CWRW Product Previews

[JOdel]

There are a few real advantages to going subscription mode in software. *Particularly* if you are using the program in an actual job. For one thing, you never have to buy an upgrade. Just download and install it when it's available (if your OS will run it, that is). I am under the impression that the cost of the subscription can also be written off as a business expense for tax purposes. As to the Adobe stuff; compared with the price of the upgrades of the old perpetual license versions, it really does about break even. Especially if you use more than one of their programs.

You do have to have a functioning internet connection, since the program connects to the mother ship to check on your subscription status when you launch it. The subscription comes with a number of additional resources as well. But I have to admit that I don't keep up with those.

The downside mainly has to do with the inevitable obsolescence of one's hardware/OS/software. I signed up for CC at its outset since we were offered a very sweet deal (first year free) at the PhotoshopWorld where it was first announced. And I've been on the student plan ever since (twice the price of Photoshop only, but I use something like four of their main programs on a regular basis, so maintaining the upgrades had been pricy). However, I was still clinging to SnowLeopard when I signed on, so I couldn't use all of the CC versions of the programs that I used, because they demanded Lion or later. Mojave is likely to throw another such cat among the pigeons this fall.

I just had a day from hell moving my old CS versions of key Adobe programs onto my old legacy machine in anticipation of that.

 

[CWRW]

Hey Jodel- yeah I do write off all of my software programs on my taxes as yes I do very much use them for my various businesses And yeah I've been buying and upgrading the old school Creative Suite for so many years as it was a must have for my design business. I have the last- CS6 and do still use that. But yeah the CS6 Photoshop does some odd things after I had to upgrade that Mac (my main 3D Mac) from 10.7 to 10.11 for Poser 11. SO I am digging having a more compatible version already. For one my Wacom tablets work MUCH better, like they should. Was kind of wonky in PS since the OS upgrade. I have older versions as well on my other Mac towers (LOL my main design machine is still on 10.5 and is now 12 years old

I am looking to take the plunge and get one of the newer Mac Pro "cones" in the next year. My older custom refurbed Mac towers can do a lot but they ARE getting rather old The "youngster" is 6 yo. But again they are all tax write offs at least

And well about everything I use these days wants to "talk to the mothership" regularly so I am used to that...part of doing my business whether I like it or not.

I just grabbed the Photography CC plan as all I really wanted from CC was the newer Photoshop. Honestly I think $10 a month is a pretty sweet deal. It's nice to not have to drop $1000 or more in one go. My older InDesign totally does what I need it to do still and I have way downsized my design biz these days anyway. I use Illustrator once in a while so the CS6 version does fine for that. I use an ancient copy of Dreamweaver for what little html work I do- I hand off 90% of my web stuff these days to a really good developer to pull together. Yeah Adobe has owned me for years

 

[Satira Capriccio]

I've always only used Photoshop, though at times, I would have liked to be able to use some of the other applications like Illustrator. The cost though for the full CC suite though is more than what I can justify ... even with being able to claim it as a tax deductible expense.

The biggest stumbling block for me though is what happens if you can no longer afford the subscription? Don't you essentially lose the ability to access your files? My last upgrade was CS5 Extended, and I wouldn't think psd files created in the current version would be compatible with CS5.

What am I missing about the difference between Photoshop CC Single App ($20.99 / month) and Photography Plan ($9.99 / month)? I guess you're basically paying for an additional 80GB of cloud storage.

Photography Plan ($9.99 / month)

• Lightroom CC
  
• Lightroom Classic CC
  
• Photoshop CC
  
• 20GB of cloud storage

Photoshop CC Single App ($20.99 / month)

• Your choice of one creative app like Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, or Adobe XD CC
• Includes 100GB of cloud storage, your own portfolio website, premium fonts, and social media tools

 

[NapalmArsenal]

Thanks HaiGan and all!

So I am aiming to improve my texturing skills even more- I finally took the plunge last night and grabbed the $10 a month Photoshop CC deal ( I use Photoshop every single day in all facets of my business, so $10 a month is more than well worth it to me as I have spent many thousands buying and upgrading the pre-cloud versions of Photoshop over the last 25 years and am working with the 3D tools there and so far I am SO impressed- being able to use the quality of the clone brush there IN 3D MODE! (and even from a 2d layer! Yay!!!!) is going to make a huge difference for me. I had been using Blacksmith 3D and the brushes there just don't work for me at the level and quality that I can get in Photoshop. Also since I use Photoshop so much and for so long, the 3D tools there are very intuitive to me. SO- very excited here! At the very minimum, the quality of my seams will be a million times better in future!!

I've been thinking about doing that myself I have and am using PS 7 So good to hear that it may be worth the monthly investment. Like you I use it everyday and not just for texturing, but flyers, cards and brochures............. Also since .......... I am officially a 7th grade Science and Social Studies teacher ........... yes I got hired this summer for those duties and will start in August. I think it will be a really awesome way to pitch things to the students because the school I will be teaching at is totally an Ebook school which means ........... no text books just google internet access and several sites that cover those areas. I'm still responsible for the TEKS though! =)

@Chris,... Could soooo use some of your fabulous 3D works of the human body here as 7th grade deals with the human body, structures and functions of cells, organs, organ systems. I just grabbed the V4 and M4 internal organs and brain etc so hoping to use Daz in my classes ( if they will allow me), but will have to come up with some texture presets first to highlight the organ systems so that only those show, but totally excited about showing the kids the organs from all sides. Dusk and Dawn, and Harry will also play a role in the history classes ....... =)

Doesn't mean I'm gone per say.... just my time to work on HiveWire things will be limited, but teachers do get the summers off and great holidays so .... I will still be around and producing for you!

 

[CWRW]

I've always only used Photoshop, though at times, I would have liked to be able to use some of the other applications like Illustrator. The cost though for the full CC suite though is more than what I can justify ... even with being able to claim it as a tax deductible expense.

The biggest stumbling block for me though is what happens if you can no longer afford the subscription? Don't you essentially lose the ability to access your files? My last upgrade was CS5 Extended, and I wouldn't think psd files created in the current version would be compatible with CS5.

What am I missing about the difference between Photoshop CC Single App ($20.99 / month) and Photography Plan ($9.99 / month)? I guess you're basically paying for an additional 80GB of cloud storage.

Photography Plan ($9.99 / month)

• Lightroom CC
  
• Lightroom Classic CC
  
• Photoshop CC
  
• 20GB of cloud storage

Photoshop CC Single App ($20.99 / month)

• Your choice of one creative app like Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, or Adobe XD CC
• Includes 100GB of cloud storage, your own portfolio website, premium fonts, and social media tools

Hey Satira

Yes I totally understand- the biggest reason I had the Standard Creative Suite for so many years is that yes I really used all of it every single day/was truly my business to use those programs in my design biz as they were essential to my biz. I also freelanced for other lager studios and it was essential to have those programs to do the work I was hired for. So the cost was just something I did have to suck up or not work. I owned and ran a full service design and illustration studio for over 25 years. And then I discovered 3D

So you know - you CAN open just about any .psd, regular jpg, regular tiff, file in just about any version of PS - even large many multiple and grouped layered files (many of mine have about a hundred layers). The big trick is if you used something really new/different in a later version of PS that didn't exist in an older version or in a different file format than jpg, tiff or psd etc. In general I can open and work on about 90% of ALL of my thousands of psd files even in my old PS C3. Def no issue in my CS6.

Yeah I thought it strange they would do a deal with Photoshop for both price points. I JUST wanted PS CC so that's why I got the Photography Plan for $10. I guess it must have to do with the cloud storage etc which I don't care about. Who knows? I'd rather be paying $10 than $21 a month

 

[JOdel]

Most of Adobe's software is kinda/sorta backwards compatible. Particularly Photoshop. If you try to open a file that actually uses a feature that was introduced later you'll either open the file with an error message, and/or without the elements dependent on the later feature, but you can throw a file that just uses things like smart objects and layer styles back and forth between at least CS6 and CC2018 without issue.

InDesign, however is an exception. That one is absolutely NOT backwards compatible. Never was. (PageMaker, iirc wasn't either.) You have to jump through hoops to be able to open up an InDesign file in an older version. First you need to save (or export, it's been a while since I did it) from the later version in a specific backwards-compatible format, and then open up *that* with the older version. Every time you want to port that file between versions. The original IDCC was about the only CC program that I could use under SnowLeopard (MacOS 10.6) I *think* Illustrator was the other.

Apple is another story, and it matters. Creative Cloud launched in 2011. MacOS 10.7 (Lion) came out that autumn. Lion was a game changer, since it ate a *lot* of legacy software and utilities (like FreeHand). Mojave (due this fall) is another, since Apple has already made the statement that High Sierra (MacOS 10.13) is the last OS which will run 32-bit software "without compromise". Which I rather suspect translates as; "at all". Which, I rather suspect translates out as most of the Adobe Creative Suite-era programs (or pretty much anything sold on a perpetual license), since I'm getting a message that "this program is not optimized for your Mac" whenever I open Dreamweaver CS6 or Illustrator CS5.1 (the last version which could see and directly open a FreeHand file). I didn't get it from Photoshop CS6, so that one may have already been demanding a 64-bit system. Dreamweaver CC probably did, too.

Now, the Adobe stuff, apart from being able to access any legacy FreeHand files (unlikely but possible) I'll be better off just getting a copy of the current Classroom in a Book and relearning the new version of the program (and rebuilding my website in it. Dreamweaver CS6 was five years ago, it's time.) But what I really dislike is that I get the same message when I open Fontographer. And their current distributors say that even if they maintain the Fontographer name, the program will be a stripped-down version of FontLab, since that is their flagship program. Fontographer was an acquisition in the wake of Adobe's purchase of Macromedia.

And when it goes down (which it probably won't on Windows, or not immediately) that's going to burn.

Y'see, Fontographer was the *very first program* written and released which supported that newfangled code called PostScript. BEFORE Illustrator. Before FreeHand (which was developed by the same people who wrote Fontographer), there was Fontographer. And as of this writing, it's still standing.

Now *that's* Legacy software.

 

[CWRW]

Yes Jodel- def InDesign is NOT backwards compatible AT ALL... Illustrator at least through CS6 you could save back to an older version using the right options in the save dialog box. But of course any newer bells and whistles would likely cause errors when opening in an older version. Def in PS make sure to have the "Maximize Compatibility" button checked on when saving a file in a newer version.

and LOL! I remember Fontographer! We be old folks huh And yeah I HATE that Lion and on made it so I coudn't use my hundreds of older bitmap and ps fonts on that Mac. Hence my old Tower that runs 10.5

Satira- you CAN keep the CC version of Photoshop on your computer and if you really find you need it pay for just a month to do work with it if it just won't open in an earlier version of PS.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

Thanks Laurie and Jodel!

All of that is good to know.

I currently pay for 1TB of cloud storage with Google to sync and backup my files, and Google is doubling that to 2TB with their new plans, for the same cost. So, an additional 80GB of Adobe cloud for $10 doesn't seem that great a deal for me. Which means the Photography plan would work for me too. I read the Adobe Creative Magazine every month and have been drooling over some of the features in Photoshop CC.

While I may not earn all that much on a monthly basis, especially those months I don't release anything, $10 a month certainly seems doable to me. That all may change in a couple years, if I'm able to retire in 2020 like I want. I'd have so much more time during the week to model and what not than I have now.

 

[CWRW]

Thanks Laurie and Jodel!

All of that is good to know.

I currently pay for 1TB of cloud storage with Google to sync and backup my files, and Google is doubling that to 2TB with their new plans, for the same cost. So, an additional 80GB of Adobe cloud for $10 doesn't seem that great a deal for me. Which means the Photography plan would work for me too. I read the Adobe Creative Magazine every month and have been drooling over some of the features in Photoshop CC.

While I may not earn all that much on a monthly basis, especially those months I don't release anything, $10 a month certainly seems doable to me. That all may change in a couple years, if I'm able to retire in 2020 like I want. I'd have so much more time during the week to model and what not than I have now.

You know, another thought too- is do what you can in your older version, and use the CC for the newer fun stuff/save as a new file so you stil have your older PS version to fall back on. That is my base plan moving forward- though def CC is much more compatible with my Wacom tablets for one. Def using CC for seams is one of my main plans as well.

 

[JOdel]

I am suspecting that I was very, very lucky, a month or so ago when I opted to replace the hard drive on that 2011 iMac that was running SnowLeopard. I'd already replaced its video card when that died in 2015 and I got this iMac to replace itfor general work (and which I have been cursing ever since I got it. I *hated* Yosemite). I did lose a lot of software when that hard drive went down, but I've managed to hang onto my investment in a number of things that I'd have otherwise lost entirely.

Like a series of rather fabulous typefaces from a company called Digital Juice, that required a proprietary application in order to get at them. The company that built them stopped making things that required that program back about 2013 or thereabouts. The program still runs on Windows (as does FreeHand, I think), but on the Mac side, Sierra seems to have broken it. (The developers claim that High Sierra is the one that broke it, but my laptop is running Sierra, and it'll open the program but it doesn't recognize the content's install CDs.)

I am SO glad that I didn't just take that computer to the recyclers when replacing the hard drive makes it possible, even if awkward, to be able to access this stuff.

 

[CWRW]

I am suspecting that I was very, very lucky, a month or so ago when I opted to replace the hard drive on that 2011 iMac that was running SnowLeopard. I'd already replaced its video card when that died in 2015 and I got this iMac to replace itfor general work (and which I have been cursing ever since I got it. I *hated* Yosemite). I did lose a lot of software when that hard drive went down, but I've managed to hang onto my investment in a number of things that I'd have otherwise lost entirely.

Like a series of rather fabulous typefaces from a company called Digital Juice, that required a proprietary application in order to get at them. The company that built them stopped making things that required that program back about 2013 or thereabouts. The program still runs on Windows (as does FreeHand, I think), but on the Mac side, Sierra seems to have broken it. (The developers claim that High Sierra is the one that broke it, but my laptop is running Sierra, and it'll open the program but it doesn't recognize the content's install CDs.)

I am SO glad that I didn't just take that computer to the recyclers when replacing the hard drive makes it possible, even if awkward, to be able to access this stuff.

Yep! That's why I keep my old towers going til the motherboard -or that kind of hard to replace thing- dies- I've replaced my share of hard drives using Time Machine and video cards and etc. I have loads of software that will only run on one particular machine/OS, so hence me keeping them going as long as I can.

 

[CWRW]

More tweaking on Calico 2- I think this one is ready for seams. I like him

 

[Satira Capriccio]

I like him too!

 

[Miss B]

Ohhhh, gorgeous coloring Laurie. I like him too.

 

[Pendraia]

Love the calicos and the white lion image Laurie! Which grass product did you use?

 

[CWRW]

Love the calicos and the white lion image Laurie! Which grass product did you use?

This the grass- ULTIMATE Grass & Meadow Worldbuilder | 3D Models and 3D Software by Daz 3D

Great set! I grabbed it on release sale. Def pricey when not on sale but one very cool product.

 

[JOdel]

She's really lovely. Calicos and tortoiseshells are gloriously variable. Everything from the sublime to the ridiculous.

And that white lion is astounding.

 

[carmen indorato]

I am suspecting that I was very, very lucky, a month or so ago when I opted to replace the hard drive on that 2011 iMac that was running SnowLeopard. I'd already replaced its video card when that died in 2015 and I got this iMac to replace itfor general work (and which I have been cursing ever since I got it. I *hated* Yosemite). I did lose a lot of software when that hard drive went down, but I've managed to hang onto my investment in a number of things that I'd have otherwise lost entirely.

Like a series of rather fabulous typefaces from a company called Digital Juice, that required a proprietary application in order to get at them. The company that built them stopped making things that required that program back about 2013 or thereabouts. The program still runs on Windows (as does FreeHand, I think), but on the Mac side, Sierra seems to have broken it. (The developers claim that High Sierra is the one that broke it, but my laptop is running Sierra, and it'll open the program but it doesn't recognize the content's install CDs.)

I am SO glad that I didn't just take that computer to the recyclers when replacing the hard drive makes it possible, even if awkward, to be able to access this stuff.

Freehand? I was forced to stop using Freehand since Adobe bogught it gutted it absorbing some of the features to add to Illustrator and trashed the rest back in 2010 when they announced no further support for any versions of Freehand past that version. I loved that app. It was the first vector app I got which fit on a single floppy disk to install in my Mac IIci. I loved that app especially the caligraphy tool and in combination with a Wacom UD 12x12 drawing Board I created a lot of vector drawings from older pen and ink graphics digitizing/tracing directly off the board into the app.
When the IIci died and then my 8600 Power Mac a few years later I had no alternative to move on.
Sometimes I wish I had never gotten into computers because of all the darn work I have lost since. Forced obsolescence, files dying on hard drives doomed at the onset to fail, power outages killing files in migration while backing and the worst was CDs becoming unable to be read or opened though they were stored well by industry standards because they were written on equipment that somehow did not produce files readable on newer drives.

 

[carmen indorato]

More tweaking on Calico 2- I think this one is ready for seams. I like him

View attachment 38544

Looks nice dear!

 

[Pendraia]

Thanks Laurie...I haven't been keeping up with what's being released lately.