ImageReady, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks...

[stiney51]

I will be getting new software for work and was just curious if anyone had any experience with Adobe Design Studio and more specifically Fireworks.

I have creative suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign etc). An from what I can tell, Fireworks is a glorified combination of Illustrator and ImageReady with a couple photoshop tools thrown in for good measure. All of this wrapped up in slightly different package.

The reason I ask, is I'm debating about suggesting we get the WebDesign bundle (includes both Creative Suite and Studio 8 bundles). Or if I should suggest we get the Creative Suite bundle and just buy Flash.

Also does anyone have experience with the upgrade plan? Looks like you invest in nothing more than a notification when the new software is out.

[notjustgraphics]

Hey Stiney51

I use Studio 8 religiously... including Dreamweaver!!!!, Fireworks, and Flash

You are right that Fireworks is a combination of Illustrator and Image Ready but I find it much more efficient... It interacts directly with Dreamweaver and you can take a design from photoshop or illustrator and slice it up the way you want... You can even control behaviours for each slice at a higher level. Fireworks will scale the site for different screen resolutions as well and generate all the necessary HTML/Javascript code.

I'd be lost without the two packages... CS2 and Studio8.... Where there is a lot of overlap, each excels in different applications.

Flash of course is unique, but integrates well with the remaining Studio 8 Packages.

I am sorry, I do not have experience with their upgrade plan.

Mike.

[stiney51]

I'll have to take a closer look. Maybe I'll just download the trials and give it a test run first.

[Jacorre]

Yup, notjustgraphics is correct about Fireworks. It's alot easier to work with vector shapes in Fireworks than in Photoshop I think. I'm so used to ImageReady though so I tend to do my slicing there.