Users of the next Adobe Creative Suite may be able to mix and mash up the applications with online content and third-party tools.
In a bid to make workspaces more nimble, Adobe Systems is considering making parts of Photoshop and other Creative Suite applications available for users to manipulate within Flash widgets, according to a blog post Monday by John Nack, product manager of Photoshop.
The capability to bring tools from the Creative Suite to the desktop or the Web with Flash or Flex could lead to novel ways of exploring Adobe's expensive, hulking software. Users have mashed up Google Maps, for instance, to display apartment listings, ecological pollution, and even UFO sightings.
"The appeal of extending one's app with lightweight, cross-platform, network-aware widgets is so obvious that we were busy building support in my first app some eight years ago--and we had to build our own Flash Player clone to do it!" Nack wrote.
Developers would ideally be able to write one bunch of code rather than six separate chunks to create widgets for panels from Photoshop, Illustrator vector illustration, and InDesign page layout software, Nack added.
Adobe made its flagship photo-editing software available online with the March release of Photoshop Express.
The company aims to tell the public more about the next iteration of its Creative Suite on May 27.
A prerelease, beta edition of Flash Player 10 became available Tuesday via Adobe Labs. New features include effects for 3D-rendering effects and text-rendering enhancements.
The folks who chose the winners for the Web Awards at this year's SXSW Interactive are on a roll. One of the winners named Viscosity has sucked away any semblance of productivity I had going for me today. The tool lets you create wonderfully colorful (or colorless if you so choose) pieces of abstract art without any skill, and you get great looking results.
Each creation gets a maximum of 10 colors that can be chosen either by using color presets or one at a time. To start out, all you need to do is chose your color scheme and use one of the four brushes to simply smear the colored lines around. More advanced users can go in and tweak every single part of the design by the dot, which will feel a little familiar to anyone who's worked in Adobe Illustrator, or other vector graphics applications.
When you're finished creating your abstract masterpiece, you can share it with others and download it in your monitor's native resolution to use as a desktop background. It's also automatically put up with everyone else's works which can be saved as a favorite and browsed in reverse chronological order. There's a top ten list of users' favorites, as well as a ridiculously cool option called "watch" that plays each piece like a slide show, except that the background and shapes change dynamically akin to the Master Control Program from Tron.
The application was created by developer Jeff Weir. You can check out some of his other projects here.
Create fantastic looking abstract art quickly and easily with Viscosity.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
I really enjoy Web-based comic strip tools. I once had ambitions to be a comic illustrator, although I lost interest about the same time I discovered video games. I still enjoy a good doodle here and there, which is where sites like Toonlet can offer a great deal of fun for the creatively inclined. Toonlet is a comic strip builder. We've covered several others like it before, although it's somewhere between that build-your-own Simpsons character maker and Mr. Picassohead. You're given a wide (and I do mean wide) array of body parts to fit together, letting you create your own Franken-comic book character.
The Toonlet editor lets you pick from a pretty big array of items. Seen here is my attempt at recreating John Bon Jovi in days or yore.
(Credit: CNET Networks)The character-building tool runs in Adobe Flash and is set up to let you create your own reoccurring strip with characters built right in the engine. You can fine-tune each character off of a set of emotions, which lets you quickly dial in a preset to match the situation when back in the strip-creation screen. This helps you avoid having to go in and tweak every body part or facial expression if you're feeling lazy, although you can still jump back in to make edits if you're looking for a higher level of control.
What's interesting about Toonlet compared with some of the other comic strip builders is that each strip is set up like a forum post. Other people can reply with their own strips, and with a quick glance you can view the original and replies in the order they were posted. It makes it an exploratory process, and even the smallest text response requires some level of creativity.
I don't see Toonlet replacing a solid foundation in illustration techniques (since you're using other people's art), but it sure is fun to play with. It also manages to pack a whole lot of customization into a small package. Going forward I'd like to see Toonlet add a way to upload your own creations into the character builder, but it's already got more than enough items in there to quell most folks' thirst for body parts for the time being.
[via ReadWriteWeb]
Related: Comeeko is the best Web 2.0 site in the history of the universe
The public release for Joost is very close. Today, the makers of the media service announced a content distribution deal with Turner Broadcasting, and forthcoming content from big names like Sports Illustrated, the NHL, and Sony Pictures Television (makers of Seinfeld and The Shield). Hasbro is also pitching in with the now classic series: G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero, as well as the original series of Transformers.
What may be the most interesting announcement though, is that current Joost beta testers will soon be given unlimited invitations to send to friends. This is typically a move that indicates the service is very close general public availability. Previously Joost operated under a limited invite process doling out a few tokens to each user periodically, similar to what Google did with Gmail.
Sports fans might be somewhat disappointed, however, to learn that the Sports Illustrated partnership is centered completely on the magazine's swimsuit issue.
Now's the time for early adopters who can afford Adobe Creative Suite 3 to break out their credit cards. The professional interactive design software is officially for sale online. If you can't plunk down upwards of $1,000 for a suite (more in Europe--or buy a plane ticket from there to the States if you want to spend less), then check out some freebie Web-based and downloadable alternatives.
Flash and other CS3 apps sport new interfaces.
(Credit: Elsa Wenzel/CNET)Thanks to Adobe's work to incorporate its staple software with its Macromedia acquisitions from 2005, integration throughout the applications is the biggest news to report with this upgrade. There aren't as many showy new features, such as there were with the introduction of green screen video editing with Flash 8. However, the capability to drag and drop images, with layers and color settings intact, from Photoshop and Illustrator into the various Web, interactive, and print design tools is a big, time-saving deal. As far as highly specialized software goes, there isn't much competition for Adobe's comprehensive lineup--although Microsoft is gunning for its Expression suite to make a big splash this spring.
We've been playing with the buggy beta editions of the CS3 Web and Design packages for a few weeks. Now that the gold code is in our hands, we'll keep updating our CS3 coverage with rated reviews and screenshots. More news will come as the Production Premium and Master Collection suites come this summer.
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