The most important reason to upgrade to CS4 of Adobe's Creative Suite is new support for the 64 bit Windows Vista OS.  For those who edit large photos, the 4GB memory barrier on the 32 bit OS caused the workspace to use hard drive space for swapping, significantly slowing down the program.

For those who are not using a 64 Bit OS, the new version also incorporates a number of improvements and user interface improvements which make the product more powerful and easier to use.

This year, we are reviewing the entire CS4 Master Collection, which includes the following applications:

• InDesign CS4
• Photoshop CS4 Extended
• Illustrator CS4
• Acrobat 9 Pro
• Flash CS4 Professional
• Dreamweaver CS4
• Fireworks CS4
• Contribute CS4
• After Effects CS4
• Adobe Premiere Pro CS4
• Soundbooth CS4
• Adobe OnLocation CS4
• Encore CS4
• Adobe Bridge CS4
• Adobe Device Central CS4
• Dynamic Link
• Version Cue CS4

The first thing that any Adobe graphics developer will notice is that the application interfaces are more similar to each other than ever before, which makes the training cycle on these products much simpler than ever before.

In coming months, we will be evaluating several of the new applications one at a time, but below are a couple of features that stand out during our initial examination of some of the cornerstone elements.

Photoshop - The new 3D features of Photoshop makes it much easier to create 3D variations of your 2D images, such as adding depth to a logo.  Also, a new background removal plugin makes it much easier to remove complex backgrounds, including hair and leaves.

Illustrator -We really couldn't image what Adobe could do to improve this industry leading vector image editor, but we really like the Blob Brush, which allows you to draw an blob object just by stroking an area till you are done.  You can also use the eraser to erase the edge of a blob till it is just the size and shape you are looking for.  Also, the gradient features have been improved to allow you to set different opacities at any point in the gradient.

Fireworks - With a perfect blend of vector and bitmap tools, during the past few years, Fireworks has become our favorite editing tool for web graphic development, and we now use it for all image development on the Gadget Gurus website.  In the new version, Adobe has implemented a number of the more advanced Photoshop blending, lighting and shadow effects, creating enhanced 3D effects for any text or object.

For more information on CS4, visit www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite.