[UPDATE (May 6th) – Major news out: Adobe Unveils New “CC” Release (CS7)...]

Adobe just slipped out a brief sneak peek of the upcoming new version (perhaps CS7?) of its popular InDesign application, “InDesign Sneak Peek: See What’s Coming Next.”  This short preview shows a revamped user interface demoing a new “Generate QR Code” feature.

Based on public information, we’ve previously written on how the next release of InDesign will be a native Cocoa app with full 64-bit support for high performance, and – if it’s been fully rearchitected like the similar changes coming for Flash Pro – then it should be much faster.

There’s also a customizable new user interface with light and dark themes (similar to what Photoshop got in CS6), as well as the long-awaited support for HiDPI displays (like the MacBook Pro Retina).

Finally, there’s now the capability to add and edit QR codes directly in any document, with a new command on the Object menu:

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Last week we got a sneak peek of a great feature that is likely to be in the next release of Photoshop: a new Camera Shake Reduction Tool, which was previously known as Photoshop Image Deblurring… We expect more details to be revealed about this and other new features in a possible CS7 announcement on May 6th.

But accomplishing this for still images isn’t the only cool deblurring application Adobe has been working on lately… Adobe researchers Jue Wang and Sunghyun Cho have published a paper on an innova­tive new technique to deblur videos as well – which could be huge considering how much handheld video footage is out there now, and growing every day. The develop­ment of this technology could be a big addition to video editing tools like Adobe’s Premiere Pro.

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[UPDATE (May 6th) – Major news out: Adobe Unveils New “CC” Release (CS7)...]

Just in time for the big NAB show, Adobe has given us an enormous window onto what they’re calling an “upcoming version” of their industry-leading Creative Suite professional video tools: Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, SpeedGrade, Prelude, Media Encoder, Story Plus, and new Adobe Anywhere.

Powerful new features are coming to Adobe’s industry-leading video and audio tools. You’ll soon be able to work even more creatively, seamlessly, and profitably — from script to screen. Here’s an early look at what to expect in the upcoming releases …

See the complete NAB Reveal here.

What’s immediately apparent from the huge list of new features and improvements is that Adobe’s product development teams have been very busy in the twelve months since CS6 came out…

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[UPDATE (May 6th) – The next release is announced! Learn more about new Adobe CC.]

In recent days Adobe has been slipping out little sneak peeks of new product versions (perhaps CS7?) entitled, “Early Views Into the Next Generations Of Dreamweaver and Flash Professional.”  These brief first looks show improvements centered on re-architecting the tools for performance, usability, and stability – as well as adding some new features and keeping on top of technological trends.

For the next release of Flash Pro (code-named “Hellcat”), there’s a blazing new 64-bit archi­tecture, written in native cocoa – making the program modularized, much faster, and more reliable so you can be more efficient. For example, start time has been cut to just 2 seconds, 10X faster than CS6… There’s also a new user interface with light and dark themes, plus support for HiDPI displays (e.g. MacBook Pro Retina) – read more details here.

For the upcoming version of Dreamweaver, you’ll be getting a modernized, retooled and streamlined user interface with some old features deprecated, and new ones like the CSS Designer added for responsive web design. The CSS Designer is a visual interface to quickly and intuitively work with CSS properties like gradients, box shadows, and media queries to support web content presented in different-sized media. Adobe says this feature will be available later this year and you can find more information in this blog post.

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[UPDATE (May 6th) – Major news out: Adobe Unveils New “CC” Release (CS7)...]

You have probably heard about Adobe’s recent acquisition of Behance, the leading online commu­nity and social media platform for creative professionals, with over 18 million visitors per month…

With Behance, you can easily upload your photographs, projects, or portfolios and gain a fantastic way to showcase, share, and get exposure for your work as well as receive feedback from the creative community, and get inspired for future work.

Yesterday, Adobe announced it has completed integration of Behance with the Creative Cloud, and it is now making the premium-level Behance ProSite (normally $100/year) completely free for all Creative Cloud members.

In literally five minutes, ProSite transforms your online portfolio into a slick, fully-customizable website hosted by Behance with your own URL, without writing any code… You can quickly design a stunning, professional-looking public portfolio site (see some examples here) that automatically stays in sync with your projects on Behance, increasing your efficiency and helping your work get more exposure from Behance’s enormous viewership as the premier creative community destination.

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[UPDATE (May 6th) – The next release is announced! Learn more about new Adobe CC.]

One could say that Adobe After Effects is the Photoshop of the video editing world, creating graphics and visual effects for moving pictures… And rotoscoping is effectively cutting an object out from a video so that it can be manipulated separately or placed somewhere else. Creating a perfect mask (or matte) that accurately defines the in-motion object has been particularly challenging over the years, an often painstaking and time-consuming task…

But now enter the next release of After Effects (perhaps CS7?) – which promises a new “Refine Edge” feature to make this work (look like) child’s play… Here’s the history of rotoscoping technology over the years and what After Effects will be able to do for you in the future – and it’s impressive to watch even if you have never before used After Effects:

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Did you miss Adobe’s Create Now Tour? Would you like to see it now, online and on-demand?

The two-hour session we attended earlier this month was packed – standing-room only – and got terrific audience reviews and feedback…

In the video below, Adobe Creative Evangelist Terry White presents the Create Now World Tour at a recent stop in Michigan. Watch as Terry walks you through powerful capabilities and new features in the latest versions of Creative Cloud, Photoshop CS6, Illustrator CS6, InDesign CS6, Digital Publishing Suite Single Edition, and Adobe Muse! If you missed the tour in your city, here’s your chance to see what happens at these live events.

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Adobe Evangelist Terry White has a great new training session out showing you how to get started achieving immediate and productive results using new Illustrator CS6… This 42-minute class covers all the basics and walks through how to accomplish the top 10 techniques that beginners always want to know how to do. Earlier Terry did similar introductory primers for Photoshop, Lightroom, and InDesign – and now it’s Illustrator’s turn.

Here’s the overview:

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We’ve mentioned Adobe TV in the past, but it just keeps getting bigger and better…  When Creative Suite 6 was released, they published a 15-hour series of new online tutorials – but have recently doubled this to over 30 hours now of free video training for all CS6 tools.

You’ll learn the basics with Getting Started overviews plus What’s New reviews by product experts, with 274 total chapters covering all major CS6 applications.

If you don’t already have the programs installed on your computer but would like to get going today, you can easily down­load the free working trials for any CS6 product for Windows or Mac – then install, run, and start your training…

Acrobat is not listed below, but if you want to learn how to use that software then see these separate three hours for Acrobat X or two hours for Acrobat XI.

We’ve also linked below nearly two hours of sessions for the Creative Cloud, if decide to sign up for free membership there, or are already a member.

[ Trying to decide which is right for you?  See: Creative Cloud vs. CS6 Comparison ]

Lastly, if you also like learning in print, then don’t miss this nice set of free new CS6 e-books (over 1,000 pages).  But here’s how the video courses break out:

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We’ve previously featured 30 hours of free video tutorials for Adobe’s Creative Suite 6, as well as four hours for Lightroom 4 – so here are some terrific (and free) learning resources for the recently released Elements 11 product line…

In the course given below, the experts share how to get started with Premiere Elements 11 for editing your videos, the essentials of the software, new features added in PRE 11, how to use important tools and functions, plus their best tips and techniques. In total, there is over 2 hours of free video training, spanning 21 separate chapters.

Most modern cameras now take both great photos and videos, so Premiere Elements is well-integrated with Photoshop Elements for your image editing – and since many people use the two tools together, you may also be interested in three hours of free tutorials for learning how to use Photoshop Elements 11.

Because Elements 11 has an all-new intuitive editing environment with a revamped Organizer plus other new features, the content here doesn’t carry well to older versions of Premiere Elements.  However, we do also have a page still available with several hours of free tutorials for PRE 10 & 9 and earlier.

If you need a copy of Premiere or Photoshop Elements 11 to get going right away, just download the free trials and they will work fully on your computer for one month, which should be plenty of time to get through the classes. Note at the bottom of this page, you’ll also find quick demonstrations of the two programs.

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