Adobe’s unified, all-in-one CS5 Master Collection allows you to move into new platforms

HD VideoPro by George Avgerakis

The Suite Spot

Now is the time to augment your “in-house” creative skills, and the Adobe Creative Suite 5 (CS5) Master Collection has something for everyone. The CS5 Master Collection is a PC/Mac bundle of 23 programs and online services. You may already know Premiere Pro CS5 (a $799 NLE), After Effects CS5 (compositing, $999) and Soundbooth CS5 (recorder/mixer, $199). The total is just $600 shy of the entire CS5 package, and Adobe has added Photoshop CS5 Extended ($999), Illustrator ($599), InDesign ($699), Acrobat 9 Pro ($449), Fireworks ($299), Flash Catalyst ($399), Flash Professional ($699), Flash Builder 4 ($249), Dreamweaver ($399) and Contribute ($199).

Additional “cloud” program services include Story, BrowserLab, CS Review, Acrobat.com, SiteCatalyst NetAverages, Encore, Bridge, Dynamic Link and Device Central.

In a recession, survival means learning new skills and new methods to reduce cost. The CS5 Master Collection offers both—for both the indie auteur and the studio.

As a filmmaker, you may already shoot and edit, but what if you had six or 12 additional skills? As a production company, how much could you save if your staff could do the DVD, website and print campaign?

AN E-MEDIA ROAD MAP
Since the ‘80s, Adobe has been playing in traffic at all the new media intersections. Its InDesign challenged QuarkXPress at about the same time it launched the first HTML editor (GoLive/Dreamweaver). Today, magazine publishers like Gourmet magazine fold and reappear online or as a mobile app. At the print-to-video intersection, Adobe Illustrator makes resolution-independent graphics that can be used in films where standard definition and various flavors of HD are required. read more...