“Discover new dimensions in digital imaging” is Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended tagline. This new version of worldwide popular image editing application abounds in new and enhanced features and tools which make creative workflow easier and more efficient. Content Aware fill and new masking and refinement tools will save your time and let you avoid time-consuming monotonous work.

One of the most celebrated new features in Adobe Photoshop CS5 is Content-Aware Fill – a new tool which enables you to easily remove any objects from an image, by filling in the space left behind using surrounding pixels; it even matches lighting, tone and noise. And this tool is amazingly easy to use, you just need to select an unwanted area and press Shift+Delete. But the tool can be used not only to delete objects. In this video created by Russell Brown, Sr. Creative Director at Adobe Systems Incorporated, you will see some “Content-Aware filling that you might not have thought of using this tool for”. Also you will probably learn something new about masking in Adobe Photoshop CS5.

New Repoussé tool and advanced 3D editing capabilities will enable you explore new creative directions. You will enjoy more control over your images with Puppet Warp tool, which allows transforming of any part of your image. You can download a free trial of Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended and try these and much more exciting features.

With Photoshop CS5 Adobe has given its users a possibility to save their time creating even more compelling projects. One of the most popular new features is the Repoussé tool, which enables easy creation of 3D objects right in Photoshop. In the video below you will see, how a 3D text is created and realistically added to an image.

And here come two parts of in-depth Repoussé tutorial created by fine artist Stephen Burns. You will learn how to create a 3D object from a path.

If you still want to learn more about creation of 3D objects in Adobe Photoshop CS5 in this tutorial you will find a detailed description how to create a stunning 3D type art using Photoshop CS5. 

Do you take a lot of photos? Do you have to take them when lighting is poor? Then you will definitely appreciate advanced noise reduction in Photoshop CS5. A good example of noise reduction in action you will find here.

Most Adobe Photoshop CS5 advantages and new features are observed in this short but catchng video.

When choosing between Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Photoshop CS5 Extended, you should take into account, that all the possibilities for handling 3D objects are included only in Photoshop CS5 Extended. Adobe recommends Photoshop CS5 for photographers and print designers, and Photoshop CS5 Extended for video professionals, cross-media designers, web designers and interactive designers. Also at adobe.com you can compare these two editions of the most popular image-editing software.

If you are never tired of learning new things follow Adobe CS5 tutorials at lynda.com. Recently there have been added the following Photoshop CS5 tutorials:

Adobe Photoshop CS5: Creative Effects
Adobe Photoshop CS5: Painting with the Mixer Brush
Adobe Photoshop CS5: Portrait Retouching
Adobe Photoshop CS5: for the Web
Adobe Photoshop CS5: Landscape Photography

In the world of modern technologies digital magazines tend to replace print editions. This trend has become even more topical with introduction of the Apple iPad and development of tablet devices in general. Many digital magazines are created with Adobe InDesign CS5 software and additional publishing technologies. Now Adobe announces the future Digital Magazine Solution which is going to enable publishers to create immersive content for magazines that can be viewed across multiple platforms including the Apple iPad.

These new technologies, including tools for creating advanced interactivity (360° image rotations, image panning/zooming, among others), and bundling digital magazine layouts into the new “issue” format for consumption in the Digital Content Viewer, will be available for download at Adobe Labs later this summer. Below you can watch a short video demonstration of the Adobe Digital Magazine Workflow.

The first digital edition of Wired magazine released earlier this year was created with Adobe InDesign and additional technologies. When video introducing Wired for iPad was published at Adobe TV many users complained that they had been expecting a video showing something like “how we did it with Adobe software”. But Bob Bringhurst, an Administrator at Adobe TV, explained: “Information on how to use InDesign to create iPad information is coming soon. The tools are currently beta”. Anyway if you missed it you can enjoy this presentation.

John Nack, Adobe Photoshop Principal Product Manager, wrote at his blog: “Speaking of InDesign and rich publishing, here’s an example of the sort of interactive content (here displayed through Flash) that can be generated in Adobe CS5. (Click the main image to display the document.)”

At Adobe Digital Publishing blog you will find more detailed information about using these new technologies for the digital magazines creation, including such issues as Adobe InDesign CS5 and Digital Content Bundler, The “.issue” Format and Digital Content Viewer, and Adding Interactivity.

As Adobe InDesign CS5 offers a number of new exciting opportunities you will probably find this document, describing the enhancements to the EPUB eBook workflow Adobe InDesign CS5, interesting.

You can download the update from within Photoshop or use one of the following links depending on your operating system:

Download Adobe Photoshop 12.0.1 update for Windows

Download Adobe Photoshop 12.0.1 update for Mac

Photoshop 12.0.1 update improves the application in the following ways:

Fixes several bugs that could result in slow performance
Fixes the top crashers found in the field Enhances 3D refractions, Ray Tracing and IBL workflows
Fixes out of memory error opening some TIFFs Fixes a crash in Content Aware Fill
Fixes font related crashes
Addresses scroll wheel issue
Addresses various user interface and workspace issues
Addresses painting issues including video layer issue
Addresses droplet issues

After you have downloaded the Photoshop CS5 update follow these instructions to install it:

After downloading a “.zip” file, use the operating system or a utility such as WinZip or PKZIP to access the file’s contents.
To install the Photoshop 12.0.1 update:
1. Disable all virus protection software.
2. Ensure that the folder on your hard drive containing Photoshop is named “Adobe Photoshop CS5.”
3. Double-click the “AdobePatchInstaller” application. If the updater reports that it cannot find the application to update, uninstall Photoshop CS5, reinstall the application (using the default folder name “Adobe Photoshop CS5″), and then run the updater.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Adobe is planning to release Audition for the Mac platform. It is expected that public beta of Audition for the Mac will be available by the end of this year. If you wish to be notified when the Adobe Audition beta is ready for download, sign up here.

Adobe Audition is professional audio production software designed to meet creative requirements of sound designers, recording and mastering engineers, and musicians. According to video evangelist Jason Levine Audition on Mac has the same interface as on PC but it is even better, faster and more precise and has a lot of hidden goodies inside.

Audition for Mac will be characterized by the following features:

• Powerful audio editing and multitrack mixing views
• Superior noise reduction capabilities
• Native 5.1 Surround support and multi-channel effects, plus other new effects
• Optimized audio post-production workflows
• Fast start-up, high performance multi-threaded processing, and parallel workflows

Watch the technology preview of Adobe Audition on the Mac

Learn some details about interface, file handing capabilities, and the incredible speed and precision of the editor. See how Photoshop-style painting and Spot Healing work in audio editing application.

Below is the second part of Adobe Audition on the Mac technology preview by Jason Levine.

Learn more about application’s effects processing and mastering capabilities.

If you wish to work with highly efficient audio editing tools you can choose between Adobe Audition and Adobe Soundbooth CS5 audio software. The choice depends on your requirements. The Adobe’s advice is as follows:

Buy Adobe Audition if:
You are a sound designer, musician, recording engineer, mastering engineer, or other audiocentric professional and you need an all-in-one toolset for professional audio production.

Buy Adobe Soundbooth if:
You are a designer or developer with little or no background in audio and you need an intuitive, easy-to-use software tool to help you quickly accomplish everyday audio tasks.

Detailed information which will help you to decide between these two applications including Adobe Audition and Adobe Soundbooth CS5 cost is available here.

On June 21, 2010 Adobe announced beginning of registration for MAX 2010, Adobe’s yearly global conference. The event is scheduled for October 23-27 and will take place at Los Angeles Convention Center. MAX 2010 is a unique opportunity for designers, developers and business leaders to keep up with industry innovations and ideas. The 5-days program includes more than 300 hundred of hand-on labs and informative sessions.

Approaching conference will be devoted to three new technology trends: necessity to deliver content to multiple screens and devices, innovative technologies that make integrated designer and developer workflows possible, up-to-date techniques to monetize content. At MAX 2010 participants will acquire the skills, insight, and contacts necessary for efficient use of these opportunities as they transform the industry.

If you register for MAX 2010 before August 16 you can save $200 off the full conference pass price. More details about MAX 2010 pricing you will find here.

MAX 2010 program is as follows:

Preconference labs, that provide hands-on intensive training for MAX attendees interested in expanding their marketable skills.

BYOL (Bring Your Own Laptop) Labs, offering engaging, educational and hands-on sessions in which attendees use the tools they’re learning — and then keep the files and software to continue practicing after the conference.

Russell Brown@MAX — a three-day, hands-on course that brings together top art directors, designers, illustrators and photographers to learn advanced imaging tips and techniques with Adobe Photoshop CS5.

LiveCycle@MAX bundle — a one-and-a-half day program for enterprise developers to learn how to create user-centric applications with Adobe LiveCycle Enterprise Suite 2.5.

New this year:

CS5@MAX bundle — a training course for those who want to create content across screens of all sizes from the desktop to tablets to mobile devices. The program will use Adobe CS5 products including Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Flash Professional and Flash Catalyst.

Visit max.adobe.com for detailed conference schedule.

According to Adobe one of the top reasons to buy Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3 is a highly efficient Lens Correction tool. This is a feature which makes correction of such problems as geometric distortion, chromatic aberration, and vignette easy and quick. This process is essentially accelerated due to automatic correction. Based on the EXIF data stored with the digital photos Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3 can determine what camera and lens were used to make the photo and automatically correct the distortions.

In this video Julieanne Kost shows how to perfect your images by reducing lens defects. You’ll see how Lens Correction Tool helps to save your time by combining crop, straighten, and perspective correction in one operation.

In this video from Linda.com good you will see another good example of how to use Lens Correction Tool for reducing of geometric distortion in an image made with fisheye lens. Combination of automatic correction and custom controls yields great results.

Also at Lynda.com in the course Photoshop and Bridge CS5 for Photographers New Features you can watch more tutorials for Lens Correction in the section 10. Correction Perspective and Distortion.  ( Accessing lens correction, Working with the custom lens correction controls, Customizing lens distortion removal, Panoramic lens correction)

A manual for Lens Correction is available at help.adobe.com.

Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Lightroom 3 support a considerable number of various cameras and lenses. But if your camera is not supported you will need to use the Adobe Lens Profile Creator which is a free utility that allows you easily create lens profiles for use in the Adobe Photoshop family of products, such as Adobe Photoshop CS5, Adobe Camera Raw and Adobe Lightroom. A lens profile contains information about the types of optical aberrations that are found in a particular lens and gives instructions how to correct the lens distortions in an image made with this lens.

Specifically, Lens Profile Creator characterizes three common types of lens aberrations, namely the geometric distortion, the lateral chromatic aberration and the vignette. The general process of creating a custom lens profile for your lens involves capturing a set of checkerboard images using your specific camera and lens, converting the set of raw format images into the standard Digital Negative (DNG) file format using the Adobe Camera Raw processor, and importing the raw DNG images (or the JPEG/TIFF images if you prefer creating lens profiles for the non-raw workflow) in the Lens Profile Creator to generate the custom lens profile. You could also submit the lens profiles that you have created for your lens from inside the Lens Profile Creator to share with the rest of the user community.

The latest version of Adobe Lens Profile Creator 1.0.1 has recently been released by Adobe. You can download Lens Profile Creator 1.0.1 from Adobe Labs. After downloading the utility you will not need to install it – just unzip the zip file on Windows or unpack the DMG file on Mac OSX, and run the software. Also you may download Adobe Lens Profile Creator guide. The latest version of the utility fixes several bugs and improves batch processing. More information about the bugs fixed in Adobe Lens Profile Creator 1.0.1 you will find here.

National Association of Photoshop Professionals has announced the Adobe Photoshop CS5 Summit that will take place in New York City on Friday, June 25. At the event NAPP team (Scott Kelby, Dave Cross, Matt Kloskowski, Corey Barker and RC Concepcion) are going to cover all new features in Adobe Photoshop CS5 and show how to incorporate these features in your daily Photoshop workflow. Also Photoshop and Lightroom product managers Bryan Hughes, and Tom Hogarty will take part in the Summit and you will be able to get your questions answered direct from the source.

The event sponsored by Adobe is free so it is a good idea to sign up without delay, because places are limited. There will be some very cool giveaways during the Summit, including versions of Photoshop CS5, Lightroom 3, tickets to the Photoshop World Conference, and much more.

DATE: Friday, June 25

DOORS OPEN: 4:00 pm
TIME: 4:30 – 7:30 pm
LOCATION:
Manhattan Center
Hammerstein Ballroom
311 West 34th Street
New York, NY 10001

Adobe Lightroom 3 nondestructive editing environment is very convenient for experimentation with photos, because your original images always remain safely unaltered, and it is easy to reverse your steps or save multiple versions of any photo. The application supports raw files from over 290 camera models as well as JPEG, TIFF, and other file formats. Also the tethered capture function allows immediate viewing of your shots on your PC or laptop screen (the feature is available for certain camera models). For faster performance Adobe Lightroom 3 supports 64-bit operating systems.

New users can buy Photoshop Lightroom 3 for $ 299 and existing users can upgrade for $ 99. Lightroom 3 software is not included in Adobe CS5, and you need to buy it separately.

You can download free trial of the NEW Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 here

Adobe evangelist Julieanne Kost has presented 10 videos showing new features and enhancements of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3. Watch the video session that takes you through in-depth tutorials to learn about the new features, workflows and enhancements that are included with the release of Lightroom 3.

With this extension Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 gains initial support for HTML5 and CSS3. Adobe CS5 users will be able to appreciate easy creation of HTML5 pages and CSS3 styles. Also Design View and Live View rendering have been updated and improved.

Introducing the Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 HTML5 Pack

Follow along as Principal Scientist Jorge Taylor demonstrates a Dreamweaver CS5 HTML5 Pack Extension that provides more creative options to Adobe Creative Suite 5 users.

The following features will be available in Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 after installation of the HTML5 pack:
- Multiscreen Preview allows viewing you webpage on 3 various screen sizes: the desktop, tablet and a mobile phone;
- Media Query support;
- Code hinting for the HTML5 Tag Library with new tags, attributes, and properties.
- Updated code hinting for new attributes and values in existing HTML tags.
- New code hinting for such CSS3 capabilities as 2D/3D Transformations, Animations, Background and Border; Basic User Interface, Line Layout, Marquee, Media Queries, MultiColumn, Ruby, Text and Transitions.
- Live Video updated to support video and audio.
- Improved rendering for CSS3 in Live View
- HTML5 starter layouts in the New Document Dialog box

You can download the Adobe HTML5 Pack free of charge here http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/html5pack.html

Useful links on adobe.com:

Adobe Store Selector (International)

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Launch – Official Page

Compare Adobe Creative Suite 5 Editions

Find all current special offers on Adobe products

Free Shipping on Adobe CS5 Suites and Photoshop Software! Expires May 31, 2010

Anyone who works in Adobe Illustrator will find a number of attractive features in its new version. The new features include variable width strokes, Bristle Brush, Perspective Grid, anti-aliasing text for the Web, Flash Catalyst integration. These and more new tools and features make Adobe Illustrator CS5 a compelling upgrade for creative professionals using Illustrator.

First let’s see what new is there for painting.

- A new Width tool provides possibility to vary the width of strokes. When a path has been created and a stroke color chosen you can select the Width tool and increase or decrease thickness of the stroke by dragging a small diamond which will appear on the stroke. The width will change only in that part of stroke where you apply the tool and it will taper down (or up) toward the ends of the path or the next corner anchor points, which will retain the path’s original thickness. In similar way you can change as many parts of a single stroke as you wish. And also there is a possibility to save a pattern of alterations and apply it to other strokes. Unfortunately this tool can not be used to alter brush strokes.

- Now there is more control over art and pattern brushes. Previously they were equally distributed along their paths, but in Adobe Illustrator CS5 you can choose which parts of a brush will stretch and which will remain unchanged. For example, decorative ends of a banner brush can now be protected to retain a permanent size while the middle section of the brush is extended as far as necessary.

- A new tool Bristle Brush allows more natural painting in vector than ever. It provides a great variety of options for brush shape (round or flat) and style (point, blunt, curve, angle, or fan), bristle length, density, and thickness, paint opacity and stiffness.

New Bristle Brush in Adobe Illustrator CS5

- In CS5 great improvements were made with regard to brush cornering. It is now easier to control intersection and joining of pattern segments avoiding awkward collisions or empty spaces. Dealing with dashed lines was improved in similar way. Dashed lines can be arranged easily and neatly in the places where path segments of different lengths meet or where a path angle changes. Also Precision scaling of arrowheads was added to Adobe Illustrator CS5.

Now let’s review what those who design for the Web or Flash Platform applications gain with upgrade to Adobe Illustrator CS5.

- Text anti-aliasing system newly adopted by Adobe Illustrator CS5 provides new possibilities for creation of Web graphics with text. Now you can optimize the rasterization of type destined for the Web or mobile devices by setting its anti-aliasing to be Sharp, Crisp, Strong, or not anti-aliased.

- Adobe Illustrator CS5 provides a number of new capabilities which make it compelling for developers working in Flash, Flash Builder, Flex, or Flash Catalyst. Files in Illustrator CS5 can be saved in the FXG format for further work in Flex. Also it is very efficient to use Adobe Illustrator CS5 with entirely new application Flash Catalyst. After a web page or its separate elements have been designed in Illustrator the file can be opened in Flash Catalyst and necessary elements can be made interactve. And then the interactive pages can be again opened in Illustrator for further creative work without loosing the results of work done in Flash Catalyst.

Round-Trip With Adobe Flash Catalyst

Adobe Illustrator CS5 includes a new tool for creation of three-dimensional images. This tool is called Perspective Grid and it simulates drawing in three-dimensional space. It makes drawing in perspective fast and easy.

New Perspective Drawing tools in Adobe Illustrator CS5

There are even more new or improved features in Adobe Illustrator CS5 which may seem not so exciting but are really going to make the creative process faster and easier. The new Shape Builder tool provides a more efficient way to control, combine, and divide pieces of overlapping elements.

New Shape Builder Tool in Adobe Illustrator CS5

Among other new Illustrator features and abilities are new modes to draw behind or inside objects, the ability to select objects behind the current object, better path joining, 9-slice scaling of symbols (a kind of intelligent scaling), and resolution-independent effects. Also From now on a default starting position of vertical and horizontal axes in Illustrator is in the top left as it is in other CS applications, and not in the bottom left as it used to be in previous versions of Illustrator.

Live services provided by Adobe are also integrated in Illustrator CS5. Adobe BrowserLab provides possibility to check how a Web page will look in different browsers. CS Review enables easier and faster team project management. Also there is a panel linking to helpful Illustrator how-tos and other resources. The live services are complimentary during a year after signing up.

Adobe Illustrator CS5 is amazingly faster than its ancestors. For example, when tested CS5 took only four seconds to render a very complex project while CS4 required 20 seconds to fulfill the same task on the same hardware. And naturally thanks to faster operation the workflow productivity is increased. This alone makes upgrade to CS5 worth the price. But undoubtedly every user will find a number of enchantments which will accelerate their work and make it more efficient.

Useful links on adobe.com:

Adobe Store Selector (International)

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Launch – Official Page

Compare Adobe Creative Suite 5 Editions

Find all current special offers on Adobe products

Free Shipping on Adobe CS5 Suites and Photoshop Software! Expires May 31, 2010