Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection

If one Adobe design application, such as Photoshop, is equivalent to, say, a box of crayons, then Adobe CS3 Master Collection suite would be like a drawer packed with crayons, markers, paints, and pencils in hundreds of hues. This heavy-duty software suite contains 17 equally heavy-duty applications--every major professional package in the Adobe pantheon for digital design. With it, you should be able to shoot, edit, and produce a TV-quality commercial; then repurpose those video clips for the Web and mobile phone browsers as well as a companion DVD; then use the existing images, logos, and text in a printed newsletter or magazine ad campaign. However, for those who may not need so many tools, Adobe is also fine-tuning five other software packages.

Adobe Creative Suite 3 packages

	Price: full	Price: upgrade
Creative Suite 3 Master Collection	$2,499	$1,999 (from Studios, CS, or CS2); $1,399 (from two older suites)
Creative Suite 3 Design Premium	$1,799	$599 (from Studios, CS, or CS2); $1,599 (from individual apps)
Creative Suite 3 Design Standard	$1,199	$399 (from Studios, CS, or CS2); $899 (from individual apps)
Creative Suite 3 Web Premium	$1,599	$499 (from Studios, CS, or CS2); $1,399 (from individual apps)
Creative Suite 3 Web Standard	$999	$399 (from Studios, CS, or CS2); $799 (from individual apps)
Creative Suite 3 Production Premium	$1,699	$799 (from Studios, CS, or CS2); $1,199 (from individual apps)

Adobe's Master Collection will include the new Photoshop CS3 Extended, which integrates with Adobe's video-editing tools and Illustrator for vector graphics. InDesign handles print layouts, while Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Encore, and Acrobat serve Webmasters and interactive professionals. Premiere and After Effects edit video--and unlike the previous version, this iteration of Premiere now runs on the Mac--while Ultra assists with chromakeying and Soundbooth edits audio. OnLocation, a lightly repackaged version of DVRack (acquired last year), can help videographers tweak a shoot on site, in the studio, or out in the field.

There's also the Version Cue file version manager and the Bridge content control center. Acrobat Connect Web conferencing can get members of your design, editing, marketing, and other teams on the same page at the same time. Device Central allows mobile content designers to preview creations on skins of the latest handheld gadgets. Adobe's Dynamic Link technology now enables video editors to move content between Premiere, AfterEffects, and Encore while maintaining editability. The CS3 versions of Premiere, Soundbooth, Encore, and OnLocation, in addition to Dynamic Link, require Intel-based Mac computers, which all of the other applications can run on as well as PowerPC-based Macs. However, the Master Collection does not include Lightroom for managing extensive photo libraries.