Introducing the Adobe Creative Suite
The Adobe Premium Creative Suite is composed of several programs designed to work together to accomplish all your publishing needs for output to print, screen viewing, and Web hosting. Instead of marketing the individual program components of the Creative Suite, Adobe Systems has spent much of its marketing effort targeting the entire Creative Suite to design professionals. This chapter offers a description of the Creative Suite programs and gives you an idea for how they work together. In this chapter, you learn about the purpose of each program and the relationship each program has with other members of the Creative Suite team. Also, you receive a brief summary of new features contained in the latest releases of the individual programs.
Why Creative Suite?
For the most part, each program in the Creative Suite is an upgrade from a previous version, and each is available for upgrades individually. So, why is Adobe Systems spending so much marketing effort informing users about the benefits of the Creative Suite? And why talk about the Creative Suite as a single entity when users are likely to upgrade the individual software programs in their design studios? Or, you may think that you have one program developed by another software manufacturer that satisfies your design needs and fully supports document integration with many of the programs found in the Creative Suite. For example, you may use Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator along with QuarkXPress, or perhaps you use Adobe Photoshop and create layouts in Macromedia FreeHand. Possibly, these are the first questions on your mind as you see the advertising for Adobe imaging product upgrades.
The answer is that Creative Suite is a single design solution where the whole is greater than its parts. For years, Adobe Systems built applications on programs like Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign as the core PDF technology. These programs evolved with common elements so that you, the creative professional, could easily exchange files among Adobe programs.
In This Chapter Understanding why Adobe developed the Creative Suite Knowing the Creative Suite applications Identifying file formats Figuring out file types
Rather than rely on a single program to perform tasks such as illustration, layout, and printing, Adobe offers you several applications, each a tool designed for a specific purpose to help you become more efficient in your creative process. These tools seamlessly integrate into the greater toolbox called Adobe Creative Suite. After working in individual programs, you can collect the creative elements together using Adobe InDesign CS as the tool to perform layout assembly. You can then travel to output by exporting files to PDF documents in Adobe Acrobat, or you can host parts of your layout on a Web site using Adobe GoLive CS. As stand-alone programs, Adobe Creative Suite offers many new marvelous tools with enhanced features to create, design, and express your ideas. Individually, the CS applications are among the most impressive upgrades offered by any software manufacturer. Collectively, these tools are no less than amazing.
Native file support
The strongest argument for using Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe Illustrator CS, Adobe InDesign CS, and Adobe GoLive CS together is that native file formats are easily transported between the CS programs. You no longer need to decide about saving Photoshop files as TIFF, EPS, GIF, PNG, or JPEG. Rather, you can import a native Photoshop PSD or Illustrator AI file into Adobe InDesign CS complete with layers and transparency. You can also import native Illustrator and Photoshop files directly in Adobe GoLive CS. The native file format import feature alone can save you space on your hard drive, because you need to save only a single file. Additionally, you save time in importing the correct file because only a single file is saved from the host application and used in your page layout or Web design. You can also directly open native Illustrator CS files in any Adobe Acrobat viewer, and you can open PDF documents in Illustrator and import them into InDesign and GoLive.
For information on importing native file formats across programs, see Part III.
Consistent user interface
Programs that creative professionals use today are sophisticated and complicated. One of the major problems facing many designers is the long learning curve necessary to become productive in a computer program. When you use several programs from several different computer-software manufacturers, your learning curve increases. Application-software companies develop software according to standards each company sets forth in the design of the user interface. One company may make extensive use of context-sensitive menus, while another company may avoid them. One company may use palettes and panes liberally, while another company relies on menu commands and dialog boxes. Add to these differences the extended use of keyboard shortcuts; program differences require you to spend a lot of time learning shortcuts. Additionally, the confusion of remembering one key sequence in one program invokes a different command than the same key sequence in another program. In workflow environments, consistency is crucial. Time is money, and the time required to train your staff cuts into your productivity and your profits. When you use tools all developed by a single software manufacturer, you become more consistent in the design of the user interface and the keyboard shortcuts that access menus, tools, and commands. Adobe has taken the user interface design one step further by offering customizable keyboard shortcuts and custom workspaces in several CS programs.
Having a consistent look and feel in the user interface enables you to develop an intuitive sense for how to use a particular program to create a design project. The more intuitive the sense you develop about a manufacturer’s products, the faster you can become productive. In some cases, you can jump into a new program, poke around, and understand many features without reading exhaustive manuals and books. For information on customizing workspaces and keyboard shortcuts, see Chapter 4.
Versioning tools
How many times have you created a tight comp and had a client tell you that he likes another version of the layout? You may create duotone images in Photoshop, offer a proof print to your client, and have the client tell you he wants another spot color in the Photoshop images. You offer a second proof and the client informs you the first proof print is really the one that best fits his campaign. You’re back at your design studio scrambling through your hard drive looking for the first versions, locating the files and importing or relinking them back into the layout. The Creative Suite lets you easily revisit earlier versions of illustrations, photo images, and layouts. Along with the standalone programs in the Creative Suite, you also receive Version Cue, a marvelous utility that permits you to save multiple versions of a design in the same file. You decide what version to promote to the current look, and the linked file in your InDesign CS document dynamically update. In workflow environments, nothing could more easily track the current version of a design and get you to final output swiftly with the correct version. For more information on installing and using Version Cue, see Part II.
Consistent color management
Have you ever created an illustration, dropped it into a layout program, and seen a completely different color rendered in the layout? How about scanned images appearing with one color in Adobe Photoshop and different color values in the layout program? With the Adobe Creative Suite, you can access the same color engine and color-management policies among the design programs and Adobe Acrobat. More than ever before, color management is true between programs and helps you produce files containing colors you expect to be replicated. For more information on managing color across the Creative Suite programs, see Chapter 6.
Dynamic object and image editing
Ever have last-minute changes that you need to make before the last FedEx pickup of the day? A layout is complete, but you need to quickly change an illustration or a photo image. In programs like Adobe InDesign CS, or even with embedded objects and images in PDF files, a double-click of the mouse button or the selection of a menu command launches the editing program that created the object or image and opens the file in a document window. You make your edits, save the file, and the edited version is dynamically updated in InDesign CS or Acrobat Professional. This kind of quick editing keeps you from having to find the original object or image, make edits, save back to another file format, update the link, and re-create a PDF file.
Visual file exchanges
Let’s face it; creative people are more visual and often work best in situations where they can first see a document before importing it in another program. More than ever before, Adobe has created a visually friendly workplace for you. You can easily drag and drop objects and images between document windows from one program to another, drag files from the desktop to open document windows, and copy and paste objects and images between documents. For more information on importing and exchanging documents among programs, see Part III.
Support for PDF
With InDesign CS as the central core of your Creative Suite programs for design purposes, PDF is the central file format for file exchanges and printing. All the Adobe CS programs support PDF imports and exports. InDesign CS supports exports to PDF/X format, which creates reliable documents for commercial printing. Photoshop CS supports the creation of PDF slideshows; Illustrator CS and InDesign CS support PDF creation with Adobe PDF Layers; and GoLive CS supports PDF imports as smart objects, PDF previews, and PDF exports. You can import media such as movie clips and sound files in InDesign CS and export them to PDF. Because PDF is the reliable standard for on-screen document viewing and output to professional printing devices, the CS programs take advantage of core PDF architecture. For more information on PDF/X and commercial printing, see Chapter 35. For more information on PDFs and multimedia, see Chapter 29.
Understanding the Creative Suite
There are two versions of the Adobe Creative Suite. The Adobe Standard Creative Suite includes Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe Illustrator CS, Adobe InDesign CS, and Version Cue. The Adobe Premium Creative Suite includes the same programs with the addition of Adobe Acrobat Professional and Adobe GoLive CS. We cover all the premium edition programs in the other chapters in this book. In addition to the programs, you also get more than 100 OpenType faces with the Creative Suite editions.
Although the programs typically referred to as the CS applications include those mentioned in the preceding paragraph, you also find the addition of Adobe ImageReady CS. The CS version is also a new upgrade to ImageReady 7, which shipped with Photoshop 7. Each of the programs is an upgrade from previous versions of the software, and Adobe Systems intends to upgrade the products in tandem for all future versions. Therefore, you can be confident that the next upgrade of a program like Photoshop will also include upgrades to Illustrator, InDesign, and GoLive.
Adobe Photoshop CS
If you’re a creative professional, chances are you’re no stranger to Adobe Photoshop. Adobe’s flagship image-editing program is now in version 8 with the CS upgrade. However, the rebranding of the products refers to this version simply as Photoshop CS—the CS obviously standing for Creative Suite. As a stand-alone product, Photoshop has some very nice additions to an already feature-rich program. New enhancements to Photoshop add tools and options specific to interests by graphic designers, photographers, and Web designers. Among some of the more impressive additions to the program you’ll find:
Enhanced File Browser: The File Browser has been greatly improved in Photoshop CS. The new File Browser enables you to set custom thumbnail views, to flag files for viewing, and to set workspaces with different File Browser options for viewing and editing document metadata such as author, copyright information, modification date, keywords. You can search within the File Browser for files by keywords and view the search results in the File Browser window.
The File Browser enables you to select files in a contiguous or noncontiguous group and apply batch procedures to the selected files. From the Automate menu in the File Browser, you can perform actions like using Contact Sheet II with selected files and/or folders; export images to PDF that open in Full Screen mode in Acrobat complete with auto page flips with transitions; set up Web galleries; and execute batch sequences. Particularly helpful in workflows are the new features for saving work histories to a log file. You can save all the edits to a given image in the history file so other members of your design team can review them.
If you haven’t used the File Browser much in previous versions of Photoshop, spending a little time learning the many new options offered by Photoshop CS (shown in Figure 1-1) may convince you to use it as your central digital imaging hub. Instead of using the Open command and browsing to folder locations, the File Browser along with the enhanced search features enables you to find files faster than ever. Figure 1-1: The Photoshop CS File Browser
Customize keyboard shortcuts: Ask yourself how many times you invert an image compared to the number of times you visit the Image Size dialog box. Shouldn’t you use Ctrl/Ô+I to open the Image Size dialog box instead of converting a positive image to a negative image? If you agree, you can remap this keyboard shortcut along with any other keyboard shortcuts to execute commands to your liking. Photoshop CS enables you to customize your environment to suit your own preferences.
If you work in studios where you participate in workflows with other designers, be certain to plan your CS application preferences with members of your design team, especially if other workers use your computer. Individual users setting different environment preferences defeats the purpose of the Creative Suite. Remember, consistency across software and the machines used in your workflows reduces time to train new employees and helps set a consistent standard in your company. For more information on setting up work environments among the CS programs, see Chapter 3.
Convert Camera Raw files: No longer do you need a $99 plug-in to open Camera Raw files in Photoshop. The new CS version supports opening many common digital cameras using native Camera Raw formats. When opening Camera Raw image files, you have an abundant set of features for adjusting calibration, lighting, exposure, brightness, temperature, noise, sharpening, and more.
New brightness adjustments: Two nifty new features are in the Image? Adjustments menu.
Match Color: Enables you to apply luminosity values from one image to another image. You may have a portrait taken in a studio with excellent lighting and another of the same subject with poor lighting. Or you may have two completely different images, as shown in Figure 1-2, and want to map the brightness values of the better image to the image requiring adjustment. You can handle this without visiting the Levels dialog box, by accessing the Match Color command. You select the open document containing the luminosity values you want to apply from the Source pull-down menu. One click and—presto!—you remap the image, often with startling results. Figure 1-2: The Match Color dialog box
Caution Shadow/Highlight adjustment: You can easily correct foreground images with strong backlights and unintended silhouettes in the Shadow/Highlight dialog box. When you move the control sliders, only shadow and highlight brightness are adjusted, leaving all the midtones unaffected.
Crop and straighten photos: If you’re gang-scanning images for FPOs (for position only) or for final images, you’ll find the Crop and Straighten Photos command in the Automate submenu a wonderful time-saver. Lay two or three photo prints on your scanner plate and scan in Photoshop. Select the Crop and Straighten Photos command and Photoshop automatically duplicates the image, crops out a photo, and repeats the process, eventually ending up with individual images cropped and straightened.
Filter Gallery: The dialog box (Figure 1-3) enables you to preview and apply multiple filters, rearrange the order of filters, and preview results when you apply or turn off filters in combinations—all before actually applying the filter to the target image. If you have difficulty retracing your steps when you add multiple filters to create special effects, this feature is something you’ll like. Figure 1-3: The Filter Gallery dialog box enables you to add multiple filters in a dialog box and preview results before applying the filters to the active document.
Comprehensive 16-bit support: In Photoshop 7, the Photoshop user community was delighted to see more support for applying many edits to 16-bit images. Now, in Photoshop CS, the editing possibilities in 16-bit files is expanded, offering you options for creating layers, adding type, adding vector shapes, and more.
Layer comps: One of our favorite features is the addition of the Layer Comps palette. You can create different layer views in Photoshop and save the layer view as a layer comp. Turn on or off other layers and save as another layer comp. When you want to return to a given layers view, simply click on the respective eye icon in the Layer Comps palette.
Layer sets: You can group multiple layers in layer sets much like you group objects you find nested in Adobe Illustrator layers. Create new sets and add layers to individual sets. You can turn on and off views of layer sets and save the different views as layer comps (described in the preceding bullet).
Add text to paths: Use the Pen tool to create a path and add text to the path much like you add text to paths in Adobe Illustrator CS and Adobe InDesign CS.
Photomerge: Take photos in a panoramic view and let Photoshop assemble the images automatically into a single panoramic image.
Pixel aspect ratio: Photoshop introduces previews for images that will be seen on other screen formats such as NTSC monitors and wide screens. There are many other new additions to Photoshop CS. You can view live histograms as you work, add a lens blur to change the depth of field on images, replace colors in much easier steps, create picture packages, create huge documents supporting 300,000 pixels square with as many as 56 different channels, add special action and title-safe guides for video editing, and much more. As a single program upgrade, Photoshop CS introduces many new features. As part of the CS library of programs, you’ll find integration of your photo images with the other CS programs to be a breeze.
Adobe Illustrator CS
Tried and true Adobe Illustrator is the premier illustration program for designers and artists. Many people still use Macromedia Freehand because they know the program well and because they enjoy having multiple pages with different page sizes together in the same document. However, the advantages for using illustration programs together with other applications in the Creative Suite are significantly in favor of Adobe Illustrator. In the current version of Illustrator CS, you can import layered Illustrator files in Adobe InDesign, export layered Illustrator files to Adobe Acrobat while retaining layers in the destination PDF, dynamically edit objects from Acrobat layered PDFs in Illustrator, and take advantage of some new impressive features available in the CS version of Illustrator.
For more information on using Adobe Illustrator CS and some of its new features, see Part III. Adobe Illustrator CS is version 11 of the program and boasts some new features as well as improvements in several areas. Among the best of these updates are an overall improvement in speed and performance, new features for the treatment of type, and a worthwhile Print dialog box. These and other Illustrator CS features include:
3D Effects: An impressive 3D rendering function developed from Adobe Dimensions code. This feature is easier and faster than entry-level tools for creating 3D objects. You can revolve and extrude objects with previews as the objects are rendered, adjust lighting effects, and map artwork from objects in your Symbols palette. Target surface areas for mapping artwork are brilliantly shown in the Map Art dialog box selected from within the 3D Revolve Options or 3D Extrude and Bevel Options dialog boxes. As you map artwork to 3D objects, the preview shows a rendered version on the selected object, as shown in Figure 1-4.
Faster performance: Just about every object you create or modify in Illustrator CS is rendered in the program much faster than some of the painfully slow operations in earlier versions of the program. The 3D object rendering will dazzle you on computers with moderate speeds and ample RAM.
Graphic styles: Think about the object rendering tools discussed earlier in this section and working through a series of dialog boxes to apply rotations and lighting effects, mapping artwork on several sides, and then having to apply the same edits to other objects. Fortunately, Illustrator CS simplifies this process through graphic styles much like you would create styles when using text. Cross- Reference
Figure 1-4: Artwork mapped from the Symbols palette Scribble effects: If you are an old-school graphic designer and you like the feel of creating thumbnails and roughs with a little less of the computer-generated artwork appearance and perhaps a softer, friendlier look to your illustrations, the Scribble effect is for you. Create any object and apply Scribble to it much like you would apply a filter.
New type control: Illustrator CS has had a major upgrade to type features, including the addition of character and paragraph style sheets. For single-page ads and designs, the addition of style sheets enables you to perform tasks similar to setting type in layout programs.
Save files as templates: Illustrator CS introduces saving files as templates, which makes your design workflows much easier when sharing common color swatches, character and paragraph styles, and graphic styles. Create all the style sheets, add colors to your Swatches palette, and save the file as a template. All users in your workflow open the templates and use the same styles and color palettes.
Enhanced Adobe PDF support: Illustrator CS includes more Adobe PDF settings (formerly called job options) than previous saves to the PDF format. One great advantage in this new version is saving crop and bleed marks for previewing files designed for print from Adobe Acrobat. You have more consistency with transparency flattening and can save presets to control the attributes associated with saving as PDF. And, of course, Illustrator CS writes to the Acrobat 6 compatibility format, thus supporting Adobe PDF Layers when layered PDF exports are opened in Acrobat.
Tighter integration with layered Adobe Photoshop files: Some features are not always obvious when you start using a new upgrade. Take editing text between Illustrator CS files and Photoshop CS files as an example. This version of Illustrator now shares the same text composition technology as Photoshop CS, thereby enabling you to edit text in files imported to and from Photoshop when the vector layers are preserved. When you export files that contain type in vector layers in native Photoshop format, the type is editable. When you save the same file as a Photoshop PDF and then open it in Illustrator CS, the type remains a vector object but converts to outlines. When opening a Photoshop PDF in Acrobat with type layers, the type is not converted to outlines and remains searchable.
Much-improved print capabilities: It took 11 attempts for the Illustrator team to get the Print dialog box shaped up, and it has finally been accomplished in Illustrator CS. You don’t need to worry about having your Illustrator files imported in QuarkXPress at the service center to print your illustrations. Now Illustrator CS includes all the print controls that service technicians need, and your vendors should be happy to see the new design of the Print dialog box as shown in Figure 1-5. Figure 1-5: The new Illustrator CS dialog box offers much-improved options
Support for Microsoft Office: A tighter integration with Microsoft Office files has been implemented in Adobe Illustrator CS. You can export files for importing in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The artwork generated in Illustrator CS prints and displays with integrity from the Office applications.
Support for XMP metadata: XMP (eXtensible Metadata Platform) is an Adobe-developed XML framework that standardizes the creation, processing, and interchange of metadata. You can use metadata for searching files and creating templates for importing and exchanging data elements much like a database structure. In a large company where many artists labor to produce content, using XML-based structures eases data through complicated workflows. You may have heard much about XML (eXtensible Markup Language), but you may not know how to create XML documents or what to do with them. In Chapter 27, we cover examples for real-world uses of XML and how you can integrate XMP support from the CS programs in your workflows. Cross- Reference Note
Adobe InDesign CS
Had we written this book in 2003, we would have been divided about choosing Adobe InDesign as the first program to use as a layout application. After the introduction of Adobe InDesign CS, we’re unanimous in our belief that this program is, hands down, the best page-layout application ever developed for a microcomputer. No exceptions—Adobe InDesign CS is one of the more significant achievements among the CS programs. Typesetting in InDesign rivaling typesetting composers of yesterday and features you perhaps have wished for but may have concluded were impossible. Better integration with the other CS applications, better printing support, customizable workspaces, an abundance of new tools, enhanced color control, and more make Adobe InDesign CS the premier page-layout application for creative professionals. InDesign is the central hub of your creative workflow. You bring together the images and objects created in Adobe Photoshop CS and Adobe Illustrator CS. You either import type created in a word-processing program, import from Adobe’s new product InCopy, or you set type in the new InDesign Story Editor. With InDesign’s free-form ease of page layout, you lay out a design for publication. You then export the InDesign document as a PDF file suited for print, Web hosting, electronic file exchanges, or CD-ROM replication. If you want to include your design as HTML files for Web hosting, you package the document for GoLive CS. As you can see, InDesign’s role among the Creative Suite programs is the anchor where files are imported to assemble a design and ultimately exported for final packaging. InDesign CS is a major upgrade now in version 3 of the program, and the host of new features is more than we can identify here. Among the more significant new additions include:
New Story Editor: InDesign CS includes a Story Editor similar to what has appeared in Adobe PageMaker for several years. This story editor is more sophisticated, offering you many controls for the display of type as you create or edit copy in a separate window and the ability to apply styles; find and replace searched words, styles, fonts, indents, paragraph formatting, character colors, and OpenType features; fit copy to the layout; perform spell checks on one or multiple stories; provide an interactive preview for edited text in the Story Editor and in the page layout; apply XML tags; and more.
Separations and transparency previews: InDesign CS offers soft proofing options for previewing colors, ink percentages, separations (individually and in combination with each other), as well as a preview for how objects are affected when transparency flattening occurs. If you’ve ever unintentionally introduced a spot color in a layout, InDesign CS shows you all colors—process and spot—that will print on separations. You can use the previews to preflight files before packaging them as PDFs for your printer.
Bleeds and slugs: You can set up files with customizable bleed areas and an area for adding slugs. If you’re designing work for newspapers, magazines, or any client and you want to add notes and descriptions in a slug, InDesign CS supports setting up slugs specific to each page in a file where you can set slugs to different sizes and positions. You can quickly preview your documents to show the trimmed page, a page with bleeds, and a page with the bleeds and slug.
Nested styles: This feature is one of the more impressive additions to InDesign CS. Paragraph formatting may include a drop cap, the first two words in the first sentence bolded with a specific color, the remaining words set in a different font, and the following body copy in yet another font. Formatting multiple paragraphs with these attributes used to be very time-consuming and easily resulted in errors. Now, with InDesign CS, you can capture all attributes as a single style and, with one click, apply that style to one or more paragraphs within your document. To edit a font or color, simply return to the Paragraph Style Options dialog box shown in Figure 1-6, make your edits, and the copy is edited for all paragraphs identified with the respective style. Figure 1-6: The Paragraph Style Options dialog box
Improved text-editing features: A host of new features simplifies your text editing in InDesign CS. Switching from the Selection tool or the Direct Selection tool to the Type tool is easily handled by double-clicking in a body of text. You can use keyboard shortcuts (Option/Alt double-click with either selection tool) to quickly access the Text Frame Options dialog box where column attributes, inset spacing, baseline spacing, and vertical justification are handled. Preview real-time text reflows, text wraps, text frame scaling, and sizing. Scale text without adjusting type sizes using the transformation tools, align text to grids, set optical kerning to text for more visually attractive type formatting, and apply or suppress text wraps on hidden layers.
Running headers and footers for tables: Import text probably should be tab-delimited data files, import Microsoft Excel files, or set type and convert to a table. You can then break up table text in several separate frames spread across a page or multiple pages, much like you would flow a body of text in columns or across multiple pages. Add a header or footer or both to the first table and all subsequent table links automatically update with the same headers and footers.
Info palette: InDesign CS supports a new Info palette similar to the same palette in Adobe Illustrator CS and Adobe Photoshop CS. The InDesign CS Info palette shows you at-a-glance information related to a selected body of copy such as the number of words and characters contained in a text frame. This information is helpful where tight copy fitting is needed in your design.
Integration with Adobe InCopy: Adobe InCopy is a stand-alone copy editor that you can purchase separately from the Creative Suite. InCopy is designed to handle the needs of copy editors in editorial workflows. Copy created or modified in InCopy is designed to work on the same InDesign file as the layout artist simultaneously without disturbing each other’s edits. InDesign CS offers you complete integration with InCopy where editing is dynamic and immediately reflected in a document from edits made by members of your workflow team.
Enhanced support for native Illustrator and Photoshop file imports: InDesign supports direct import of native file formats from Illustrator CS and Photoshop CS, including layers and transparency. New features added to native-file-format support include the ability to import files containing spot colors, spot channels, and DCS (Desktop Color Separation) file support when interacting with transparency. Because of so many improvements in all the authoring programs in the Creative Suite and much-improved color management across the programs, there is much less need today to save files from Photoshop as DCS 2.0. If you don’t know what it means, don’t worry about it—we won’t spend much time talking about DCS files.
Workspace management: Your InDesign CS workspace and user interface have been changed to a more flexible customizable environment. You can tuck away palettes on either the left or right side of the document window and dock them. Click on a tab and the palette springs open horizontally. After docking palettes and organizing your environment, you can save your workspace and return to your custom defaults. You can save multiple workspaces and switch between them from the selection of a simple menu command. A redesigned Control palette adds quick access to editing tools selected in the toolbox. You can display the toolbox in single or double columns and dock it at the top of the document window. You can customize keyboard shortcuts and you have options for using keyboard shortcuts consistent with or Adobe PageMaker.
Pathfinder palette: The same options for combining vector objects with the Pathfinder tools found in Adobe Illustrator CS are also now available in InDesign CS.
New ink-mixing support: In InDesign CS you can create custom ink sets well beyond specifying process and spot colors. The New Mixed Ink Group dialog box enables you to mix process colors with a spot color, add a spot color and a varnish together as a mixed ink, create a new mixed-ink group, apply the group to a range of colors, and automatically update all objects to reflect changes made in the mixed-ink group.
Transparency blending mode support: Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS users will recognize blending modes such as multiply, screen, hard light, soft light, luminosity, and so on. These blending modes are in InDesign CS, where you can create the same effects you also apply in the other CS programs supporting blending modes. In Figure 1-7, notice the Photoshop image containing transparency. The file was imported without clipping paths from a native Photoshop file. In the Transparency palette, Multiply was used to darken the image. The Photoshop image rests atop a vector object created in Adobe Illustrator CS. The only way you can create the same look using any other page-layout program is to rasterize the Illustrator file and create a composite image in Photoshop where the blending mode is used. Doing so prevents you from moving objects in the page-layout program or adjusting transparency to different levels, thereby adding more time and additional steps to your design-creation process if changes are needed.
New PDF export capabilities: Export to PDF with Acrobat 6 compatibility and you can retain layers that you can individually view in any Acrobat 6 viewer. Export to PDF/X-1a or PDF/X3 formats for files destined for professional printing. Export rich media introduced in InDesign such as movie and sound clips to PDF for viewing in Acrobat viewers. Add bookmarks and buttons for creating interactive PDF documents.
To learn more about PDF/X formats, see Chapter 35. For more information on exporting InDesign documents to PDF with Adobe PDF layers, see Chapter 12. Figure 1-7: InDesign CS blends raster and vector objects using transparency blending modes. Package for GoLive: To complete the integration between the CS programs, InDesign also supports exporting your content as XML for easy repurposing in Adobe GoLive. A much tighter integration between a layout in InDesign CS and exporting stories, images, and multimedia files to repurpose documents offer you impressive results. For information on packaging InDesign files for Adobe GoLive CS, see Chapter 25. For more information on exporting XML, see Chapter 27.
Improved printing features: Some of the clumsiness in the Print dialog box has been removed, and InDesign CS now offers printing controls that should be well accepted at service centers and print shops. Easier access to custom page sizes, autofitting printers’ marks on output, and easy access to only one dialog box when printing files are all available in InDesign CS. InDesign CS has more new features than the ones described here. A new measuring tool has been introduced; impressive support for XML and XMP is integrated in the program; new preferences for a host of new features have been added; type-on paths are supported, and much more. Cross- Reference Cross- Reference For more information on using new features in InDesign CS, look over the chapters in Part III.
Adobe GoLive CS
Adobe GoLive CS, now in version 7, is a Web authoring and site management program. As a stand-alone product, GoLive has suffered in sales because many Web designers favor other applications by several competing vendors. Because GoLive has had a major upgrade in the CS version, you should consider it for your Web design needs if you use the other CS applications. As a participant in the Creative Suite, GoLive CS has many benefits for handling file imports and exports similar to options in other CS programs. As a stand-alone editor, GoLive has been redesigned and has reached a level of sophistication equal to or greater than other HTML editing programs competing for the same market.
For more information on using new features in GoLive CS, see Chapter 25. Among some of the features available in GoLive CS are the ability to import native file formats from other CS applications much like you have available in InDesign CS including Photoshop layered files, smart objects, and smart tracing made from cutouts in other CS native files; complete integration with InDesign CS where paragraph, character, and inline text styles are translated in GoLive documents; consistent color management using the Adobe Color Engine; PDF previews of Web pages; visual CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) authoring and previewing; and a completely new source code. Some of these and other new feature highlights include: Working with Smart Objects: You can open, edit, and place Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe Illustrator CS, and Adobe PDF documents within GoLive CS.
CSS packaging for GoLive: You can package Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) from InDesign for GoLive complete with style sheets converted into internal and external CSS files.
Create rollovers from layered Photoshop files: As native Photoshop PSD layered files can be imported in GoLive, you can easily create rollover effects using layers.
Import Photoshop swatches: You can convert custom color from Photoshop’s Color Swatches palette to GoLive color swatches. This enables you to maintain a consistent color scheme for a given client’s print and Web graphics.
Consistent workspace management with InDesign CS: The workspace architecture used in InDesign CS was originally derived from the GoLive architecture bringing both programs together with a similar user interface and workspace environment. You can dock and nest palettes on either side of the document window (as shown in Figure 1-8), save custom workspaces, and load them from a simple menu command much the same as you do in InDesign.
Image cropping: GoLive CS supports cropping features consistent with cropping images in other CS applications. When working with native Adobe CS file formats such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and PDF, you can crop images directly in GoLive.
Advanced PDF support: Create, view, and add links to PDF files directly from within GoLive CS. You can edit bookmarks and links in Adobe PDF documents without having to open files in Acrobat. You can create PDF previews of your Web designs before exporting to PDF.
Site diagram exports: A site diagram can be exported from GoLive CS in PDF or SVG formats to assist you in collaborating with colleagues and clients.
Figure 1-8: The GoLive CS user interface lets you dock and nest palettes. Split views: You can split views between Source view and Layout view for faster editing and toggling between the graphic user interface and editing source code.
Co-Author Editor: Web site contributors can easily update Web sites using the Adobe Co-Author Editor. Rather than launch GoLive where the tools and environment is more intimidating, co-authors use a more simplified editor containing only the tools required to make edits. As the Web site designer, you specify co-author editing sections in your site design and permit access to the sections requiring ongoing edits with Adobe Co-Author Editor.
GoLive supports a long list of new features and is a major improvement over pervious versions of the program. If you’re a graphic designer focused on print, perhaps the exports to GoLive from within InDesign CS is where you’ll spend most of your time. If your work is Web site design, you’ll want to spend a lot of time learning all the features GoLive offers you. In this book, we offer you a starting point in Chapter 25, where you can glean some knowledge for using GoLive to create a Web site. In other chapters, we cover the integration of GoLive with the other CS programs. However, our treatment of GoLive is light and you’ll need to acquire some other guides and publications in order to become proficient in using the program. In addition Total Training has released a CD called GoLive CS Essentials that we highly recommend.
Adobe Acrobat Professional
Whereas Adobe InDesign CS is the hub on your creative satellite, PDF is at the center of the file-format universe. All the CS programs export and import PDF documents, and the expansion for PDF support is found in all the new product upgrades. For design workflows, Adobe Acrobat Professional in version 6 offers you many tools to facilitate collaboration with colleagues, clients, and prepress technicians. You can
Set up e-mail–based reviews for markup and approval of design concepts and proofs Export comments and corrections directly to Microsoft Word text documents (on Windows XP with Office XP only) Prepare files for electronic exchanges, Web hosting, and screen viewing complete with embedded graphics and fonts Prepare files for digital prepress and printing Authenticate and secure documents Develop media shows and slide presentations for kiosks, meetings, and presentations Design forms for point-of-sale purchases hosted on Web sites or distributed on CD-ROMs Organize your design environment and catalog design campaigns embedding native files in PDFs for an organized storage system Search for content contained on CDs, DVDs, network servers, and Web sites Create accessible documents for clients needing compliance with U.S. Federal law governing document accessibility
All in all, Acrobat Professional has a significant place in your design workflow. Acrobat Professional was released several months earlier than the other CS programs and the re-branding of the program does not imply a part of the Creative Suite. Part of the reason for the early release of Acrobat was the necessity to develop the PDF 1.5 specifications used by all the other CS programs. With PDF version 1.5 and Acrobat 6 compatibility, you can enjoy features like creating Adobe PDF layers from the CS program exports to PDF and the creation of PDF/X files used for printing and prepress.
Adobe Acrobat is unlike the other CS programs in that the application is designed to serve many different office professionals. Acrobat might be used by engineers, legal professionals, business office workers, government workers, school districts, and just about anyone in any industry working on a computer today. Therefore, there are a number of tools you, as a creative professional, may not use when working in Acrobat just because those tools may not serve your needs. The following are among the additions to the new version of Acrobat that are most suited for design and publishing workflows: E-mail–based reviews: For design concepts routed through committees, offices, and remote locations, you can set up an e-mail–based review where a PDF document originating from sketches or electronic tight comps created in InDesign CS is sent to members of a creative team. People comment and return the comment data back to the PDF author, where comments are integrated back to the original PDF document. You can sort comments, set comment status, summarize comments, export comments to Word documents (on Windows XP with Office XP installed), invite additional reviewers, track reviews, and solicit client sign-offs on final proofs. E-mail–based reviews are accessible to either Mac or Windows users. Acrobat also supports another review process called browser-based reviews. At the introduction of Acrobat 6 Professional, and as of this writing, browser-based reviews are not available on the Mac. To address cross-platform performance more effectively, discussions on reviews in this book refer only to e-mail–based reviews.
New viewing tools: Acrobat Professional introduces new viewing tools created with design professionals and engineers in mind. The Loupe tool is used to show a zoomed view in an area on a document page without the need to zoom in on the page. Artists creating large trade show panels can easily examine areas for proper design and potential printing problems. The Pan and Zoom window introduced in Acrobat 6 functions similarly to the Navigator palette in other Adobe CS applications where a thumbnail of a page is seen in its entirety while the page is zoomed in on the Document pane. In addition, you can split a view to show different pages in the same document in a split screen like the example shown in Figure 1-9. Figure 1-9: The Split Screen command divides the Document pane into two.
Soft proofing color: Acrobat goes further than InDesign CS in offering you tools for proofing color. You can view separations like those described earlier in the InDesign CS new features, preview transparency, preview overprints, and preview color changes when changing color profiles.
Preflighting files: Acrobat offers you an elaborate set of tools to preflight files before sending them to your printer. The Preflight command assesses your file for potential printing problems and reports back to you any problems found in the document. Custom Preflight profiles can be created in Acrobat, profiles can be exported and shared in your workflow, and profiles can be loaded from sets created by your printer. Job ticketing and reporting can be embedded in a PDF document as a result of preflighting the file.
Comprehensive print controls: This version of Acrobat is the first version that supports professional printing without the need for acquiring an expensive third-party plug-in. Print options such as specifying halftone frequency, printing crop marks and bleed marks, printing separations, emulsion control, transparency flattening, and similar features found in layout programs are supported.
Search PDFs without index files: You can search PDFs saved to a hard drive, a network server, a CD-ROM, or a DVD without the need for creating a search index file.
PDF/X compliance: Built into Acrobat Distiller in the Acrobat Professional version, you can distill PostScript with PDF/X compliance. PDF/X is a subset of the PDF format more suitable for printing and prepress. You can create PDF/X-compliant files from within the Preflight: Profiles dialog box for PDF documents not distilled with PDF/X compliance.
View and manage Adobe PDF layers: You can create layered files from Illustrator CS and InDesign CS. You can then view the resultant PDF containing layers in any Acrobat viewer version 6 and above. Creating layered PDFs offers you options for client previewing different designs for a campaign, design pieces with multiple languages, scientific and electrical drawings, and similar designs. You can merge layers, flatten layers, and change layer properties in Acrobat Professional.
Adobe Acrobat provides you with additional design opportunities for a variety of different output needs. New features for an elaborate set of multimedia support have been introduced in Acrobat Professional. You can secure files with Acrobat Security or with security handlers marketed by third-party vendors; create search index files to search collections of PDFs faster; create custom Adobe PDF settings (formerly known as job options) and distribute them to all your InDesign CS users for consistent PDF creation; certify documents with digital signatures; create PDF documents from any program; and import the PDF as a graphic image that can be sized and transformed in other CS programs. Use Acrobat as a file-format translator to port foreign file formats to all the other CS programs, and much more.
Version Cue
Along with the CS applications, with either the Standard or Premium edition, you also get a marvelous tool saves versions of your designs created in Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe Illustrator CS, Adobe InDesign CS, and Adobe GoLive CS. Note that Version Cue support is not available in either Adobe Acrobat Professional or Adobe ImageReady CS. For more information on how to set up the Version Cue environment and how to save files with different versions, see Chapter 7.
After you install Version Cue and enable it in your System Preferences (Mac) or your Control Panel (Windows), an icon appears in the lower-left corner of the Save and Save As dialog boxes. You begin using Version Cue by saving a version of your design to a Version Cue-monitored folder, similar to what’s shown in Figure 1-10. If you change the design—for example, changing a color in a duotone image in Adobe Photoshop CS—you can save the change as a separate version.
When you open an InDesign CS or GoLive CS file containing several versions or you place a file in InDesign CS, the version promoted to the top level is either the version you open or the file you see imported. The advantage of using Version Cue is having easier tracking of your files and the current version used in a design project. Using the example of the Photoshop CS image imported into InDesign CS, if your client wants you to return to a previous version, you simply select the Versions menu command and promote the desired version to the top level. The Photoshop CS file imported in InDesign CS is dynamically updated in the InDesign CS document without your intervention.
Figure 1-10: Version Cue helps you manage different versions of your project.
OpenType fonts
In addition to the programs contained in the Creative Suite, you also find more than 100 OpenType fonts installed after completing your CS applications installation. OpenType fonts are a new font technology developed by Adobe Systems and Microsoft. OpenType fonts offer you new type-handling features among many of the CS applications; starting to convert your type library to OpenType fonts as soon as possible is a good idea. The kind of benefits you derive from using OpenType fonts include: Cross-platform support: OpenType fonts are completely cross-platform. You can copy the same font to either Mac OS or Windows. Obviously, licensing restrictions do apply, so be certain to check these restrictions when installing fonts on multiple computers.
Reliability: If you experience font problems at the time of printing, be certain to first reevaluate your font sets. Off-brand fonts, especially many of a TrueType nature, can prevent embedding problems. Furthermore, some quality fonts carry licensing restrictions that prevent font embedding. If you create PDF files with font embedding, be certain to review the licensing restrictions on your fonts and check to see if font embedding is prohibited. Many quality fonts offer you complete embedding permissions that help prevent problems when it comes time to print your creations. Among good-quality fonts that permit font embedding are those found in the Adobe type library of OpenType fonts.
More glyphs: A glyph is an individual font character. TrueType fonts and all earlier PostScript fonts contain a maximum 256 glyphs. The new OpenType fonts can contain more than 65,000 glyphs. These additional characters offer you many discretionary options for kerning pairs and expanded ligatures as well as special characters, precisely proportioned fractions, and foreign-language character alternatives. A portion of a glyph set for an OpenType font installed with the Creative Suite is shown in Figure 1-11.
Figure 1-11: OpenType fonts offer you more than 65,000 characters. Multi-language support: All the OpenType Pro fonts contain characters needed for multiple-language typesetting.
Easier font management: OpenType fonts contain only a single file for font viewing on-screen and fonts used for printing. Unlike PostScript fonts containing separate files for screen views and each face in a font set contained in a separate file, OpenType fonts are built in a single file, thereby providing you more ease in keeping track of fonts, installing them, and locating them. Several CS applications support a Glyphs palette where you can view an entire font in a scrollable window. You can insert a character at the insertion point by double-clicking on a glyph in the palette. You no longer need to open a utility to view all characters in a given font set when using programs like Adobe InDesign CS and Adobe Illustrator CS.
Summary
The Creative Suite is a collection of imaging applications offering professional designers complete integration for print, Web hosting, and screen viewing.
Programs from a single software vendor provide consistent user interfaces and similar menu and tool functions, which reduce learning curves for new hires.
Adobe Photoshop CS version offers new tools for brightness controls, a new File Browser, more automated functions, new layer management, new filter tools, and customizable keyboard shortcuts.
Adobe Illustrator CS version 11offers new tools for creating 3D objects, character and paragraph style sheets, faster performance, tighter integration with Adobe Photoshop CS, enhanced PDF support, and improved print capabilities.
Adobe InDesign CS version 3 offers sophisticated typesetting features, including optical character kerning, nested style sheets, formatting tables with headers and footers, a Story Editor, and integration with the Adobe InCopy Editor.
Adobe GoLive CS version 7 offers new sophisticated tools for creating Web pages and Web sites. Together with Adobe InDesign CS and the other CS programs, GoLive CS supports file imports from native formats and direct exports to Adobe PDF.
Adobe Acrobat 6 Professional offers the creative professional tools for reviewing comps, soft proofing color, preflighting documents, PDF/X compliance, and a new Print dialog box suited for professional printing.
Version Cue is a utility that supports saving files from Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe Illustrator CS, Adobe InDesign CS, and Adobe GoLive CS in different document versions. Changing versions dynamically updates linked files in the other CS programs.
The Creative Suite Premium Edition provides you with more than 100 OpenType fonts. OpenType fonts are a new font technology jointly developed by Adobe Systems and Microsoft Corporation. An OpenType font can contain more than 65,000 glyphs, offering you more choices for ligatures, discretionary ligatures, foreign-language characters, proportional fractions, and special characters.
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