Multimedia:
Adobe Flash CS3
In the 11 years, since the Adobe Flash player came on the scene it has arguably become the most prolific piece of internet software of all time. There are more than 500,000 developers and 325 million web surfers currently using the player. Web sites developed fully in Flash have been used by many of the world's largest companies to retain, inform and entertain the end user.
Flash is a product designed to provide web sites with a combination of animation, sound, interactivity and database integration. A free plug-in, which now ships with the major web browsers, is needed to see the Flash documents contained in a web site.
Used properly Flash can create a truly multimedia web experience. Flash is not without certain disadvantages, such as search engine non-compliance, and is commonly used strategically for this reason on large scale web sites.Many Web 2.0 sites opt for a hybrid of Flash and more commonly used markup languages such as XML, HTML, PHP, or ASP. By using Flash only where it is required for Animation, Sound, Video and specific user interaction the web site remains Search Engine Friendly, printable, and browser compliant, without sacrificing its compelling rich-media content.
Adobe Photoshop CS3
Photoshop is a bitmap based graphics editor which is the current market leader for commercial photo retouching, and digital dark room effects. Far from just a simple photo editor Photoshop features a rich set of tools for creating anything from a digital painting to a web interface. With a long and storied history Photoshop was one of the original "killer applications" written for the Macintosh platform. CS3, The current iteration of the program, reflects its integration with other Creative Suite products. Photoshop CS3 features the addition of capabilities for scientific imaging, 3D, and high end film and video users. Photoshop created content can be integrated in powerful ways in the creation of motion graphics using After Effects. Additionally there is a beautiful marriage between photoshop and flash where bitmap artwork can be used in a number of ways to lend to a projects overall texture and appearance.
Adobe Illustrator CS3
Illustrator does for page layout what Photoshop did for the digital darkroom. While Photoshop excels in the bitmap realm, Illustrator provides far more powerful results in the typesetting and logographic areas of design. A skilled Illustrator user should be able to layout a page in less than 1/3 the time it would take to layout a similar page in Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is slowly catching up with it's most recent layout features but Illustrator is still the undisputed champion.
New features available in CS3, Illustrators most recent release, include Live Color, which provides tools for creating color harmonies based on color theory, and the ability to dynamically apply colors to selected objects and shift the tone of an entire illustration at one time.
Remapping controls are also provided for reducing the numbers of colors in your artwork. Illustrator now features much stronger integration with Flash, with named symbol instances and dynamic/static text; improved drawing tools and controls; faster runtime performance; an Eraser tool that works on vector objects; a Crop Area tool; and an improved Isolation Mode for groups and symbol definitions. Because Flash, Illustrator, and Photoshop are all under the 'Adobe' brand umbrella since Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia the result is greatly improved compatibility and a shorter development cycle for designers and developers.
Adobe In Design CS3
Originally launched as a direct competitor to QuarkXPress, InDesign initially had difficulty converting users away from Quark the then de facto standard for multi-page document creation.
InDesign was positioned as a high-end alternative and successor to Adobe's own PageMaker. Today InDesign's primary uses are in the design and production of periodical publications, magazines, posters, and other common print media; much longer documents such as books, catalogs, and manuals are still commonly designed in FrameMaker, or QuarkXPress.
InDesign can also export documents seamlessly in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF), offering multilingual support as well a feature Quark Express users must buy additional software to use.
Adobe After Effects CS3
After Effects is often described as the "Photoshop of video", because its flexibility allows compositors to alter video in any way they see fit. Although AE can be used to create images on its own, it is generally used to compose material from other sources such as video footage, photoshop documents and logos, in order to create the end product. After Effects can be used to create stunning motion graphics in any number of common formats for broadcast over the internet, on television, and in film and video.
One key difference between After Effects and a Non-Linear Editing System is that After Effects is layer-oriented, and NLEs are generally track-oriented. This means that in After Effects, each individual media object (video clip, audio clip, still image, etc.) occupies its own track. The layer-oriented system that After Effects adopts is suited specifically for extensive effects work and keyframing.
After Effects integrates very well with other Adobe design software such as Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and Encore.
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