Adobe® Illustrator® CS5 HTML5 Pack

Wow, who said Adobe isn't committed to HTML5? If you're an Illustrator buff, this is for you. Press release after the break.


Announcing Adobe® Illustrator® CS5 HTML5 Pack: Easily design device and web content

This This pack provides initial support for HTML5 and CSS3 and extends SVG capability in Adobe Illustrator CS5, and helps you easily design web and device content. In combination with the Adobe® Dreamweaver® CS5 HTML5 Pack, these new tools allow web designers to take advantage of the latest advancements in HTML5.



While HTML5 and CSS3 will not be finalized for some time, and SVG support in browsers will continue to evolve, the extension provides support for a set of currently implemented features.



Benefits of the Illustrator CS5 HTML5 Pack extension

• Efficiently design for web and devices by exporting Illustrator Artboards for unique screen sizes using SVG and CSS3 media queries.

• Create web widgets with Illustrator by generating dynamic vector art for data driven web work-flows.

• Take advantage of the latest enhancements to SVG and Canvas to generate interactive web content.

• Map artwork appearance attributes from designer to developer tools– export from the Illustrator Appearance Panel to CSS3 for streamlined styling of web pages.

Lens Correction in ACR 6.1 and Lightroom 3

Hey, I have to say I'm a happy man!!! Did I win a million bucks? Nah. But ACR 6.1 and Lightroom 3 will have Lens Correction. How cool is that! One of the most requested features is finally going to be a reality. Now, if only we had Soft proofing and Book creations ;-) .

In the meantime, here's Tom Hogarty with the new features!

InDesign CS5 and the iPad

So everybody knows that CS5 got announced, and I have to tell you, It's the best release ever! Especially InDesign. More than a Print Layout application, it's a Document Layout application. What do I mean?

Reading Michael Ninness thoughts about what constitutes a document is very interesting (Ninness was senior product manager on Adobe InDesign CS5, now is Vice President of Lynda.com). Basically a document in today's terms is not for print only, but for various outlets. Including the iPad.

Enter ePub
One of the bif features of the iPad is its ability to display books usig the open standard ePub format. And, what do you know, InDesign has native support for exporting to ePub (well, it had it since InDesign CS3, but believe me, It's waaaaay better in CS5). Imagine: you can create a document for Print, Web, Interactive Flash or PDFs and ePubs. How cool is that!

Sooooo, is it that easy?
Well, yes and no. Creating an ePub format book has some nuances one must bare before exporting it. One thing to note about ePubs: Although great for novels and the like, it's not so good with more graphically designed layout publications. That's where PDFs (especially Interactive PDFs comes in to play).

ePub + iPad = Cool books!
So, how do you create your ePub books using InDesign CS5? Most certainly, Adobe has published some notes on this here (Note: Information is based on CS4, hopefully they'll update it soon).

But Terry White, of Adobe and Tech Industry fame, just created a video tutorial on creating an ePub book for the iPad in InDesign CS5! Check out the video and also, visit the link here to download the free book! And read more about the creation of the book here!

It's Here: CS5!

Yes, it's finally here: Adobe Creative Suite 5! And I have to say. it's the best release EVER! If you missed the launch event, you can see it here.

And for my latin IDUG users (spanish will be spoken now):

Ya fueron testigos de la mejor versión jamás visto de Adobe, el Creative Suite 5. Pero si eres desean ver en persona esta nueva versión (y vives en Puerto Rico) le invito a que me acompañes a nuestra próxima reunión del InDesign User Group el 1 de mayo de 2010. Puedes ver mas aquí.

Adobe to launch CS5!!

Adobe just announced that they are going to announce the Creative Suite 5! (Weird, I know) Anyhoo, on April 12, 2010 we'll get the whole scoop on what's new in the Creative Suite of applications like InDesign and Photoshop. Something tells me this will be the best release ever!

Sign up here!

Lightroom 3 beta 2 Now Available!

Yup, it's here!

New things include:

• Improved performance throughout the application for faster importing and loading of images

• Native tethered shooting support for select Nikon and Canon DSLR cameras

• Luminance noise reduction has been added to the previous color noise reduction improvements available in the first public beta for outstanding overall high ISO quality

• Support for importing and managing video files from DSLR cameras for better overall photographic workflow control

• Improvements to the import experience in the first beta to reflect public feedback

• Improved watermarking functionality from the first beta to reflect public feedback

(Via Lightroom 3 beta 2 Now Available - Lightroom Journal.)

Flash and Mobile

For a blog about photography, I do write a lot about Adobe ;-) . Anyway, found this interesting interview made by Mashable.



Also, check the Nexus One running Flash!

Flash and Apple, can't we all get along?

Oh Apple and Adobe, how times has changed.

Anyway, some say Adobe is lazy and that Flash in the iPhone equals a world of hurt. Well, guess what: Flash is on the iPhone! Not as you think, of course. Adobe just released Adobe Connect Pro for the iPhone. So? It was built on Flash and exported as a iPhone app.



FEATURES:

Attend Connect Pro Meetings with integrated conference call or Voice over IP audio. Let the meeting call you, and avoid entering cumbersome dialing codes.

See who has joined the meeting, and their role (host, presenter, or attendee)

View presentations, PDF documents, videos, and screen sharing provided by the meeting organizer. Rotate, pan, and zoom to choose your personal 'best view' of shared content

View webcamera broadcasts from unlimited live camera feeds provided in the meeting

Participate in Chat conversations throughout the meeting.

Join meetings attended by users on virtually any computer system: Mac, Windows, Linux, and Solaris. Plus other mobile attendees on iPhone and iPod touch.

So, you still think Adobe is lazy? By the way, read this interesting article about Flash vs. HTML5. (In Defense of Adobe Flash - Reviews by PC Magazine). Now, don't get me wrong... I think what HTML5 can offer is outstanding! But someone saying one will eliminate the other is someone not seing the whole picture.

My 2 cents!

The Future of Publishing

There has been a lot of talk of Flash (or lack thereof) on Apple devices. Now, you can argue all you want about it, but Adobe is not letting Apple's decision get on there way of revolutionizing what's possible with Flash, mainly thanks to AIR. They recently announced that, along with Flash Player 10.1, they would be making available AIR on many devices, even on Apple devices (in some way or form).

Think about this, develop one app and deploy it to multiple OSes: Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, WebOS, Blackberry, etc. That's pretty cool if you ask me! But what about the iPhone, iPod Touch and, mainly, the iPad? Through AIR, you can create apps specifically for these devices.

Now, talking' about the iPad, I think this device will be a revolution in publishing. I will go further in saying, it is the true beginning of the end of Print Publishing as we know it. Now, if we go back to the beginning of desktop publishing, who were the players? Apple with the Macintosh and Adobe with Pagemaker (well, Aldus). Now in this day in age, it just makes sense that both Apple and Adobe be the main players in the future of publishing. Want proof? Check out this video!

Apple's Big Announcment! (No, not the iPad) Aperture 3!

Apple released Aperture 3, it's photo management and RAW workflow software. And I gotta say, it looks sweet! Apart from the normal stuff (speed improvements, blah, blah), it has two very interesting features: Adjustment Presets and Nondestructive Brushes.

Sound familiar? If you're a Lightroom user, it should. Apple has just released two features which was unique to Lightroom (unique no more). And if you check out all the Image Adjustments features, you will see Apple means business.

Another super feature: Video and Audio. Now you can edit stills AND HD VIDEO!!! What can you expect from the makers of Final Cut Pro? Exactly! What a perfect excuse to get a DSLR with video! (If only the wife could understand...)

Now, I'll be upfront, I'm a Lightroom evangelist, I just love it and praise it every time I have the chance. But I have to admit that with this latest release, Apple has me wanting to download the trial and give it a try. Will I change from being a Lightroom user to a Aperture user? Probably not, Lightroom has so many advantages for me over other RAW Workflow Software Packages (particularly it's tight integration with Photoshop), but i'll be the first to admit that Aperture has a lot to offer and some key advantages, mainly better organizing features and a better price tag.

Now, the real question is: what will be Adobe's answer to Aperture 3? Lightroom 3 is out as a beta, but if we learn something from the Lightroom 2 beta was that new features can come in the final release. What will it be? Only time will tell.

Adobe Community Professionals 2010

As the name of the blog implies, my main passion these days is photography. Truly love it! And creating my site/blog was my way of keeping me up to date with my photography (although, i admit, i must update my blog more often). But my day job is all about Print Production and Graphic Arts. Over 10 years of page layouts, fonts, pre-flights, paper, ink, etc.

Back then, my main tools for the job involved Photoshop, Freehand (how i miss you!) and QuarkXpress (how i don't miss you!). Then came a program named InDesign. First version was... ok. Version 2 was great! Ever since, I was hooked; I knew then Quark's days on the top was numbered.

A couple of years ago, my buddy José Ramos became Chapter Representative of the InDesign User Group in Puerto Rico (the first of the Caribbean, if not the first in Latin America) and invited me to help him out. Ever since I have been involved with the group. Last year, I was invited to become Co-Chapter Rep with José, which I gladly (and humbly) accepted.

Now comes a biggie... this year I was invited to be part of the Adobe Community Professionals (formerly known as the Adobe Community Experts). I am totally psyched and honored to be in such a community. What is Adobe Community Professional? From Liz Frederick (Adobe Community Manager):

This community-based program is made up of users who share their product expertise with the worldwide Adobe community. The mission is to provide high caliber peer-to-peer communication educating and improving the product skills of Adobe customers worldwide.

As you can imagine, I am very excited about this program. My thanks to Adobe for creating such excellent tools and for truly engaging with the end user. And, for the complete list of inductees, go here!

P.S.
Yup, my buddy José is in the group, thanks José!