Adobe on Monday said it began shipping Creative Suite 3, the company’s suite of applications designed for the creative professionals. Available today are Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium and Standard editions and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium and Standard editions.

Adobe is also shipping new standalone versions of Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended, Adobe InDesign CS3, Adobe Illustrator CS3, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional, Adobe Dreamweaver CS3, Adobe Fireworks CS3, and Adobe Contribute CS3.

Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium, and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection are expected to ship in the third quarter of 2007.

Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium edition costs $1799 and $1199 for Creative Suite 3 Design Standard edition. Creative Suite 3 Web Premium costs $1599 and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Standard costs $999.

Adobe has today fleshed out its release plans for the next version of Photoshop. As reported earlier there will be two versions made available when it begins shipping next month. The standard edition will be familiar to existing users while a second 'extended' release will be aimed at industries as diverse as medicine, architecture and 3D design which already use image manipulation packages but require specific tools and features not currently included in Photoshop. This split in the product line serves to extend Adobe's potential market whilst not forcing traditional users to adopt the new additions unless they choose to.

Press Release:

Adobe Delivers Two Editions of Photoshop CS3

Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended Push the Boundaries of Digital Imaging
London — March 27, 2007 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Photoshop® CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended, two new editions of the professional industry standard for digital imaging. Photoshop CS3 software is a major upgrade, offering new innovations in editing power and productivity for designers and photographers. The addition of an entirely new version of Photoshop, Photoshop CS3 Extended, means creative professionals can now discover new dimensions in digital imaging, harnessing everything in Photoshop CS3 plus groundbreaking tools for 3-D, motion graphics, image measurement and analysis. Photoshop CS3 Extended expands the boundaries of digital imaging, simplifying the workflows for professionals in architecture, engineering, medicine, and science.

Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended will be available as stand-alone applications or key components of Adobe’s expanded Creative Suite® 3 family, also announced today (see separate press releases). The software will be available as a Universal application for both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs and will support both Microsoft® Windows® XP and Windows Vista. Customers will experience increased levels of performance and speed running Photoshop CS3 on Intel-based Macintosh systems and the latest Windows hardware.

“This is the year in which Photoshop reinvents itself," said Deborah Whitman, vice president of product management for Digital Imaging at Adobe. “In this landmark release, we took the professional industry standard and greatly expanded the possibilities for designers and photographers, while challenging it to shine across a whole new set of tasks. We’re delivering Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended to a new breed of cross-media creative professional and stretching the limits of what can be done by architects, scientists and doctors.”

Advanced Tools for Designers and Digital Photographers in Photoshop CS3
Photoshop CS3 beta testers have confirmed the release as a must-have for designers and photographers. With new features for advanced compositing, designers can automatically align multiple Photoshop layers or images based on similar content. The Auto-align Layers command quickly analyzes details and moves, rotates or warps layers to align them perfectly, and the Auto-blend Layers command blends the color and the shading to create a smooth, editable result.

With the latest version of Camera Raw, photographers can process raw images with increased speed and superior conversion quality, with its support for over 150 raw formats, JPEG and TIFF files, compatibility with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom™, and new tools such as Fill Light and Dust Busting.

Image Analysis, 3-D and Motion Support in Photoshop CS3 Extended
Photoshop CS3 Extended software includes everything in Photoshop CS3 plus additional specialised features such as support for 3-D and video workflows, animation and in-depth image analysis. With support for popular 3-D formats, creatives can render and incorporate rich 3-D content into their 2-D compositions, including texture editing on 3-D models. Using the Enhanced Vanishing Point, designers can measure in perspective and also export from Enhanced Vanishing Point to a 3-D model. For video post-production, Photoshop CS3 Extended now includes video-format and layer support to edit video files frame by frame. The resulting video can then be exported to a variety of formats including Flash®. Pioneering new uses in areas such as manufacturing and medicine, the Measurement Log palette calculates a range of values within an image, the Scale Marker easily adds a scale graphic to any image, and the new Count tool tallies features in an image simply by clicking on them.

“We estimate that 98 percent of all video games on the shelf were created with Photoshop,” said Michael Casalino, senior environment artist for Electronic Arts Sports. “The enhancements in Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended will make the software even more indispensable to us, with functionality like the new 3D editing tools allowing users to seamlessly incorporate 3D content into the image-editing workflow.”

New to Photoshop CS3 and the Adobe Creative Suite 3 family, Adobe Device Central (see separate release) radically boosts the productivity of creative professionals who develop content for mobile handsets.

Adobe Photoshop Family
Adobe offers the right Photoshop for all types of users. Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended are at the heart of the Photoshop family. The portfolio also includes Adobe Photoshop Lightroom™, which provides a complete digital darkroom for professional and serious amateur photographers; Adobe Photoshop Elements with editing and sharing options for photography enthusiasts; and the free Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition, which meets the needs of the casual photographer.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended will begin shipping in April 2007 to customers in the United States and Canada, and will be available through Adobe Authorised Resellers and the Adobe Store at www.adobe.co.uk/store. Estimated street price for Adobe Photoshop CS3 is £485 and £755 for Photoshop CS3 Extended. Upgrade pricing is available.

PMA 2007: Adobe has today outlined its plans to offer two versions of Photoshop CS3 when it is released later this year. In addition to the standard edition, imaging professionals and enthusiasts will have the option of a yet more comprehensive tool in the form of an extended version. This is said to build on the already bulging feature set by adding 3-D and motion graphics oriented capabilities as well as allowing image measurement and analysis. Adobe say they are aiming to simplify imaging in the architectural, engineering, medical and scientific industries whilst continuing to cater to their core following of graphic and multimedia artists.

Press Release:
Adobe Unveils Plans for Two Editions of Photoshop CS3 Adobe Stretches the Limits of Digital Imaging with Photoshop CS3 Extended
London — March 8, 2007 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) show that it will expand its digital imaging product line, offering two editions of Adobe® Photoshop® CS3. In addition to the highly anticipated Photoshop CS3 software for designers and professional photographers, Adobe will also deliver Photoshop CS3 Extended, a completely new edition of Photoshop which allows cross-media creative professionals to stretch the limits of digital imaging. Photoshop CS3 Extended includes everything in Photoshop CS3 plus a new set of capabilities for integration of 3-D and motion graphics, image measurement and analysis. Photoshop CS3 Extended also simplifies the workflow for professionals in architecture, engineering, medical and science.

Both Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended software will be formally introduced on March 27, 2007 – as part of the company's launch of Creative Suite 3, where further details will be disclosed. The software is expected to ship in Spring 2007.

"We never imagined that Photoshop would someday help make major motion pictures, let alone save lives," said John Loiacono, senior vice president of the Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe. "Whether it's a video producer texture editing the backdrop of a movie or a researcher counting hundreds of cancer cells, diverse industries are already relying on the professional standard in digital imaging."

Breadth of Advanced Features in Photoshop CS3 Extended With Photoshop CS3 Extended, film, video and multimedia professionals, and graphic and web designers can leverage the power of the Photoshop image-editing toolset and paint engine when editing 3D and motion-based content. Film and video specialists can perform 3-D model visualisation and texture editing, paint and clone over multiple video frames. Animators can now render and incorporate rich 3-D content into their 2-D compositions. Graphic and web designers can create an animation from a series of images – such as time series data – and export it to a wide variety of formats, including QuickTime, MPEG-4 and Adobe Flash® Video.

"The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) is over 60,000 members strong and as it continues to grow, so do the variety of uses for Photoshop," said Scott Kelby, president of NAPP. "Photoshop CS3 Extended will further redefine who the 'creative professional' is, allowing cross-media professionals to really push the limits of their craft, while also inviting engineers, scientists and architects to add the power of Photoshop to their arsenal."

Photoshop CS3 Extended also enables users to extract valuable quantitative and qualitative data from images. In addition to measurement and analysis tools, architects, medical professionals and scientists will enjoy increased support for specialised image formats so they can easily view, annotate, and edit images in their native format. Radiologists can closely monitor a patient's progress over time, scientific researchers can create animations from medical images for presentation purposes, and architects can make accurate measurements of objects in their 3-D images.

"With the release of two new editions of Photoshop, Adobe continues to push the boundaries with innovative tools that empower people to communicate visually in powerful new ways," said Alexis Gerard, author of "Going Visual" and president of Future Image Inc., hosts of the 6Sight® Future of Imaging conference. "While Photoshop CS3 will remain the digital imaging standard for photographers, Photoshop CS3 Extended is bringing to new audiences the proven benefit of Photoshop, and also exploring feature sets that eventually may benefit a broader market."

Availability Announced in December 2006, a beta version of Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Macintosh and Windows is currently available for download for Photoshop CS2 users on the Adobe Labs Web site: http://labs.adobe.com.

Both Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended software will be formally introduced on March 27, 2007. Available as Universal Binary for the Macintosh platform as well as for Microsoft® Windows® XP and Windows Vista® computers, the final shipping releases of Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended are planned for Spring 2007. For more information, please visit the Adobe Web site: www.adobe.com/go/photoshop.

After being in beta for some twelve months Adobe has today announced the availability of Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 'Final' at an introductory price of $199 (until April 30; after that $299). This new offloading, browsing, organizing and editing tool promises improved professional workflow for everyone including easy to use pick/reject features and tagging. In addition Lightroom leverages Adobe Camera Raw meaning it can read and display hundreds of Raw formats. Photoshop Lightroom should ship in mid-February.



Press Release:
Over 500,000 Beta Testers Help Shape New Digital Photography Software

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Jan. 29, 2007 — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced that Adobe Photoshop® Lightroom™ 1.0 software is now available for pre-order and is expected to ship in mid-February 2007. Photoshop Lightroom enables professional photographers to import, manage and present large volumes of digital photographs, helping photographers spend more time behind the lens and less time at the computer. With more than 500,000 photographers participating in the public beta program over the last 12 months, Photoshop Lightroom now includes a wealth of innovative features that streamline digital photography workflows. Recognizing the photography community for their efforts, Adobe is offering Photoshop Lightroom at a special introductory price of US $199 through April 30, 2007 at the Adobe Store. Photoshop Lightroom will later sell for an estimated street price of US $299.

“It’s an unlikely scenario that professional photographers would moonlight as software developers,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president, Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe. “Fortunately for us, they were willing to give it a shot. Everything, from image viewing and evaluation tools to timesaving editing features, was developed with the help of photographers. This was truly a collaborative effort and we extend our thanks to everyone who provided invaluable feedback to help us deliver a powerhouse professional photography tool.”

Lightroom Feature Advancements
Photoshop Lightroom includes new functionality added since beta 4.1, with significant changes to the Library and Develop modules complementing improvements to the Slideshow, Print and Web components. While in the Library module, new advanced keywording tools help photographers filter through large collections, and an improved import dialogue with more flexible file handling allows more choice when determining file location. The new Key Metadata Browser provides quick access to key information tags with an improved ranking and rating system that now incorporates color labels and a pick/reject system that sorts and locates photographs faster than ever. New to the Develop module, Virtual Copies and Snapshot tools help present multiple versions of the same image, providing the most choice to clients without the confusion of saving separate physical versions.
Additional tools added include a Hue, Saturation and Luminance targeted adjustment tool for precise and intuitive image edits. Clone and Healing features provide non-destructive edits to eliminate sensor dust across one or many images.

High-Quality Raw Processing
Photoshop Lightroom leverages Adobe Camera Raw technology and supports over 150 native raw file formats, in addition to JPEG and TIFF, bringing raw conversion into a single workflow experience. The latest camera models supported include the Nikon D40 and D80 and the Pentax K10D. This support means that photographers can use Lightroom with even the newest cameras on the market, knowing that the image files will be recognized today and in the future. Upon import, files can be converted to the Digital Negative specification (DNG) or renamed and segmented by folder or date. DNG is an industry-wide initiative to create a universal file format for solving workflow and archiving issues. It aims to eliminate barriers to new camera adoption while giving professional photographers the confidence that their digital body of work is securely archived and will remain accessible as digital imaging technology evolves.

“Photoshop Lightroom gives me the capabilities to get everything out of a raw file. Now I can easily duplicate enhancements and apply them across a range of similar images almost instantly,” said Denis Reggie, a nationally renowned celebrity and society wedding photographer. “Lightroom is brilliantly conceived and masterfully executed. I can see my digital workflow moving fully to Lightroom now that it is final.”

Pricing and Availability
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom will ship in mid-February 2007 and is available for pre-order in the United States and Canada through the Adobe Store at www.adobe.com/store for a special introductory price of US $199. The $100 discount is offered to all customers through April 30, 2007 in appreciation of loyal Photoshop users, early supporters of Photoshop Lightroom and beta participants who devoted time, energy and feedback throughout the process. Photoshop Lightroom will later sell for an estimated street price of US $299. Recommended system requirements are Macintosh OSX 10.4.3, 1 GHz PowerPC G4 processor or Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2, Intel® Pentium 4® Processor, and 768 MB RAM and a 1024x768 resolution screen. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is a Universal Binary application that will run natively on PowerPC and new Intel-based Macintosh systems.

The announcement of Photoshop Lightroom 1.0 signifies the official conclusion of the groundbreaking Lightroom beta program. Users of Lightroom beta will have access to the program until its expiration on February 28, 2007.