Icon

Mac OS or Windows? The Great After Effects CS3 Smackdown

Attempting to determine the faster OS on identical hardware

There are many, many reasons to love Intel Macs, but the one I'm going to focus on today is Boot Camp. Being able to run a full copy of Windows natively on the exact same hardware as Mac OS X not only represents a 2-for-1 bang for your buck when it comes to buying a production rig, but also gives average Joes such as yours truly the opportunity to compare apples to apples (so to speak) when running cross-platform software. And with After Effects CS3 finally out in the wild (and in Intel Mac-native form, no less), it's time to see how well the Mac and Windows versions of AE do on identical hardware.

Read More...
Icon

Screencast: Using XML Data with the Spry Framework for Ajax in Dreamweaver CS3

It's not as hard—or as boring—as it may sound

Regardless of what you may specifically think of the CS3 iteration of the venerable Dreamweaver visual Web editor, even the most hardened skeptics would probably be forced to (grudgingly) agree that the integration of Adobe's Spry framework for Ajax into Dreamweaver CS3 is, to put it very technically, pretty freaking cool.

Read More...
Icon

Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium

It's the moment that a whole bunch of Web designers and producers (especially those with Intel Macs) have been waiting many a moon for: Adobe's CS3 Design and Web suites are finally shipping. Today, we're going to be checking out the Web Premium bundle, which features former Macromedia products finally brought together with traditional Adobe [...]

It's the moment that a whole bunch of Web designers and producers (especially those with Intel Macs) have been waiting many a moon for: Adobe's CS3 Design and Web suites are finally shipping. Today, we're going to be checking out the Web Premium bundle, which features former Macromedia products finally brought together with traditional Adobe stalwarts in an all-star lineup of Web production bliss. That's the idea, anyway—out in the field, the Web Premium suite is a blend of fantastic features and worthwhile upgrades mixed with a sizable amount of disappointment.

Read the Full Article at CampusTechnology.com...
Icon

CS3 Production Premium for Motion Graphics and Interactive Enthusiasts, Part 2

Rounding third and heading for home with After Effects, Encore, Photoshop, and the rest

Like the weekly serials of old, we left off last time with a cliffhanger. What treats were there to be found in the rest of the CS3 Production Premium bundle? Which goodies in After Effects, Encore, Photoshop Extended, and even OnLocation and Ultra would appeal to motion graphics and interactive folk? Well, you didn't have to wait too long to find out, so let's get this sucka done.

Read More...
Icon

CS3 Production Premium for Motion Graphics and Interactive Enthusiasts, Part 1

Not on the front lines of video production? No worries; there's plenty here for you

I was somewhat skeptical about what the forthcoming Adobe CS3 Production Premium bundle would offer outside of Flash and After Effects; after all, I have precisely zero skills when it comes to the "front end" of production (shooting, capture, editing, etc.). My interests lie squarely down the line (motion graphics, interactivity, Web distribution), so my initial thought was that the entire bundle might be of limited total value to someone like me. However, after seeing and using a pre-release version of the suite for myself, it turns out that there are a lot of hidden gems in surprising places.

Read More...
Icon

Adobe Dreamweaver CS3

The latest version of the venerable visual Web editor offers a mixed bag

Even though I'm only a casual Dreamweaver user these days, I get excited every time a new version of the legendary visual editor is released, hoping against hope that this is the one that gets me to abandon my now stubbornly-ingrained habit of hand-coding HTML and CSS and back into really (ab)using the product that I loved so dearly in the late 90s. It's now Dreamweaver CS3's turn at bat, so let's find out how it does in its first plate appearance as an Adobe product.

Read More...
Icon

Adobe Flash CS3 Professional

The former Macromedia superstar makes a strong Adobe debut

It hasn't even been two years since Macromedia-that-was unleashed Flash 8 (a huge step forward for the juggernaut [insert favorite use here] application), and now along comes Flash CS3 Professional. Sporting a new surname and a slew of new features, how does the now-Adobe product stack up, even as Microsoft's Silverlight (the technology formerly known as "Sparkle") begins its attempt to crash the party? Read on to find out.

Read More...
Icon

13 Favorites in Adobe's Creative Suite 3 Web Premium

Spanning the suite to find a baker's dozen of cool things for Web and multimedia pros

Unless you've been living under a rock (or perhaps in a spacious yet private cave), you very likely have heard the news by now that Adobe has announced approximately 4,927 new versions of the Creative Suite 3 line of products. For our purposes here today, however, I want to focus on two things: the word "Web" and the number 13. That is, we're gunning for the CS3 Web Premium bundle and 13 of the things I keep coming back to as neat-o new features.

Read More...
Icon

First Look: Adobe Fireworks CS3

New name, new focus

With the release of the Adobe CS3 line, many questions have been answered with respect to which former Macromedia products would stay and which would go. As it turns out, the big M lives on in a big way in the various CS3 releases, and the focus of our first look piece today effectively sounded the death knell for ImageReady. Fireworks CS3 is the replacement, and with the new name and new version come few new features but an entirely new focus. Let's take a sneak peek at what's new and notable in Fireworks CS3.

Read More...
Icon

First Look: Adobe Dreamweaver CS3

The old dog has a few new tricks

With the announcement of the brand spankin' new CS3 line, we now know that Dreamweaver has replaced GoLive as the visual Web editor of record for Adobe's bundled products. So what can long time and first time users alike expect from Dreamweaver CS3? Let's peel back the curtain and take a gander at some of the new and notable items in Dreamweaver CS3.

Read More...
Icon

First Look: Adobe Flash CS3 Professional

We're not in Macromedia anymore, Toto

Flash is one of those rare programs that doesn't really have any equivalent, so there was very little doubt as to what would happen to Flash once Adobe swallowed up Macromedia (read: it was sticking around). What was in question, however, is just what the newly-christened Adobe Flash would look and feel like, and with the announcement of Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, we finally have some answers. Let's take a trip around the block to see what Flash CS3 has in store.

Read More...