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Adobe Systems Inc. this year will extend the capabilities of three core software applications for creative professionals, sources said.
Major new versions of Adobes Photoshop image editor, Illustrator vector-based drawing program and InDesign page-layout application will pack innovative features and enhancements. All three are slated to ship by the fourth quarter, sources said.
Photoshop and ImageReady 8
Code-named Dark Matter and Taconite, respectively, the next installment of Adobes image-editing duo will reportedly feature non-destructive filtering that resembles the adjustment layers in Adobes After Effects video-effects package.
Photoshop 8 will also include Layer Palette presets that will let users maintain multiple palette sets that they can invoke via a menu. Photoshop 8 will also let users select multiple layers, then execute a single change to all of them simultaneously.
Other Photoshop improvements will include enhancements to the File Browser, improved keyboard customization and support for non-square pixels. The upgrade will also boast enhancements to the user interface, support for JPEG 2000 and a GUI-based Picture Package layout manager.
ImageReady, the Web-graphics package bundled with Photoshop, will also ship with its own slew of enhancements, including nested layer sets, greater integration with Photoshop and user-interface tweaks.
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Illustrator 11
Illustrator 11—code-named Pangaea—will feature significantly improved performance as well as new features for 3-D, type and printing.
Sources also told eWEEK that Illustrator 11 will draw on some of Acrobat 6s prowess with Adobes Portable Document Format to deliver a redone PDF export system and support for the PDF 1.5 standard.
InDesign 3
The third installment of InDesign will include interface tweaks and bug fixes along with a performance boost.
Code-named Dragontail, the new version will include a new PDF workflow derived from Acrobat 6, as well as new features for authoring eBooks. Sources said that the PDF improvements will usher in a variety of export options, including support for embedded video and audio files within a PDF. Intended for eBooks, this capability will give users the option of adding animation and audio to their eBooks in the form of a QuickTime movie or MP3 file.
InDesign 3 will also pack a Story Editor for editing text frames, JavaScript support and a “Package for Web” feature that will export InDesign items with an XML structure that can be reused for the Web.
Other features will reportedly include custom keyboard shortcuts, a Separations Preview palette, a control strip with contextual settings and variables, text wrap enhancements, and new color features.
A representative of San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe Systems declined to comment on the companys product plans.