Well it seems as though today is a tech news day!
Today Adobe updated it’s Cloud apps and is saying it’s the largest upgrade since CS6. Among the most interesting is the ability to now print to a 3d printer via Photoshop which I’m still not too clear on but as far as I can tell you can model 3d objects and then print them via a 3d printer which is cool if you’ve got the cash to shell out for said 3d printer. Photoshop also got a new Blur gallery which allows you to add blur along any path and Spin Blur to create circular or elliptical blurs. They’ve also installed a new Experimental features panel which allows you to test drive and help shape new Photoshop features before they’re officially released. Flash CC got one interesting feature and two features they took OUT of Flash CC (2013). Illustrator got a host of interesting features  most notably allowing you to see the path you’re drawing before you drop your next point. A rubberband-like line from your last anchor point to the tip of the pen appears as you draw. Visualize where the next curve will go as you plot your next point — and spend less time cleaning up paths.
From their blog:
Major updates across our desktop apps
- Photoshop CC now has Blur Gallery motion effects for creating a sense of motion, and the recently introduced Perspective Warp for fluidly adjusting the perspective of a specific part of an image without affecting the surrounding area. Focus Mask (did you see the sneak?) makes portrait shots with shallow depth of field stand out, and new Content-Aware capabilities make one of the most popular features even better. We’ve also added more camera support to Lightroom (version 5.5) as well as a new Lightroom mobile app for iPhone. The Photoshop and Lightroom blogs have the full scoop.
- The Adobe Illustrator blog has the rundown on what’s new in Illustrator CC, such as Live Shapes to quickly and non-destructively transform rectangles into complex forms and then return to the original rectangle with just a few clicks.
- With InDesign CC layout artists can now move rows and columns around in tables by simply selecting, dragging and dropping, which will be a big time saver. The new EPUB Fixed Layout means you can create digital books effortlessly.
- The team is rebuilding Adobe Muse CC as a native 64-bit application and it now includes HiDPI display support for sharper-looking images, objects, and text.
- Originally previewed at the NAB show in April, new features in our video apps include Live Text Templates, Masking and Tracking plus new integrations that leverage the power of Adobe After Effects CC inside Adobe Premiere Pro CC. It’s better, faster, stronger. Read more on our Pro Video blog.
- Dreamweaver CC lets you see your work come to life. You can now view your markup in an interactive tree using the new Element Quick View, to quickly navigate, and modify the HTML structure of pages. The Dreamweaver CC blog has all the details.
Since Flash, Illustrator and Photoshop are the biggest tools in the Animation world, we’;ll focus on them. You can see all the newest updates to Adobe Cloud here.
Flash Professional CC (2014)
Flash seems to have gotten the fewest updates which honestly just pisses me off. In fact with every other update, they mention “And SO much more!” Flash? We got eight updates and only two are useful, to a Flash animator. Most of what they did for Flash CC this round is bring Back things they got rid of since CS6. Here’s a rundown on the newest features in Flash CC (2014) There is one promising feature though called the Width Tool which lets you draw variable width strokes; a tool which was already in Illustrator and actually has some promise in that it allows you to now change widths on the Line tool, essentially allowing you to control thick and thin on the fly in a drawing. gonna test that out and see how that works. In the meantime you can see a demo of the new Flash Width tool here.
They did allow for SVG export again meaning you can finally export vector again with this version of Flash CC so at least there’s that.
SVG export
Export any frame in your Flash project as an SVG file that can be scaled up and used in posters and other promotional materials.See it in action
Variable-width strokes
Draw strokes with widths that can be adjusted at any point. Create and save profiles for any stroke, or use variable-width presets.See it in action
Tweening for variable-width strokes
Add a shape tween to a variable-width stroke to create an animation as the stroke changes.See it in action
New Motion Editor
Back by popular demand, the updated Motion Editor gives you precise control over motion tween properties like color effects and transformations.See it in action
WebGL for animation
Publish animations to the WebGL format so they can run in modern browsers without needing Flash Player — and they can take advantage of GPU hardware acceleration.See it in action
Object-level undo
It’s back. Object-level undo lets you undo an action on one object without having to undo actions on other objects you changed more recently.
Projector support
Publish videos as Flash projector (.exe) files so they’re viewable even on systems that don’t have Flash Player installed.See it in action
HTML5 extension support
Flash Professional now supports HTML5-based panels, so developers can extend the app’s capabilities with new features and content.
Photoshop CC (2014)
Smart Object improvements
Maintain the links to external files by automatically packaging them in a single directory. You can also convert your existing embedded Smart Objects to linked Smart Objects.See how it works
Improved Layer Comps
Save time now that you can change the visibility, position, or appearance of one layer in a Layer Comp and then sync that change to all the others. Plus, easily see the attributes of each Layer Comp, and toggle a Layer Comp within a Smart Object.See how it works
Blur Gallery motion effects
Use Path Blur to add blur along any path and Spin Blur to create circular or elliptical blurs. The Mercury Graphics Engine makes all Blur Gallery interactions fast and fluid.See how it works
Focus Mask
Let Photoshop help you start a mask by automatically selecting the in-focus areas of your image. Focus Mask works great with potraits and other images that have shallow depth of field, and the Mercury Graphics Engine delivers fast performance.
Improvements to Content-Aware technology
New technology in Content-Aware Fill, Move, and Patch smoothly blends areas containing gradients, like skies, so you can create seamless, realistic results like never before.See how it works
Smarter Smart Guides
Forget trying to align multiple shapes or objects at exact distances from one another on canvas. Now you can quickly see the distance in pixels between objects so you can lay out content with precision.See how it works
Desktop fonts from Typekit
Choose the fonts you need from the Typekit library, sync them to your desktop, and get immediate access to them in your Photoshop font menu. Photoshop will even automatically replace missing fonts in your documents.See how it works
Font Search
Search for fonts by name, and see instant previews of each font to zero in on the perfect one.See how it works
Expanded 3D printing capabilities
Now you can see exactly where and how Photoshop repaired your 3D meshes so it’s easy to refine your designs in third-party 3D modeling apps. Get more accurate renderings of your models prior to printing thanks to WYSIWYG previews. And get support for more 3D printers and service providers.See how it works
Adobe Generator enhancements
Simplify the process of naming Generator assets and get greater flexibility in organizing the output from Generator by setting document-wide defaults, and by specifying subfolders for exported assets. Generator also offers new APIs so developers can create even more powerful plug-ins.See how it works
Adobe Camera Raw 8 enhancements
Heal images, fix perspective distortions, and create vignettes with greater precision. Plus, access an interactive histogram, before/after previews, and more.See how it works
Improved Windows 8.1 stylus support
Get to work quickly and comfortably with your stylus on Windows 8.1 devices, and enjoy smoother brush strokes thanks to higher-frequency sampling.
Expanded Mercury Graphics Engine support
Upsample images up to 15 times faster (depending on file size and video card configuration) now that the Mercury Graphics Engine delivers an OpenCL performance boost. The engine powers new Blur Gallery motion effects and the Focus Mask feature, too.
Experimental features
A new preference setting allows you to test drive and help shape new Photoshop features before they’re officially released.
Intelligent upsampling, even faster
Enlarge a low-res image so it looks great in print, or start with a larger image and blow it up to poster or billboard size. Upsampling preserves detail and sharpness without introducing noise, and now you get even more immediate results thanks to an OpenCL boost from the Mercury Graphics Engine.See how it works
Workflow Enhancements
Work faster and smarter thanks to new feature enhancements throughout your workflows. Now you have access to an expanded Color Panel; you can access your most recently used brushes, sync your workspaces, keyboard shortcuts, and menu customizations with Sync Settings; and more.
Illustrator CC (2014)
Live Shapes: Rectangles and Rounded Rectangles
Rectangles now have quickly modifiable corners, including independent radius control. Corner attributes are retained if you scale and rotate your rectangle. Now Illustrator remembers your work — width, height, rotation, corner treatment — so you can return to your original shape.See how it works
Pen tool preview
See the path you’re drawing before you drop your next point. A rubberband-like line from your last anchor point to the tip of the pen appears as you draw. Visualize where the next curve will go as you plot your next point — and spend less time cleaning up paths.See how it works
Anchor point enhancements
Fine adjustment of curves is now easier. New anchor point controls allow unequal or different-direction handles to be dragged as you draw to control the smoothness of each segment. You can even change a corner point to smooth without ruining your shape.See how it works
Snap to pixel, point, and grid updates
When snapping is turned on, your anchor points align perfectly to your choice of pixel, grid, or point. But your anchor handles should not. They’re now disengaged from snapping so you can preserve the precision of your curves and achieve fine control while editing.See how it works
Close paths with better control
Close your paths with precision and predictability. As you complete a drawing, you now have more control connecting the end and start points. Reposition your closing point or choose to break the direction lines to adjust the closing curve exactly as you wish.See how it works
Windows GPU acceleration
New GPU acceleration for Windows lets you work faster on Windows 7 or 8 computers. This feature requires an Adobe-certified NVIDIA graphics card with at least 1GB of VRAM.
Typekit missing fonts workflow
When you open a document, missing fonts are now automatically replaced. Illustrator CC searches the Typekit desktop font library and if the missing font is available it will sync through Creative Cloud with just a click.See how it works
All in all there’s a ton of new features to wade through. I just wish they’d continue to take Flash seriously. Clearly they’re gonna kill it.
