2D vector layers
NEW! Quickly organize and access your content with the new library resource
NEW! Animate curves with precision tools
NEW! Record your own sound clips from within Anime Studio
NEW! Use StuffIt Connect to upload video and project files to the Web, making collaboration easier than ever*
NEW! Import your Poser Scenes and combine 2D and 3D animation. Requires Poser 7 or later.
NEW! Gather up and organize all your project files in one location
Implement realistic shading based on line and object contrast within each layer
Make your characters talk with automatic lip-syncing features
Easily combine video, audio, and animation
Attach objects to video with Motion Tracking
Import Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator files
Pen tablet support simulates drawing on paper
Add effects like motion blur and shadows
Output in HD or for the Web; easily export your projects at ideal resolutions for iPad, iPhone, and Droid
Customize functionality with LUA scripts
Upload directly to YouTube and Facebook
* A free one-year subscription to the StuffIt Connect service is included with your Anime Studio purchase, offering 2 GB of storage and 4 GB of bandwidth per month.

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