The FINANCIAL — Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) on April 12 unveiled Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5, a new professional interaction design tool that allows designers to rapidly create expressive Web application interfaces and design interaction without writing code.
Together with Adobe Flash Professional CS5 and Adobe Flash Builder 4, Flash Catalyst CS5 software enables designers and developers to collaborate and work more productively together. These powerful new Flash tools in Creative Suite 5 come in advance of the much-anticipated releases of Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2, which are optimized for high performance on mobile screens and designed to take advantage of native device capabilities for a richer, more immersive user experience.
Flash Catalyst CS5 will be offered in the Adobe CS5 Master Collection, Design Premium, Web Premium and Production Premium editions (see separate releases). It will also be available as a stand-alone product.
“Adobe is committed to driving innovation on the Web by providing the best tools to designers and developers,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president and general manager of Creative Solutions at Adobe. “By bringing together the reach of the Flash Platform runtimes with the power of the Flash Platform tools integrated in Creative Suite 5, designers and developers can collaborate more effectively, reducing the time required to deliver the compelling applications and content that users now expect on the Web and mobile devices.”
Add Interactive Flash Content Without Code
Using Flash Catalyst CS5, designers can easily add interactive Flash content to Web sites and applications by transforming native Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator artwork, as well as files from Adobe Fireworks CS5, into functional content and user interfaces (UI). Because designers can now create interactive content without writing code, they can precisely realize their interactive concepts with Flash Catalyst, and work directly with their customers to refine those concepts using fully functional implementations rather than static screenshots. Flash Catalyst also allows round-trip editing of structured pieces of the interaction design project in Photoshop or Illustrator and allows finished projects to be published for distribution as SWF files. The project file can then be imported into Adobe Flash Builder where a developer can add functionality and integrate with servers and services.
Better Collaboration for RIA Development
Also new to CS5 Web Premium and CS5 Master Collection is Flash Builder 4, an Eclipse based, professional development tool designed to help software developers rapidly build cross-platform rich Internet applications (RIAs) using the Flex framework. Using Flash Builder 4, developers can better collaborate with designers to rapidly build and deliver applications while maintaining the specific interactions and fidelity as defined by the designer using Flash Catalyst. This powerful combination provides designers with greater control of their creative vision, while allowing developers to stay focused on core application logic.
Powerful Design Features for Adding Interactivity
Additionally, designers can leverage the powerful new features in Flash Professional CS5, including a new text engine providing creative freedom and control over text, enhanced capabilities for team collaboration on projects, prebuilt code snippets for rapidly adding interactivity and integration with Flash Builder for advanced ActionScript code editing. Using Flash Professional CS5, designers and developers can create, test and deliver Web content across a wide range of mobile platforms and devices such as smartphones, tablets, netbooks, smartbooks and other consumer electronics. They can deploy content in the browser with Flash Player 10.1 and as a standalone application with AIR 2. In addition, users can now build AIR applications using the new Packager for iPhone tool preview, a component of Flash Professional CS5, which can be deployed on the iPhone and iPad (subject to Apple's requirements and approval) with future device support planned for Android, BlackBerry and Palm webOS.
“The inclusion of Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5 in the Adobe Flash Platform is a great addition to my workflow. I can now quickly import visual assets into Flash Catalyst, and then rapidly turn them into functioning simulations that I can further extend with Adobe Flash Builder,” said Chris Griffith, staff engineer of Qualcomm. “This new process has reduced my development time, and enabled our team to explore more compelling user interfaces and designs for both internal and external projects.”
Pricing and Availability
Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5 and Adobe Flash Professional CS5 are scheduled to ship within 30 days with availability through Adobe Authorized Resellers, the Adobe Store and Adobe Direct Sales. Adobe Flash Builder 4 Standard and Premium are currently available. Estimated street pricing is expected to be US$399 for Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5, US$699 for Adobe Flash Professional CS5, and US$249 for Adobe Flash Builder 4 Standard and US$699 for Adobe Flash Builder 4 Premium. Flash Catalyst and Flash Professional will also be available in the CS5 Master Collection, CS5 Design Premium, CS5 Web Premium and CS5 Production Premium editions. Flash Builder 4 Standard will be available in the CS5 Master Collection and CS5 Web Premium editions.
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