Opinions/thoughts on CS5 - Who plans on getting it?
lucious87 (48 pencils) | Thu, 2010-08-05 15:39
There's some need sounding features, but is it worth shelling out the cash for basically the same software?
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I think it's worth it if you need speed or some of the new features. Otherwise you can skip it. Btw, you may also want to read some opinions here: http://creativebits.org/cs5_worth_it
i dont see a whole lot to justify the $1000 it will cost to upgrade the "master collection"
at least not in my current workflow...
but of course there are always those one or two killer features that when you NEED them. they will be worth the cost. i just havent found those yet
thankfully my company has a maintenance contract for our adobe products and my copy of CS5 will be installed at some point today or tomorrow when i can find 30 mins or so to be away from my desk.
a lexus is a great car until you crash it into a ditch. in other words, ill stick with my cs3 because its the person using the tool not the tool itself.
not that it wouldnt be nice to have cs5 :-)
I'm upgrading everything as soon as I can wrap my mind around which machine is going to replace my current antique - so CS5 is in the future. But I'm with Lucious on this one - don't feel like I'm missing anything and my software is even older.
Wait for Paint7 ultra suite people!
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Paint 7 Ultra suite? Like, microsoft paint?
Another thing about cs5 is the hassle of saving in the right format for compatability with older versions. I had a hell of a time going back & forth on different comps with cs2 cs3 and cs4.
Indesign CS5 has multiple artboard sizes which is a huge advantage. I want to get the suite!
Not me. IMHO Adobe's software has become so bloated, buggy, and dysfunctional that my productivity has gone down.
CS4's Acrobat Pro is a joke on the Mac, I've had to buy 3rd party software to do PDF forms because Acrobat can't do what's in its own menus without crashing.
I tried CS5, I had more issues than CS4, which had more issues than CS3.
The non-standard GUI is a major turn-off, it's too damn hard to read. Dark grey text on a black background? I threw out monitors in the early 80s when their white text got as dim as Adobe's interface, and my eyes were 25-30 years younger...
FWIW: I do systems admin for a living, rest assured that the Adobe problems I've had are not due to bad computers, corrupt OSes, et al.
I really love what Adobe has done with InDesign, and the improvements to Illustrator are nice as well. Photoshop saw the least value with the upgrade, in my opinion - though some of the features are nice. Dreamweaver is still a complicated mess, if you ask me, but I'm not a "web guy" so take that for what it's worth.
The biggest problem I have is not the price. I make up for it with a few freelance jobs, so it's generally not even a consideration. The problem for me is that with each upgrade since CS2, less and less people are upgrading - and when they are, it's long after the upgrade is available. This makes it difficult to take advantage of all the new features, because I can't share the files with other people. For instance, the new corner options feature for strokes on boxes in InDesign CS5 gets turned into a really bad bitmap image when you save it down to CS4.
If you operate in a single user environment (freelancer who doesn't have to share the working files with the client, just give them a PDF) it's probably a great upgrade. But if you have to share those files, the option is less attractive.
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Dude - have you ever worked in a production facility? The day you get everything settled and you know how every program works, Adobe brings out another upgrade. There's always some joker who was waiting for it to come out and bought it the first day. Then you have to explain to them you can't run their files unless they bring in their copy of the program or wait until we get a chance to upgrade. That's one of the hassles with Adobe's non-stop upgrading. If they were offering something of value like in the early days when every upgrade had something amazing and new - fine. But now? Now we upgrade for BLOAT - basically because Adobe wants to meet their quarterlies.
I run a PDF workflow for all of my pre-press, surely it doesn't matter what programme the file was created in, just the way the client outputs the end file that is created. I accept nothing but PDF for print runs from other designers.
I will have to write a new spec / instruction manual for supplied PDFs from CS5, but that is all.
Acrobat is a wonderful piece of software where production is concerned, and it always pays to keep up to date, though it's a shame about the horrible laggy start-up / shutdown, and weight it places on the mac.
Accepting native files is just asking for problems: font issues, text flow, re-linking images, trapping and overprint. Tell them how to supply it properly in the first place and you can just give the file a quick pre-flight and run with it.
We charge extra for native files that need thoroughly checking.
living on dreams and custard creams.
You live a charmed life, Monkey. Acrobat was just getting to the point where it was useful for production when I got out of that racket. About my last six months we were accepting pdfs for output. Yes - it's a wonderful thing - the last thing Adobe did right (although it took them 3 versions to finally figure out how to make it production-worthy).
Now I'm doing pubs (a few other jobs sprinkled in - but mostly pubs) - and I ask for pdfs only for the ads. Once in a blue moon I'll get a native file (usually Publisher!) - but I prefer pdfs. But that doesn't solve all the issues - just yesterday someone claimed their ad printed at "lo-res" because we did something wrong on our end. Unfortunately for them, I save all the original files (little habit picked up working production) - so I sent them back the original (lo-res) file. You also have the people who forget to d/l their fonts. So it makes our jobs easier, but I'm not completely sold on the idea that it makes production in general any better. We've basically passed some of the production problems down the line to the client - rather than actually solving them.
I wouldn't say giving them instructions on how to produce a perfect PDF is passing the buck, any print designer worth his salt has to do this with every ad they send to a publication.
Of course, if we are dealing with someone who hasn't got the knowledge or is struggling we will always take native files and do it for them, but always have to proof back just in case something has gone astray or has changed.
In most of my publications reproduction isn't that important (cheap rags), as long as it looks 'okay' it's alright, so if a font hasn't been downloaded I just rasterize the PDF if I am on a tight deadline, just to get to print. Two customers have complained in three years. I know that is sloppy workmanship, but with an hour to go and the printers on the phone asking where the job they have booked in for a run is, that is the only option.
living on dreams and custard creams.
i wish you could buy/upgrade a la carte cost effectively. instead of all that suite horse-crap. id like after effects cs5 but its not really worth a grand to me just yet.
I am running all CS versions on my computer.
When I compare them on several situations I can see some super timesavers.
Photoshop CS5: The enhanced way of selecting, the enhanced retouching tools, the reordered shortcuts, Mini Bridge for selecting pictures...
Illustrator CS5: Solved the problem with dashed lines, also arrows are now easier to create, easier switching between tools, enhanced artboard features, the width and Shape builder tools, rulers for every artboard...
InDesign CS5: Easier shortcuts, different page sizes, new layer structure (like illustrator), easier rounded corners, scaling of objects with the crop kept, gridify in stead of step and repeat, pdf's made in the background, spanning text on several colums...
Those are some things that are made easier, less time consuming. Should you upgrade? I don't know, it depends. What kind of work do you do? Look at some the features above and make a decision, or even better try it out for a month and see if you like it.
Is everything better than in a previous release? No, some people will like an earlier version because they feel good with it. I also had to adapt to some new ways of thinking and often I stil do things the older way, but slowly but surely I'm getting used to the new version.
Is it worth the price? I got 12 applications with my Design Premium Suite for about € 800.
Photoshop costed me € 67, I think that's not too much
Happy upgrading
Fidel
Now they changed the shortcuts in Photoshop? WHAT? The program has been out 20 years and NOW they want to change them?
Typical Adobe.
The upgrades to illustrator are a YES! But the real kicker here is the features for Flash for Dummies(aka Flash Catalyst) and iPad magazine creation.
Flash doesn't work on the iPad last I heard. Apple - thank god - is the one company pushing back on Adobe.
Yeah, but that isn't stopping Adobe to have its hands all over the iPad, with or without Flash:
http://creativebits.org/toolbox/introducing_adobe_digital_magazine_workflow
Fidel, thanks for the concise overview of the new features
well, i guess adobe (like other software companies) has to stay in business. so if they dont make new software, they dont make money.
here is my problem with the whole software/hardware industry. like art said, its BLOAT.
the newer versions dont really DO much of anything new from a value sense, but they will fancy up the interface. so you think you get something new...
they keep loading apps full of useless bells and whistles, and now we need a bigger badder machine to run them. take ms word for instance. the current version is actually way slower than it was on my quadra 840 back in like 1995. and it doesnt really DO anything now that it didnt do back then. it just automates them with a neato dropshadowed and translucent interface
illustartor now has a ton of raster effects and photoshop has animation features - god have mercy. whats next?
i sure wish my coffee maker could also fondue!
i used to have individual discs for all my adobe apps. now i get about 4 dvds that have like 20 apps on them. many of which i dont need. but in order to get the 5 i need (which include, illustrator, photoshop, dreamweaver, after effects and on-location), im forced to buy in the "suite" mentality. which leaves me with one option. the master collection.
everything is such a racket these days...
I'm a freelancer and am passing until I have to upgrade.
As Art stated, you're adding bloat to the programs and I'd rather keep the $500 in my pocket than make Adobe's numbers look better for stockholders.
Anyways, I'm still learning the aspects of CS4...
"Art -- the one achievement of Man which has made the long trip up from all fours seem well advised." - James Thurber
As a software trainer I have already purchased CS5. I am impressed with many of the new features especially with InDesign.
I have CS3, CS4 and CS5 on my laptop but prefer CS5.
If you want simple, why not stick with Quark 6?
Quark 6.5 user right here. Have never had a problem with the company or the software and plan on upgrading to Q8 with my computer purchase. Absolutely no desire on my end to switch to ID and get on yet another Adobe upgrade treadmill. And so far - no ID user has ever presented anything even remotely close to a good argument for switching over imho.
Application integration. File sizes. PDFs with duotones--effing nightmare with Quark 7...has that bug been fixed? I almost had I HATE QUARK tattooed around the ring of my ass but that would would have meant modifying I ATE U and adding 100 lbs to my ass.
I, too, used to be a die-hard Quark user, Art, but am so impressed with InDesign that when I am forced to work in Quark it's like operating a mule when you're used to running a stallion.
But to each their own...every player must hold a niche in the marketplace or we'd all be at the mercy of one company...in any biz.
"Art -- the one achievement of Man which has made the long trip up from all fours seem well advised." - James Thurber
I repeat... Quark 6.5 user right here. :-) Have no idea what's going on with 7 - I'll be skipping that version because I saw no need to upgrade (hey - I hold every software company to the same standard). Personally, I've never had a problem with duotones, file size or app integration (which - imho - is a marketing term Adobe invented to help ID's weak initial sales). But I would point out that Adobe isn't exactly innocent when it comes to clunker upgrades... Acrobat 1 & 2, Illustrator 5, 7 & 9, PSD 4 & 5...
And how many Adobe "upgrades" weren't even "upgrades"? 85% of them in the past 15 years, imho. :-)
I use Adobe CS5. It's amazing :).
Ricky Sam
www.rickysam.com
Still on CS3 here, holding out on the upgrade...
Graphic Design Manchester
I had just cs3 until a couple weeks ago. Now I also have cs4 and cs5. Cs5 I'm using just to save down files we get in. It is not compatible with plug-INS we use yet.
I need to educate myself on the new features of both versions.
Kinda weird. Retro in a way.