By Prince McLean and Kasper Jade at AppleInsider. Not much news on After Effects yet, but we're keeping an eye out!

"The fifth major release of Adobe's Creative Suite package (CS5) for graphic, video and web design professionals will finally see Photoshop for Mac emerge as a 64-bit application while several of suite's other component applications adopt Flash tie-ins aimed at keeping content developers reliant on the company's embattled multimedia platform."

Read the Full Article at AppleInsider.
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Labels: Adobe CS5, Apple, Dreamweaver, Flash, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, News, Photoshop

Not only does the update fix problems with CoreMelt plugins, but also Photoshop. This update is a must for Snow Leopard users. Read about how it fixes Photoshop on John Nack's Blog.

Labels: Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Photoshop

Roger Bolton from CoreMelt sent me this very important infomration:

Mac OS X 10.6.2 contains a critical fix for a problem that was preventing CoreMelt plugins from working for After Effects CS3/CS4 users on Snow Leopard. The problem was caused by a Library conflict in earlier versions of Snow Leopard. CoreMelt has been working with both Apple and Adobe to get this problem resolved, we apologise for the delay.

Installing Mac OS X 10.6.2 restores normal functionality for all CoreMelt plugins for After Effects CS3 and CS4 Users.

Please also make sure you have the latest version of our V2 plugins V2 2.3a released on 7/11/09 which contains other bugfixes and licensing improvements.

• All CoreMelt updates
• Release notes on 10.6.2
• Download 10.6.2 update
• Download 10.6.2 combo update

Labels: Apple, CoreMelt, Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Comprehensive Upgrade Provides Powerful Image Quality, Rendering and Workflow Enhancements and Offers Updated Version of Popular Motion Graphics Module - MoGraph 2 - Jam-packed with New Functionality to Inspire Breathtaking 3D Animations

Friedrichsdorf, Germany (PRWEB) September 1, 2009 -- MAXON Computer, a leading developer of professional 3D software, today announced the immediate availability of CINEMA 4D Release 11.5, a comprehensive upgrade to its highly-acclaimed 3D modeling, painting, animation and rendering software. Loaded with new features, CINEMA 4D R11.5 provides improved workflow and productivity, enabling professionals to create high-quality stills and animations quicker and easier than ever before. This release is the culmination of MAXON's leading-edge technology and development. It features a substantially re-tooled and accelerated render engine, an all-new Picture Viewer, enhanced interoperability with leading compositing applications, and a major upgrade to its popular MoGraph module, which features an integrated Dynamics Engine and a host of new additions. CINEMA 4D Release 11.5 also provides full support for the latest operating system offerings from Apple and Microsoft, including Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Windows 7, respectively.



"MAXON is committed to providing powerful enhancements to CINEMA 4D that dramatically improve the productivity of users across various disciplines, including film, broadcast, architecture, product visualization, games, multimedia and more," states Harald Egel, MAXON co-founder and CEO. "The many improvements in the new Release 11.5 will help all our customers gain even better results and save valuable time and resources."

"CINEMA 4D gives my design team the ability to make miracles happen within ridiculously tight deadlines," said John LePore, associate creative director for Perception NYC. "The new features and enhancements in Release 11.5, especially those in MoGraph 2, truly augment an already mind-blowing arsenal of creative tools."

Key Highlights of CINEMA 4D Release 11.5

• Superior Rendering Performance Including New Bucket Rendering
  Significant re-tooling of the render engine in R11.5 helps artists render more rapidly and efficiently. R11.5 takes advantage of state-of-the-art multi-core processors and adds new features such as render instancing and bucket rendering to provide users tremendous improvements in efficiency. Render-intensive tasks such as sub-polygon displacement have also been significantly accelerated. CINEMA 4D users can now create scenes of greater complexity and render billions of polygons even on modest hardware.
  
• Enhanced Picture Viewer
  
  The new Picture Viewer in R11.5 offers a vast set of creative tools for reviewing and editing images and animations, saving artists valuable time. Features include a render history with the ability to compare renderings, image filtering and adjustments, post filter effects, and improved layer management. The RAM player also enables users to playback animations with sound providing the ability to troubleshoot animations while the job is rendering.
  
• Improved Interoperability and Integration
  
  Users of Release 11.5 can now more easily integrate CINEMA 4D into existing production pipelines:
  
  • Numerous improvements have been made to CINEMA 4D's highly praised connectivity to Adobe® After Effects®, including support for additional object types.
  • Support for Apple® Motion now includes the export of 3D data.
  • Support for Autodesk® FBX® 2010.0 allows for quick and easy interchange between a variety of 3D applications.
• Powerful New Motion Graphics Capabilities
  
  The motion graphics module MoGraph - a staple with CINEMA 4D motion graphics artists due to its quick workflow, fast rendering and easy export to compositing applications - has been upgraded to version 2 and provides powerful new motion graphics functionality. New features in MoGraph 2 include: MoDynamics, an optimized physics simulation package with which hundreds of objects can easily be made to collide or be affected by such forces as gravity or friction; PolyFX for providing quick and easy explosion effects; MoSpline for cloning existing splines and animating them with forces and effectors; and many more exciting features for broadcast artists.
  
• Support For New Operating Systems
  
  MAXON continues to build upon its legacy of providing compatibility with the latest advanced operating system releases as follows:
  
  • Apple - R11.5 is fully compatible with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, including access to up to 64GB of virtual memory.
    
  • Microsoft - R11.5 is fully compatible with Windows 7, including enhanced file dialog.

Pricing and Availability
CINEMA 4D R11.5 and the optional MoGraph 2 module are available now from MAXON and its authorized dealers.

Labels: Bodypaint, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Maxon Cinema 4D, Mograph

InfoWorld has tested the Adobe CS3 apps in Snow Leopard and says they work fine, which I'm sure is a big relief to those of you running CS3 who want to upgrade to Snow Leopard but heard that Adobe will not support CS3 in Snow Leopard.

Which is what I think Adobe was really trying to say: The company notes it has not tested CS3 on Snow Leopard (and doesn't intend to), so it's not guaranteeing -- "supporting" -- CS3 on Snow Leopard. Adobe could have chosen better wording.

Read the full article here at InfoWorld.com.

If you want to upgrade to Adobe CS4, we have a bundle special that expires today! Adobe CS4 Bundle Upgrade Sale - Save $100 when you upgrade from an earlier version of Adobe Creative Suite, Production Studio, or Macromedia Studio to Creative Suite 4.

Labels: Adobe, Adobe CS4, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Sale

With Mac OS X Snow Leopard shipping tomorrow, Adobe has released some information about compatibility with Adobe CS3 products. The Adobe Snow Leopard FAQ states:

Older versions of Adobe creative software were not included in our testing efforts. While older Adobe and Macromedia applications may install and run on Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6), they were designed, tested, and released to the public several years before this new operating system became available. You may therefore
experience a variety of installation, stability, and reliability issues for which there is no resolution. Older versions of our creative software will not be updated to support Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6).

John Nack from Adobe had a follow up article, Information about Photoshop CS3 on Snow Leopard on his blog and says that Photoshop has been tested on CS3 and it works with the exception of a couple of small issues they're looking into.

That's great about Photoshop CS3, but what about After Effects, Premiere Pro, Flash and the other apps? I am really hoping they will work fine without much incident.

I can see both sides of the argument here for support of CS3 in Snow Leopard. Creative Suite 3 did come out a couple of years ago and Adobe could not have had an inkling what was in store for Mac OS X Snow Leopard. It makes sense to build your new software for the most current systems so that you can have optimal efficiency and performance.

That said, users who are still on CS3 are going to be forced to upgrade to CS4 if they want to use Snow Leopard, and that will certainly make a few people angry.

I'm curious how this will be received by Mac users. Hopefully the majority of the Mac users out there have upgraded to Creative Suite 4 and this is not an issue at all.

How do you feel about it? Does it affect you? It doesn't affect me because I'm running CS4 and I don't plan on upgrading to Snow Leopard right away. Leave a comment with your thoughts.

Labels: Adobe, Mac OS X Snow Leopard