We think the final release of Lightroom 3 could be coming soon, from reading all the signs… These two new videos from Terry White and Adobe TV build the momentum and anticipation:

Read more…

Since we started offering the direct download links for all CS5 product trials last week, there have been some inquiries on Acrobat’s absence from Adobe’s suite downloads, and it also seems to be a common question out there on the Net…

Acrobat 9.3 Pro is the version that is officially part of Creative Suite 5, but it is not included in the trial versions of any of Adobe’s CS5 suites… So if you would like it, Acrobat Pro must be down­loaded separately (in English, French, German, or Japanese), with its own 30-day trial period – although note that Adobe offers an Acrobat 9 trial for Windows only.

If you decide to convert your trial and purchase any CS5 suite edition on either Windows or Mac (except for Production Premium), you will receive a full working copy of Acrobat 9 Pro. Please note – very important - you need (and should make sure to receive) a separate serial number from Adobe for Acrobat 9 Pro – the main CS5 key you get for the rest of the suite will not work for Acrobat.

So, why did Adobe separate Acrobat 9 from the rest of the CS5 suite, for trials and activation? We suspect it’s because Acrobat 9 will be celebrating its second birthday soon and the release of Acrobat 10 is due out later this year – and so by creating separate packages and license keys, it will make it much easier to swap the new version of Acrobat into Creative Suite 5 when it arrives…

At that point we’ll probably see a point release of CS5 that includes the new Acrobat 10, say for example Creative Suite 5.3 (similarly to how CS3 became CS3.3 when Acrobat 9 was announced and incorporated in June 2008) – and current CS5 users will easily be able to upgrade if desired.

[UPDATE (November 15th) – The new release of Acrobat X is out! Download a free trial, or find out more about the upcoming CS5.5 point release...]

[UPDATE (June 8th) – Lightroom 3 is now shipping! Win a free upgrade.]

With May wrapping up it’s time to take another look at a question we first wrote about two months ago, “when is Lightroom 3 coming out?” Back then we concluded, “with luck we expect to see general availability of Adobe Lightroom 3.0 in June, 2010.” Since then, the evidence has grown that we could see the final LR3 quite soon, perhaps only a matter of weeks…

First, the current Lightroom 3 beta ver­sion will expire at the end of June, and remains free to download and use until then. But come June 30th this beta will stop working, and it seems unlikely that Adobe would ask its hungry Lightroom userbase to hold on for a third beta or a further extension before our beta work­flows are switched to the final release – even moreso considering it’s been nearly two years since Lightroom 2 first came out.

Second, this week there’s been a big publicity push surrounding the launch of Scott Kelby’s new Lightroom 3 book, which is now on preorder… The consensus around the web is this means the final product must be getting close.

Lastly, and perhaps most interestingly, is the upcoming expiration date of a longstanding Adobe special offer whereby you can save 30% on Lightroom 2 by buying it together with Photoshop… This popular deal has been in place since Lightroom 2 launched on July 29, 2008, and it’s now ending on June 7th. So after almost two years, perhaps one can speculate – why would such offer terms now be wrapping up? Could it be because Lightroom 2 may soon no longer be available for purchase, possibly, and replaced with something else? Nobody outside of Adobe can say for sure of course, but we’ll soon find out how meaningful this might be – and if the LR2 offer could be followed by a similar one for a future version.

So put it all together and we could be looking at only a question of weeks now until the final release and delivery of Adobe Lightroom 3… One can hope anyway, and with a bit of luck the upgrade price will stay at $99.

[UPDATE (June 6th) – A new user report in the forums could be confirming: "Lightroom 3 is going to be annouced this monday or tuesday (7th or 8th of June). heard it from the adobe spokesman from pma australia 2010. he confirmed it when demonstrating Lightroom 3 Public Beta 2."]

As reported earlier here and here, and contrary to what some rabble-rousers might want you to believe, Adobe very much wants to be a big part of the future of HTML5… As the leading provider of web development tools, Adobe needs to be the leading provider of whatever the future of web development tools is, else they lose their relevancy. And they just took a big first step with the official announcement of the free HTML5 Pack for Dreamweaver CS5, which was tipped at an Adobe Evangelist Q&A session last month…

While HTML5 and CSS3 won’t be finalized for some time, this extension provides initial support in Dreamweaver CS5 for a set of currently-implemented functions, helping you easily create HTML5 pages and CSS3 styles. It introduces great features like multiscreen preview (which lets you see what your web page will look like on phones, tablets, and desktop computers simultaneously within Dreamweaver), HTML5 and CSS3 code hinting, video and audio tag support in Live View, and even a few HTML5-compliant starter layouts to get you up and running with HTML5 layouts quickly.

If you’ve been tuned into the technology news lately, you’ll know these sorts of improvements mark a great advance for Dreamweaver users working in this fast-changing world of smart­phones and other portable devices. Although their specifications are still being finalized, HTML5 and CSS3 can be used with any browser that currently supports them. The most recent ver­sions of the leading browsers (Safari, Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer, Chrome) support at least some (a few support many) HTML5 and CSS3 features.

Here’s a complete list of available resources for these new capabilities, available immediately:

• Download: Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 HTML5 Pack
• Article: Using the HTML5 Pack for Dreamweaver CS5
• Discussion Forum: The Dreamweaver CS5 HTML5 Pack
• Demo Video:

So Adobe Photoshop CS5 is finally out in its official release, with over 100 new and enhanced features… What’s the word out there so far? First, a quick summary of what’s new:

 ◊ Photoshop CS5 delivers exceptional power and creative control with the next generation of advanced tools for outstanding image manipulation and superior compositing. It redefines image editing with a strong focus on photography, including breakthrough selection capabi­lities, content-aware fill options, state-of-the-art processing of raw images, advanced creation of High Dynamic Range (HDR) imagery, automated lens corrections, puppet warp technology, extraordinary new painting effects, and a sweeping range of workflow and performance enhancements that boost productivity.

 ◊ Photoshop CS5 Extended takes it even further, as a superset of tools and features made for professionals who want to push the boundaries of digital imaging. It delivers all the editing, compositing, and painting capabilities of Photoshop CS5 plus powerful new features for creat­ing stunning 3D artwork from selections, graphics, and type with direct control over lighting, materials, and meshes. See the complete differences between Standard vs. Extended.

And here’s what the reviewers have to say about it:

“When was the last time software changed the way you think and see? Photoshop CS5 will.”
  — John Paul Caponigro, photographer

“Each new version of Photoshop has included many exciting enhancements, but Photoshop CS5 is the most amazing technological jump I’ve seen since I started using the software.”
  — Ira Block, Ira Block Photography

“The Content-Aware Fill feature in Photoshop CS5 got a wow from me when I first used it. It is very good at replacing areas where you would otherwise need to use more strokes and time to clone or heal out a distracting element in a photograph.”
  — Dianne Taylor-Misztela, TM Photo

Read more…

Yes, CS5 is out! It looks like a phenomenal release, and we have full coverage – including new products, pricing, configurations, system reqs, videos, “what’s new” feature lists, and more:

• Creative Suite 5 Product Overview  
• CS5 Full Product Configuration Matrix
• CS5 Complete System Requirements
• CS5 Pricing for Commercial and Education
• What’s New in Photoshop CS5  
• What’s New in Dreamweaver CS5  
• What’s New in Illustrator CS5  
• What’s New in InDesign CS5  
• What’s New in Flash Pro CS5  
• All About New Flash Catalyst CS5  
• What’s New in Contribute CS5
• What’s New in Premiere Pro CS5  
• What’s New in After Effects CS5  

ALL CS5 products are immediately available for purchase and instant download, with free shipping on all Adobe orders over €500/£350 in Europe and the U.K. (no coupon or promo code is required)…

On Adobe’s site: If you’re considering upgrading from your current software, here’s a helpful upgrade guide. Also new is an excellent FAQ covering purchasing policies and key product changes… The online documentation for all CS5 products also just went up.

Lastly and importantly, the CS5 free trial downloads and Student and Teacher Editions
(up to 80% off) are also now available!

[UPDATE (May 13th) – Adobe CS5 is now shipping and downloadable in 16 languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Czech, Polish, Russian, and Korean.]

[UPDATE (April 30th) – As forecast below, all CS5 products are now shipping today!]

Adobe’s Creative Suite 5 could be released as soon as next week. What’s more, the free trial downloads and Student and Teacher Editions will be available on the same day. That’s the latest word from Terry White, Worldwide Design Evangelist for Adobe Systems, at an online Q&A session yesterday afternoon…

Here’s the dialogue:

Question: When will CS5 hit the shelves? When I called Adobe, they said the release date would be April 30th. Terry, can you confirm this?
Terry White: I can’t confirm or deny it, but if that’s what they told you…
Terry White: The official answer is mid-May. In any event, April 30th – if it’s April 30th – would be the time it would leave the doors of Adobe, not arrive.

Question: How about the official date for CS5 trial versions?
Terry White: Previously the release of the trials has lagged. However I’m pleased to announce that whatever the official release date is, the free trial downloads will be available the same day.

Question: And the Student (Education) Editions? Will they lag again as they did in CS4 or be out at the same time? Thank you.
Terry White: Everything should be available at the same time.

So this represents a much improved release calendar over CS4, which as we’ve previously noted wasn’t available until about four weeks after its announce­ment date, with the free trials and Education versions following a month after that… For CS5, the April 30th date above is con­firmed anecdotally by other reports here and here, and would mean everything potentially being available within eighteen days of the April 12th launch.

A ship date of next Friday also means there’s only one week left to buy/download CS4 from Adobe and get a free upgrade to CS5, as well as only one week left in our free Photoshop CS5 giveaway!

The “Ask a CS Pro” session above lasted for over an hour and there was plenty of other great information shared which we’ll be covering in a new post next week.

[UPDATE (June 8th) – Lightroom 3 is out! Win a free upgrade.]

We think we know when Lightroom 3 is going to ship, but while we’re waiting Adobe yesterday released a new update to Lightroom 2, bringing the popular photo management package now up to version 2.7… Adobe has added support for new and additional cameras, plus some enhancements and corrections for issues in previous releases. There were also changes to improve compatibility with settings in Lightroom 3 beta 2, and lastly the Camera Raw cache limit was increased to 200GB. New camera models added include the Canon EOS 550D, Sony A450, and Panasonic G2 and G10 (see full list of Lightroom-supported cameras).

If you already own Lightroom 2, then the update to 2.7 is free and can be downloaded here for Windows or here for Macintosh (in English, French, and German). If you still have Lightroom 1 those same links can get you to version 1.4, though a full upgrade to version 2.7 is only $99. Or you can try it out first for free.

As is customary, Adobe has released new versions of Camera Raw and DNG Converter at the same time, versions 5.7 for both Windows and Mac.

Missed the big event? No problem! You can watch a full replay… It’s about an hour in length, but we promise you there’s so much tightly packed into that hour that it could easily be five times as long! And even if you caught it the first time, we found it to be worth a review to catch what flew by before – plus the production values (as you might expect from Adobe) are pretty sweet…

(click at the bottom right for full-screen HD)

Late yesterday, in a post entitled, “CS5 Countdown is on…“, Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch wrote about the recent decision by Apple to restrict which Software Development Kits can be employed to produce iPad and iPhone apps:

So, what’s all the fuss about the Apple proposed revised SDK license?

Yesterday Apple released some proposed changes to their SDK license restricting the technologies that developers can use, including Adobe [Flash] software and others such as Unity and Titanium.

First of all, the ability to package an application for the iPhone or iPad is one feature in one product in Creative Suite. CS5 consists of 15 industry-leading applications, which contain hundreds of new capabilities and a ton of innovation. We intend to still deliver this capability in CS5 and it is up to Apple whether they choose to allow or disallow applications as their rules shift over time.

Secondly, multiscreen is growing beyond Apple’s devices. This year we will see a wide range of excellent smartphones, tablets, smartbooks, televisions and more coming to market and we are continuing to work with partners across this whole range to enable your content and applications to be viewed, interacted with and purchased.

Tune In

Creative Suite 5 is a tremendous leap forward, and I encourage you to tune into the global webcast on Monday 8am PDT and find out all the details.

In talking further about CS5, Lynch also reveals some screenshots and hints about what to expect on Monday – in particular focussing on how Adobe is incorporating social computing aspects for doing work across the network, adding more cloud-based capabilities that comple­ment client-side software, and enabling creation of content and applications across an increasing number of screens.

You can read the rest of Lynch’s piece here.

[UPDATE (April 21th) – Roger Risdal, Partner Product Manager at Adobe, has further commentary here on New language in Apple's new iPhone OS v4 SDK agreement. Also Adobe Flash Product Manager Mike Chambers' follow-up, On Adobe, Flash CS5 and iPhone Applications.]