CS2 to CS5 trial

Posted on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 at 11:11 pm in

A long time ago before I used blogging tools I posted that I’d gotten a copy of Creative Suite 2. This software has served me well, but seeing as CS5 is out now it’s time to upgrade. Now, I haven’t actually bought it yet, but intend to. I have the trial.

So far, so good. No beta-ish bugs encountered yet. My only complaint with the software so far is aesthetic-all of the programs are quite indistinguishable since they use the same gray interface. Consistency is nice, but I wish they’d color the the window header or something.

No major overhauls I’ve noticed with the exception of Flash. I have to learn Actionscript 3.0. They’ve added a lot of useful features, some of which are of the kind “why didn’t they think of that before?” like multi-level lists in InDesign, and transparency for Illustrator gradients (granted, those were in earlier versions). The software becomes more complete with each edition. Apparently Flash has code completion (haven’t explored yet) but if that’s true, it’s a big deal, code completion is so useful. One direction I do like is the integration, especially in InDesign, Illustrator, and Flash, which are primarily vector programs and can benefit from having similar, compatible features.

One thing that bugs me is their advertisement of Photoshop’s new brush tool. They treat it like it’s revolutionary, but these things have existed in real art programs for years. Like ArtRage, which I have. I use Photoshop for art a lot though, it’s weird. Photoshop’s good with a more computer-y graphic style which I like. Also, simplicity. Corel Painter is dauntingly complicated. I have an old copy, but couldn’t figure out a way to actually make art. Most art programs try to emulate real media. I don’t really think this is the way to go, computer art is a thing onto itself. The emulated media always end up being something else, which may or may not be good.

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