To Professional designers: Adobe CS2, worth the upgrade?

[Grant Hutchins]

Pardon me if a question like this has already been posted. I'm an art director for a small multimedia company that also provides pretty much the full spectrum of services from print to web as well as multimedia and video work.

I own the separate Adobe packages from the versions before consolidation into the creative suite for my home office. I have a couple of the CS 1 products loaded at home from work CDs (we don't have CS 2 at work). I like to own my own software to maintain an office at home, but my budget for personal software so that I can work at home instead of staying late at the office is finite. I've been out of the loop of "traditional" software upgrades at home for a while; I've been spending my money on 3D software.

Getting to the point, I'd like to get back into some freelance work on the side. That being the case, I feel like I should upgrade my software at home — if it's worth it. Anyone have any thoughts about whether or not shelling out the bucks to upgrade to CS2 is warranted (re: performance increase, feature improvements, any benefits of CS2 with tiger over CS1, etc)?

Thanks

 

[Tom Boucher]

What i'd suggest is to look at the features that have been added to CS2 and if you would need them. While the upgrade is only $149, it's still some money that you might not need to spend. There wasn't some major engine change, major feature change, but a few new things and that was about it.

Meaning that when CS3 comes out there might be enough stuff in it for you to want to upgrade to it, and skip the CS2 generation.
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[Grant Hutchins]

Thanks for the response. A little clarification, I was referring to the entire creative suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Golive).

 

[Tom May]

Grant,

I upgraded last week to the premium bundle, and while I can't speak for InDesign or GoLive, I find that Illustrator and its live path and live trace features were very useful (though I am certainly not a professional) and easy to use. There is plenty of feedback on Photoshop, so I needn't repeat anything other than the RAW functionality really is quite good, if you need that sort of thing.

The key to the bundle, I would argue, is Bridge, the universal browser, and the integration of the individual applications, which seems to have been much improved. This makes a very smooth means to work on a single project using the various appications.

BTW, what 3D applications are you using?

tom

 

[Grant Hutchins]

Thanks for the info.

I use (or should say own) several 3D apps. I started with Carrara which is the one I use the most. I own Amapi (from eovia, same folks who make Carrara) but I never use it because it isn't very intuitive to learn. Carrara is fantastic for beginners because of its' cost and is easy to learn and at the same time is packed with features that cost thousands more in higher end packages. That being said, the higher end packages do all of those things better and with a much higher degree of control, flexibility, and speed. I'm also learning Hexagon, another Eovia product strictly for modeling.

I also own the core version of Cinema 4D which I'm in the process of learning. I really like it. When I get more proficient with it, it will probably replace Carrara as my main 3D app. I think I might do something extravagant and purchase the Studio Bundle of version 9.5 when it comes out (over 2 grand for the update from core to studio — Ouch!) I can't really justify the cost right now because the full studio has much more power than what I need in my job, but I'm hoping if I can become proficient with it I will find a way to make it useful in my "on-the-side" freelance efforts. I'd like to learn Javascript and become more proficient with Macromedia Director and see if I can find a way to market some 3D interactive projects. It's a lot to learn, and I may be over optimistic about my ability to learn all this stuff, but basically I find the challenge and fun of 3D work addictive (and expensive).

How 'bout you? Do you use any 3D apps? Know much about how difficult it is to learn the 3D side of Director?

 

[zavmaster]

To me, the addition of Bridge and better workflow with ACR made it totally worth it. There are some other little tweaks that made life easier too. For example, in PS you can now select multiple layers by holding down the command key instead of linking them all. Small change yes, but pretty useful.

The smart objects in PS are also quite cool.

I would say if you do a lot of photo work it is really worth the money.

 

[pepper1]

I am getting ready to buy the cs3 upgrade>

Has any of you had problems using maccs3clean.dmg.Adobe recomends that you backup your data before useing cleanup .has any body lost data after using cleanup or did everythig go allright.

thank you

 

[TraceyS]

You might want to start your own instead of adding to an "old" thread. Strange things happen when you do.... no one reads the dates

Tracey

 

[DominikT]

this is for the first question about upgrading your software at home, I'm pretty sure you can install a copy of Adobe creative suite on two machines ie. at work and one at home or a laptop, as long as you don't use the same program at the same time on both machines. you are not violating an piracy laws. It should say on the istallation manual anyways.

So if you say you have a copy of Adobe at the office, you should be able to use it at home as well...

hope that helps.
Cheers

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This is no longer a hobby... it's an obsession