Adobe Illustrator 6.0 for Macintosh Ships, Adding Support for TIFF & Adobe
Photoshop Plug-ins, Improved Performance and New API

Product Integration Simplifies Web Publishing with Drag & Drop to Adobe
PageMill

MACWORLD EXPO, San Francisco (January 9, 1996) (Nasdaq: ADBE) -- Adobe
Systems Incorporated today announced the availability of Version 6.0 of
Adobe Illustrator  for Macintosh and Power Macintosh, a major upgrade of
the industry's leading illustration and design program. Version 6.0 offers
significant performance gains as well as a host of new features and
functions  from cross-production integration such as Drag & Drop
capabilities to and from Adobe Photoshop and Adobe PageMill, to enhanced
image handling and built-in color separation features. Adobe Illustrator
Version 6.0 also introduces a new, extensible Application Programming
Interface (API) that allows users to run Adobe Photoshop-compatible
filters and enables third parties to develop plug-in tools and add
palettes. Adobe Illustrator 6.0 is being demonstrated this week here at
Macworld Expo in Adobe's booth, #1229, Moscone Convention Center.

New Upgrade Pricing

Users of any version of Adobe Illustrator for Macintosh or Macromedia
FreeHand may upgrade to the Deluxe CD-ROM-only package of Adobe
Illustrator 6.0 for $99. The Deluxe CD-ROM bundles many extras, including
additional Adobe software: Adobe Dimensions , Adobe ScreenReady and
Volumes 1, 2 & 3 of Adobe Gallery Effects. The total suggested retail
value for the Deluxe CD-ROM is $1,440. An upgrade to the floppy diskette
package, which includes the Deluxe CD-ROM, retails for $129. Adobe
Illustrator 6.0 has a suggested retail price of $595.

Web Publishing Made Easy

The new Drag & Drop capabilities in Adobe Illustrator 6.0 makes it easy to
move files from one Adobe application to another and facilitate the
creation of beautifully designed Web pages. Users simply drag an Adobe
Illustrator program file, complete with images from Adobe Photoshop, and
drop it directly into the Adobe PageMill program, Adobe's new Web page
authoring software.

New, More Robust API

Adobe Illustrator 6.0 incorporates a new, more powerful API designed to
extend product functionality by leveraging the use of plug-ins across
Adobe applications. The new plug-in architecture in Adobe Illustrator 6.0
allows users to run Adobe Photoshop-compatible filters and enables third
parties to develop plug-ins and add palettes. Among the developers
supporting the API are MetaTools, Inc. (formerly HSC Software),
BeInfinite, Cytopia, Extensis, Alien Skin, Avenza and Letraset. The new
API also supports:

 Existing Adobe Illustrator 5.x plug-ins as well as new plug-ins designed
for Version 6.0

 All Adobe Photoshop filters and file formats

 Integration of third-party plug-in filters as interactive palettes and
tools within the filter menu

"The new API greatly expands on the capabilities developers can integrate
into Adobe applications," said John Wilczak, president and CEO of
MetaTools, Carpinteria, Calif. "And the implementation of this API across
all Adobe applications helps to ensure that Adobe customers worldwide will
have access to MetaTools' plug-in applications, including Kai's Power
Tools, KPT Convolver, KPT Vector Effects and KPT Final Effects."

Immediate Performance Gains

"Adobe Illustrator 6.0 ups the ante of professional illustration programs
by offering the most complete set of graphical design tools available on
any platform. New features like Ink Pen and Path Patterns will
revolutionize vector-based graphics; both are incredibly powerful," said
Ted Alspach, author of Illustrator Filter Finesse and the Macworld
Illustrator 6.0 Bible based in Cave Creek, Arizona.

"One of the most compelling elements of Adobe Illustrator 6.0 is its raw
speed, especially when compared to FreeHand 5.5," Alspach said. "In a
typical color file, basic PostScript transformations such as moving,
rotating, scaling, shearing and reflecting took between 7-10 times as long
to do in FreeHand 5.5 as they did in Adobe Illustrator 6.0 on my PowerMac
8100/80. I waited for more than 60 seconds for a 1-inch move to complete
in FreeHand; Adobe Illustrator took less than 6 seconds to do the same
thing. Even undoing in Adobe Illustrator 6.0 takes far less time. For
example, a typical Undo Group took 3 seconds in Adobe Illustrator; that
same procedure took 30 seconds to complete in FreeHand."

Summary of New Features

Image-Handling Enhancements

Adobe Illustrator 6.0 introduces a broad range of new feature and
functions. The new release provides enhanced image-handling capabilities,
including support for TIFF and files from Adobe Photoshop 2.5 or later.
Users can now run Adobe Photoshop and compatible filters; import PDF, EPS,
PICT 1&2 files and files from Adobe Illustrator 1, 88, 3, 5 & 6. Users can
also rasterize Adobe Illustrator artwork to pixel-based images and
colorize 1-bit TIFF images.

Cross-Product Integration and Production Features

Version 6.0 adds support for built-in color separation; the ability to
interpret any PostScript language file and improved integration with other
leading Adobe products, such as Adobe Fetch , the leading vidual database
for cataloguing digital media; Adobe Acrobat 2.0; Drag & Drop to Adobe
Photoshop 3.0.4 and to Adobe PageMill. Additionally, users can now launch
Adobe Illustrator from Adobe PageMaker 6.0 to edit placed EPS files.

New Tools, Filters and Palettes

Adobe Illustrator 6.0 offers many enhancements to tools, filters and
palettes. Palettes now snap to each other, to the edges of the screen and
to the document window for easier customization of workspace. Key new
filters include the Ink Pen for creating organic-looking Hatches with
different settings for producing randomized effects; Path Patterns, for
placing patterns along paths, is a unique method of creating borders,
frames, unique shapes and graphic design elements. The patterns generated
are fully editable vector artwork that can be applied to a path, colored,
resized and transformed. The Clean Up Artwork filter gives users options
for making artwork less messy, and Zig Zag distorts paths by moving them
in a pattern perpendicular to selected path(s). Transform Each combines
Move Each, Rotate Each and Scale Each into one filter, now accessed from
the Arrange menu; Saturate, which combines the Saturate, Saturate More,
Desaturate, and Desaturate More filters.

New palettes include the Tools Palette, which contains the Knife, Star,
Polygon, Spiral and Twirl tools. Third-party plug-in developers can easily
add tools to this palette or create palettes of their own. The Control
Palette identifies the location (x,y), the width and height, and the
rotation and scaling of the selected object(s). Editing each field will
affect the selected objects.The Align Palette combines key features of the
Align and Distribute filters into an intuitive palette. The Eyedropper
Tool samples colors from within any open document; Arithmetic in Numeric
Fields lets users do Addition and Subtraction within any text fields with
numbers, and Expand breaks up patterns and gradients into individual
objects that can be modified separately and more easily exported to other
file formats.

Added Value

In addition to the Adobe Illustrator 6.0 application and many other extras,
the Deluxe CD-ROM comes with three bonus Adobe software programs, a value
of more than $1,400. They include:

 Adobe Dimensions 2.0, which retails for $199, turns 2D objects into shaded
3D artwork that can be imported into Adobe Illustrator. The program
renders as PostScript outlines, allowing infinite resizing and
transforming of 3D rendered objects without any loss in quality.

 Adobe ScreenReady, which sells for $199, automatically rasterizes
documents and EPS files intended for use in presentations, film, video,
animation and CD-ROM authoring. The utility has two compo-nents: a
QuickDraw-based, chooser-level driver and a PostScript application. The
QuickDraw driver lets users "print" one page or multiple pages directly
from programs such as Microsoft Word, Adobe Illustrator or Adobe
PageMaker, Macromedia Freehand, or Quark XPress into PICT format.

 Adobe Gallery Effects, Volumes 1, 2 & 3. These Adobe Photoshop-compatible
plug-ins can be used directly within Adobe Illustrator to enhance and add
special effects to raster images. Each volume has a suggested retail price
of $149.

The Deluxe CD-ROM also contains sample Path Patterns in a variety of
categories; 300 Adobe Type 1 fonts; new QuickTime movies; hundreds of clip
art files; sample files; stock photography; a new Art Gallery, and
documentation in PDF format.

System Requirements

Minimum system requirements for Adobe Illustrator 6.0 include a 68K-based
Macintosh computer with 4 MB of application RAM or a Power Macintosh with
7 MB of application RAM; System 7.0 or later, a 640x480 or larger display,
a hard disk, and either a floppy disk drive or a CD-ROM drive. Adobe
recommends 6 MB of application RAM for 68K-based systems and 9 MB of
application RAM for Power Macintosh. Requirements for viewing tutorials on
the CD-ROM include a CD-ROM drive, QuickTime 2.1 extension (included); 4
MB of application RAM, and a 640x480 or larger color display.

Price and Availability

Adobe Illustrator 6.0 for Macintosh is available from Adobe Authorized
Resellers at the suggested retail price of $595. Registered users who
purchased Adobe Illustrator 5.5 for Macintosh on or after September 26,
1995, will receive a free CD-ROM upgrade to Version 6.0 with proof of
purchase. Registered users who purchased any version of Adobe Illustrator
for Macintosh and Power Macintosh prior to September 26, 1995, may upgrade
to the CD-ROM-only for $99 (contains everything but the floppy disks).
FreeHand users may upgrade to the Deluxe CD-ROM package for $99. A floppy
disk-based upgrade, which includes the CD-ROM, costs $129. For more
information, call 1-800-521-1976.

Adobe Developers Association

To take advantage of the extensible plug-in interface of Adobe Illustrator
6.0, the Adobe Developers Association plans to release and provide support
for an Adobe Illustrator Plug-ins Software Develop-ment Kit. For further
information about the ADA, contact the Association at (415) 961-4111 in
the United States and Canada, and in Europe call +31-20-65-11-275.

Adobe Systems Incorporated, founded in 1982, is headquartered in Mountain
View, California. Adobe develops, markets and supports computer software
products and technologies that enable users to create, display, print and
communicate electronic documents. The company licenses its technology to
major computer, printing and publishing suppliers, and markets a line of
applications software and type products for authoring visually rich
documents. Additionally, the company markets a line of powerful, but easy
to use, products for home and small business users. Adobe has subsidiaries
in Europe and the Pacific Rim serving a worldwide network of dealers and
distributors. Adobe's 1994 revenue was approximately $598 million.

 
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