Review: Adobe Creative Suite 4
Every successful freelancer knows their productivity is closely tied to the tools they use and the workflow they implement. So when a company, like Adobe, releases new versions of their suite of applications, we each have to make the decision to purchase, upgrade, or wait for more. With Creative Suite 3 only a couple of years old, the question is: are the gains worth the upgrade price? Is it time to buy, or time to wait? In short, will the money you invest now increase your productivity into the future?
The Highlight Reel
Most obvious, in the realms of change, is the interface (in the majority of the suite). Tabs now indicate multiple files, and the menu bars are flat, uninteresting, but unobtrusive. It’s a clean design which is easy on the eyes, once you get used to it. Assuming you don’t disable it before it has a chance, the impact is noticeable.
There are also speed improvements across the board in CS4. Images render more efficiently, the applications open up faster than ever. The overall result is less wait time and more productivity. This certainly ranks as a major highlight in a world where new versions generally mean more bloat and slower processing (unless you upgrade your hardware as well).
The list of actual enhancements, additions, and changes for CS4 are quite extensive. Some applications, such as Premier Pro, bring a lot to the table. In comparison, not much was changed in Fireworks. Photoshop, at first glance, doesn’t seem to bring much new functionality to the table, but lists can be deceiving. The addition of fluid canvas rotation (shown above) will bring productivity increases to tablet users. The new Mask and Adjustment panel in Photoshop also make for smoother image manipulation.
In fact, combining Bridge and Photoshop, you can take advantage of a lot of the tools and capabilities mentioned in our Lightroom 2 review (minus some of the workflow advantages).
Adobe Flash changes and enhancements will be a contentious list for some, as it dynamically changes the application, making it more accessible to the masses. Inverse kinematics with the Bones tool, for example, will bring a new level of Flash presentations.
As Adobe’s recent Executive Summary (produced by Pfeiffer Consulting) suggests, Creative Suite 4 presents the strongest integration with the former Macromedia products to date. Dreamweaver, a prime example, can finally work with Adobe Photoshop Smart Objects, thus enhancing workflow for faster build time. Most of these integrations are behind the scenes, but it does present a more universal solution. The applications are finally starting to feel like they belong together, versus a mismatched set of tools which you find a way to combine for your tasks.
Room for Improvement
As mentioned previously, the majority of the applications in Creative Suite 4 have a universal look and feel. Some love it, some hate it, and thankfully, Adobe gives you the ability to disable some of it if you choose. It’s not quite universal, but obviously, Adobe is making headway. Again, if you have (or plan to purchase) CS4, be sure to give the new look a chance.
Again, while Pfeiffer’s report is accurate, it isn’t saying much, as the integration was sorely lacking compared to the related counterparts (GoLive versus Dreamweaver, for example). And even with the changes, the integration could still be more fluid, more intuitive, and less cumbersome, in some cases. This could go a long way in solidifying the usefulness of the entire suite.
It is the nature of software to have bugs here and there, and Creative Suite 4 is no exception. A couple of examples: Fireworks still doesn’t display .psd files correctly (as noted in our review of CS3 here. If you have Illustrator maximized and open a new file from your file system, Illustrator resizes the application. Dreamweaver, even with a new feature, has issues with WYSIWYG (as shown above in the before and after example). Head scratching issues, to be sure, but none leading to a complete breakdown of functionality.
Adobe has also been polling its user base for future releases. Asking what features they would like to see, and notifying removal of functionality where they can. While not everyone likes the changes that come with each version, it is nice to know Adobe is listening.
A Personal Fit
We took a little time to check with other freelancers on this review as to their thoughts on Creative Suite 4. Each expressed they felt one particular application provided great improvements to their workflow, but others were lacking. Interestingly enough, they generally weren’t talking about the same program within CS4.
For example, one CS4 user mentioned the feature requests they had put in (after seeing a screencast of a rival application) were put into Photoshop by Adobe. He purchased the upgrade, stating:
“There were also features across the Design Premium suite that enticed me to upgrade, but for Photoshop in particular these pretty much sold me on the upgrade. I use these new tools all the time, and they have sped up my workflow considerably as I knew they would.”
Obviously, this would not be the case for every freelancer. Each of us has our own needs, key features, and workflow that is important to us.
The Lowdown
Adobe Creative Suite 4 is quite the powerhouse of applications. Depending on your usage scenario, you may find a couple of key features to improve your productivity. If those enhancements can offset the cost for upgrading, then the answer is obvious: buy. Adobe improved upon Creative Suite 3 in many ways, but perhaps not enough for every existing user to get really excited about. If, however, you are still using applications from the Creative Suite 2 world or below, then the offering is well worth the price.
The Good
- Stronger integration
- Significant discount vs individual purchase
- Increased functionality
- Speed increases across all applications
The Bad
- Still some head-scratching bugs
- For the money, most users won’t see a significant increase from CS3
- Integration still could be better
- Interface still lacks consistency
Price
Adobe Creative Suite 4 is available here ranging from $999-$2,499.00 US (retail) or upgrade from $499-$799 (Design Web to Master Collection) US. Student editions are even further discounted.
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Adobe have capitalised on the fact that they offer “industry standard” applications and charge unrealistic prices for them IMO. For this reason I refuse to buy and continue to support independent shareware developers. I get by fine with Pixelmator, VectorDesigner and RapidWeaver. Although CS4 did introduce some big interface changes, the Mac versions of CS are still poor. I wont consider purchasing CS until they improve Mac compatibility and performance -OR- reduce prices to compensate for the shortcomings.
Don’t forget that the Photoshop version for Microsoft supports 64bit while the version for Apple only supports 32bit so those folks working with larger files will see a difference.
I have been saying from the minute I used it how annoying some of the smallest things still annoy me regarding the enduring non-uniformity of the applications. For example, the colour picker is slightly different is every applications, as is the method of accessing Pantone swatches. The print dialogue boxes are dramatically different, especially between InDesign and Acrobat, which are supposed to be brothers in arms in the print production work.
I also miss Scrubby Sliders in Illustrator and InDesign. I feel that if they can manage it in Photoshop, they should bring that feature to the other apps.
The Macromedia legacy titles still have that “feel” of being a Macromedia application, especially regarding the interface. Clearly, Flash operates a bit differently from InDesign, but it looks as if two opposed philosophies are at work.
Bridge is improved (and continues to improve with each version) but they messed with the menu system to make certain small features very hard to find. And what happened to the InDesign Contact Sheet script? That was incredibly useful.
It was my first time buying the Adobe Suite, overall I am very happy with it, although not a fan of the tabs in Photoshop.
You can change this under preferences – user interface. Then Photoshop will open every file in a new window.
Maybe the lack of serious competitors coul be considered as a bad point
I’m actually a big fan of tabs in Photoshop and different view layouts that are available in it now
I had a go the other day and I think I’m going to be sticking with my CS2… change is not always for the best if you ask me…
I recently switched from CS2 to CS4… The only major improvements on my workflow are the adjustment and mask panels in Photoshop.
Other than that, there’s not a whole lot of difference.
To me, I’m getting a little upset with Adobe on their release schedule and the cost. In my opinion, they could have skipped CS3 completely and just went to CS4… there’s not enough in there to really justify the massive cost difference.
Hopefully with some of the open-source applications coming on the market and gaining traction, it will force Adobe to re-examine some of their costs premiums and release schedules.
I like some of the improvements in CS4, especially the new gradient styles in Illustrator, that helps out a ton being able to control which way gradients come from and also Flash is now more like after effects which is helpful for animating, they also added the z-axis which can be cool.
However, I think Photoshop is pretty much the same besdies a couple of small changes but not worth the upgrade just for those, but the other apps are quite noticeable.
I love the new look of Photoshop, i’ve been using it at work for several months and i’ve been very happy with it. I love the tabbed windows (although I wish when you wanted to drag something into another document, it opened instantly rather than having a slight pause). I also enjoy the new Vibrance tool and also the lack of a title bar, it is just integrated with the menu options at the top, kinda cool.
In Illustrator the new gradient tools are great but I agree with everyone that the integration between software needs to be much better. Gradients should be handled the same in Illustrator and Photoshop, the color picker should be as easy in Illustrator as it is in Photoshop (I think it’s stupid the way you have to do certain things in Illustrator applying gradients especially).
One of the best features is the easy integration of Photoshop files into Flash, I was recently doing a project involving Illustrator, Photoshop and Flash and I loved how I could import a PSD into flash and it would retain all the layers and even make some of the text editable.
I’ve been considering getting this upgrade for the main reason of noting that the new Dreamweaver is supposed to have mobile web simulations for your pages. Has anyone tried this, and if so, how good is it?
I think it’s an improvement overall to CS3. I would recommend anyone who goes through with the upgrade, to buy a month worth of Lynda.com and work through the videos covering the new features. I’m always amazed at all the little things I miss when working with these apps.
My favorite feature is probably the multi-page Illustrator documents. The fact that I can design different parts of an overall project in one file is great. Not to mention the fact that it has cut down on my file clutter tremendously. For everyday photo correction Photoshop is the same as it’s been for at least the last 2 versions, some of the newer advanced features seem pretty cool (although I haven’t had the chance to use them). Dreamweaver and Flash still feel like Macromedia programs to me though.
For the advanced user, CS4 is very worth the upgrade. My workflow has become MUCH faster, particularly in After Effects and Photoshop.
I really only upgraded from CS2 so I could have table styles in InDesign (which I realise was a feature in CS3). Photoshop 4 has been slower on my PC so I reverted back to CS2. I do like the tabbed document view though, especially in AI and ID.
However, I have an odd InDesign CS4 ‘bug’ that Adobe Support haven’t been able to fix as yet – I’ll be working away in ID and all of a sudden the keyboard will cease to register (i.e. I cannot type, keyboard shortcuts will not register) UNTIL I save the document (by using the mouse to go File>Save).
After saving, the keyboard/keystrokes/shortcuts will return to working as normal. This occurs at least once every 5 minutes while working in Indesign CS4, and particularly after switching to another program (e.g. Photoshop, Illustrator, Firefox) and then returning to InDesign. It’s extremely frustrating and disruptive to say the least.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Thanks for the comments all.
fredmac / Troy: I have to agree. It would be nice to see a couple of competitors hit Adobe hard – simply to see where the innovation (and pricing) would lead.
David Savage: I haven’t played around with this feature much (It was in GoLive, as I recall). If you have a site you’d like to try it out with, let me know. I’d be happy to run a couple of examples for you.
Jesse: Good catch – thanks for the info.
I do use CS3, will not upgrade to 4 yet. However I love using Xara Xtreme Pro to do most if not all the work i need to do in illustrator. Now I can setup just about anything in it for press. Check it out for a small amount it packs a big punch.
Beside everything, I love this new package…….i have used it on my friend’s PC and i enjoyed working.
Hopefully i will soon get this package very soon.
Thanks for the review.
I second Noah’s comments, Illustrator is awesome with the new crop boards.
I have found a head scratcher that I have not found anywhere on the web. Anyone have INCREDIBLE lag in Illustrator with the Hand Tool? Even when I have tons of memory available the artwork lags behind the cursor by a couple seconds. Also Type flickers obnoxiously? Maybe it is just my computer.
I read something about driver issues. I’m using a 2.4 GHz iMac with 4 GB of ram and an ATI RadeonHD2600. Anyone else hear of this?
Next articles this is my favorite blog on the net
Is it just me or is this post heavily out-dated? I’ve had cs4 for over a year…
@Chealey haha yes I was going to say the same thing
I remember filling out an Adobe questionaire two or three years ago asking something like “How often do you think you’ll upgrade, every release or every other release” I put what I imagine most people did, every other. So I reckon Adobe are releasing smaller incremental upgrades so they can get more people upgrading as most don’t want to be left behind beyond 2 releases, however this causes much pain as some agencies upgrade with every release, and so I find myself either caught asking for downgraded files or having to upgrade, and as I’m on Master Suite that hurts!
What still bugs me about Illustrator is so many things are counter intuitive, and follow the “Illustrator” way of doing things instead of how nearly all other software does, for instance right click (Windows) copy and paste, can someone tell me WHY that has never been a feature?! Also the way Illustrator handles colours with the Picker, Swatches and Gradients, even keeping it within the bounds of vector they must be able to make it more user friendly.
Chealey / Steve Bastyr: Do you prefer the reviews where you know the company hasn’t had it long enough to really know the product? Or the review where it’s obvious there was time spent?
As to Chealey’s comment about having it over a year, unless you were a beta tester, I’m calling you out on that one. It wasn’t released until Q4 of 2008.
That aside, the arrival of my daughter pushed the review out as well.
@Dickie: I was a beta tester, as i’m sure many other people that read this blog were. They had a pretty popular public beta for Dreamweaver, Fireworks, & Soundbooth. And you’re right it wasn’t released officially till Q4 of 2008, the very beginning of Q4. Right now we’re in Q3 of 2009.
In response to your question though. I like a review about the product when it’s still something to be talked about. I mean no offense to you, but there were more complete articles about cs4 before it was even released out of beta than what you wrote here. This is just a very saturated article subject, and has been for quite some time.
On a lighter note though. Congrats on your new daughter. I have a 2 year old son myself.
@Dickie – Congrats on your new baby girl
Def not complaining about this review at all, in fact I’m happy you did. I guess since I’m always up-to-date on releases it feels like a while ago!
Isn’t this post a little too late. I mean almost a year late???
I can’t wait until Octuober when CS5 comes out. I gonna be allover that!
@ Andy Gongea
I totally agree with you Andy…I read the blog title thinking it had to more to this then it was. What a old topic. If you are a designer of any kind and use adobe products then you will not be making the switch to CS4 now if you have not already. We all know CS5 will be the buzz word soon among the blogs so it is a little crazy to make any switch to CS4 from CS3.