Arguably the biggest announcement to come out of the annual Adobe MAX Conference last month was the unveiling of the Adobe Creative Cloud…

It was the major focus of the first day’s keynote address, and then different components of it were covered in greater detail in a number of the later educational sessions.

What Is the Creative Cloud?

Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch describes it as an optional membership-based program formed of three pillars: Creative Services, Creative Community, and Creative Applications.

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Last week Adobe revealed 11 sneak peek videos of technology they are working on but haven’t released yet, and while Photoshop Image Deblurring and InDesign Liquid Layout got much of the attention, there were still some amazing developments in the video realm as well – and all three of those are covered below.

Naturally, Adobe says there are never any guarantees for what may or may not appear in a production release, or when… (maybe CS6?) But nevertheless, major new product features very often appear in these previews before they make the real tools (case in point, Content-Aware Fill).

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Here is the latest news on Photoshop Image Deblurring:  In response to some of your questions here at ProDesignTools, we contacted Adobe and requested they help “bring into focus” the new Deblur feature that could be in a future Photoshop. We got in touch with Dr. Jue Wang, Adobe senior research scientist, and as a direct result his team has provided more examples of the technology using notable photographs. Most of these are well-known from history or come from independent sources, and thus began with natural camera blur.

For those just joining us on the story, here’s a quick review: Earlier this month we ran a feature article on this “sneak peek” of an amazing new capability revealed at Adobe MAX. Several blurry photographs were processed through a new Photoshop plug-in to give before-and-after results that wowed the crowd, even more than the other popular sneak demos at the show. [See the full video in HD]

Why did controversy later arise? For the last brief image of his demonstration, intending to be entertaining and relevant to the audience, Dr. Wang used a photo of Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch that had been synthetically blurred. Creation of synthetic inputs is common practice across the research in this field, but out of simplicity, Dr. Wang did not go into those origins at the time.

The original sharp version was found online, and even though the other images came from real-world blur due to camera shake, this opened the door for some to raise questions about the efficacy of the developing technology. After we contacted them, Adobe added an update to their Photoshop.com blog post explaining why synthetic blurring was used for that example, but some skepticism remained.

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This very cool InDesign “sneak” comes fresh from the big Adobe MAX conference earlier this month…  What’s a sneak?

We’ve gone through the company and found the 11 coolest demos of technology that are at work within Adobe. These are things that are on the cutting edge of the technology. They may show up in a product, they may not. The demo may work, it may not. But this is your chance to get closer and really understand where we’re going and what we’re doing.

OK fair enough.  Here’s the set up:

“I want to show you some things we’re thinking about on the InDesign Team. As you know, it’s actually been about a year since we launched Digital Publishing Suite, and we’ve had fantastic traction in terms of getting great-looking content on tablet devices. So I have an iPad here and as you see I can turn it over and tilt it, let the accelerometer do its trick. We’re actually seeing two different layouts here – two different layouts – which creates two different files. So designers actually have to create two separate InDesign files for this one device.

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Can you imagine a new feature in Photoshop that could automatically deblur photographs to restore the originally-intended subject material to clarity and focus?  Adobe can…

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Just back from Adobe MAX 2011 and it was sensational… The keynote presentations were larger than life and filled with news and demos of new Adobe software and initiatives. The hundreds of diverse product sessions were incredibly educational. The show floor was a buzzing activity of experts, partners, and vendors… And the renowned “MAX Bash” party did not disappoint.

But perhaps the best part for those who weren’t there is the majority of the sessions were captured on video and are now offered online for free… In other words, pick your favorite Adobe product(s) and you can learn the latest tips, tricks, and techniques from the top instructors in the field from the comfort of your desktop. There are three major tracks below (Design, Develop, and Envision) with scores of different topics; most sessions are about an hour long and the collection runs to over 160 hours of video in total.

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[UPDATE — Show special!  Save 20% on CS5.5 upgrades at the Adobe Store.]

Adobe MAX 2011 – the worldwide user conference – runs this week and if you aren’t in Los Angeles, the two major keynotes will be broadcast free, with both live and on-demand streaming… The company is promising lots of big news and announcements, so if you can’t join us there in person, you can see it all unfold online.

What’s more, over 160 free hours of the best training and tutorial sessions from this year’s show will also be available.

Adobe Dreamweaver tweets, “To hear BIG Adobe MAX announcements, register now to listen LIVE to the keynote presentations Monday & Tuesday morning…”

Adobe Creative Suite posts, “The countdown has officially begun for Adobe MAX! Even if you can’t make it to the live event, you can still join in on the fun! To hear the BIG announcements we have planned, register now to listen LIVE to the MAX keynotes Monday & Tuesday morning.”

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[UPDATE – Also see our new Lightroom 4 Giveaway!]

MAX 2011 – the big yearly conference for all-things-Adobe – is coming up in just two months in Los Angeles, California… And continuing our long tradition of free Adobe giveaways, we’ve got one free and full conference pass (worth $1,495) to give away, plus one $400-off ticket discount, both courtesy of our friends at Adobe Systems.

Adobe MAX 2011 will be chock full of expert keynotes and presentations, technical ses­sions and talks, surprise announcements and sneak-peeks, evening events and get-togethers, and possibly some freebies.

In fact, most of the over 200 training and tutorial sessions from MAX 2010 were recorded and are still available on-demand for free viewing, covering all Adobe tools.

Anyway, back to the ticket giveaway: We’re awarding one full and free conference pass as a grand prize, and one $400 ticket discount to the runner-up. Any travel and lodging arrange­ments are the responsibility of the winners. The contest is open to residents of North America, U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa – and all you need to do for a chance to win is one (or both) of the following:

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“Adobe MAX is an experience unlike any other — an opportunity to learn from the experts and connect with thousands of the most influential designers, developers, and decision-makers in our industry.”

If you’d like to go to Adobe MAX this year in L.A. (October 1-5) and save $400 in the process, just purchase (full or upgrade) any one of the products listed below from the Adobe online store and you’ll receive a special promo code that will discount your regular full confer­ence pass price by US$400…

But since the upgrade price for many of these products is less than $400, basically you’re getting the software for more than free!

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[UPDATE (June 6th) – MAX registration is now open!  Save $200 with an early-bird discount - or an even better promotion, save $400 with coupon code from Adobe product purchased.]

MAX is the big annual conference for all-things-Adobe. One of the best aspects of MAX last year was the key presentations and announcements were webcast live, and most of the rest of the talks and lectures were offered later on-demand. These sessions are still available for viewing and are a fantastic free resource (see the list) for learning about Adobe software. There are more than 200 recorded videos on topics ranging from Photoshop Tips, Techniques & Power Shortcuts to “Deep Dives” for Dreamweaver and Flash.

This year, MAX will happen from October 1-5 at the Los Angeles, CA Convention Center. It’s a great time to tune in online or to attend in person for the news, excitement, training, gather­ings, and giveaways (last year all attendees received free Motorola Droid 2 smartphones and Google TVs) – plus the chance to meet the experts and ask your own questions.

(…not to mention, enjoy all the hilarious fake commercials for Adobe products!)

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