Adobe Systems Announces Adobe Illustrator 6.0 For Macintosh and Power
Macintosh

New, Expanded API, Support for TIFF Images and Adobe Photoshop-Compatible
Plug-ins

San Francisco, Calif. (September 26, 1995) (Nasdaq: ADBE) -- Adobe Systems
Incorporated today announced Version 6.0 of Adobe Illustrator for
Macintosh and Power Macintosh, a significant upgrade of the industry's
leading illustration and design program. Version 6.0 delivers those
features users have requested most frequently, including enhanced image
support, cross-product integration with other award-winning Adobe products
and built-in production capabilities. The product also boasts a new
Application Programming Interface (API) that enables third parties to
develop plug-ins and add palettes, and will allow users to run Adobe
Photoshop-compatible filters from within Adobe Illustrator. The product
will be demonstrated for the first time this week at Seybold San
Francisco, Adobe booth #1613, Moscone Convention Center.

Version 6.0 incorporates the first iteration of the new Adobe API,
signaling a major step toward a common plug-in interface that will enable
future versions of leading Adobe applications to leverage the use of
plug-ins across products and platforms, including Macintosh, Windows and
UNIX. "Adobe Illustrator is a powerful creative tool that lets artists
explore almost unlimited design possibili-ties, said Michael Katz, senior
art director at Home Box Office (HBO), New York. "With Version 6.0, the
enhanced API and tighter integration with other Adobe products provides an
integrated design solution that shortens the distance between the creative
idea and the finished product. "With Adobe Illustrator 6.0 for Macintosh,
Adobe is delivering the new features our customers have requested most
frequently and providing extra value with Adobe Photoshop plug-ins and
Adobe Dimensions software, said John Kunze, vice president of product
marketing for Adobe's graphics products. "We expect developers to rapidly
adopt this new plug-in model and generate the next wave of Adobe-software
compatible plug-ins, opening up new vertical markets.

Key New Features

New API

Version 6.0 incorporates a new Adobe API that includes core technology
designed to extend product functionality by leveraging the use of plug-ins
across Adobe products and multiple platforms. Among the developers
planning to support the API are MetaTools, Inc. (formerly HSC Software),
BeInfinite, Cytopia, Extensis and Letraset (see Adobe press release
"Third-Party Developers to Support New Adobe Illustrator 6.0 Plug-in
Architecture). In addition, the new API 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
* And integrates third-party plug-in filters as interactive palettes
  and tools within the filter menu

Enhanced Image Support

Adobe Illustrator 6.0 provides a host of new import capabilities,
including:

* TIFF and Adobe Photoshop 2.5 or later and runs Adobe Photoshop
  and compatible filters
* Adobe Illustrator versions 1, 88, 3, 5, 6
* The Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)
* EPS
* CompuServe GIF
* PICT 1&2, plus many more
* Rasterize converts Adobe Illustrator artwork to pixel-based images
* Colorize 1-bit TIFF images

Adobe Solution with Cross-Product Integration

Version 6.0 provides improved integration capabilities with other leading
Adobe products, including:

* Drag and Drop between Adobe Photoshop 3.0.4 and
  Adobe Illustrator 6.0
* Support for Adobe Fetch , the leading visual database for
  cataloging digital media
* Support for Adobe Acrobat 2.0, including editing PDF files
* Launching Adobe Illustrator EPS files within Adobe PageMaker 6.0
* Support for PostScript on the Clipboard

Built-in Production Capabilities

Version 6.0 features integrated production capabililities such as:

* Built-in color separation
* The ability to interpret PostScript files regardless of native
  application Page 2 of 5 Adobe Illustrator 6.0 for Macintosh

New Tools, Filters and Palettes

Adobe Illustrator 6.0 adds several new features and capabilities, from new
plug-ins to performance improvements, in several key areas. Palettes now
snap to each other, to the edges of the screen and to the document window
for exact placement.

* Path Patterns let users place patterns along paths, a unique method of
creating borders, frames, unique shapes and graphic design elements. The
patterns generated are fully editable vector artwork. For example, a
pattern applied to a path can be colored, resized and transformed just
like other Adobe Illustrator artwork.

* The new Tools Palette contains plug-in tools with special functions,
including 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.

* Clean Up Artwork filter gives users options for making artwork less
"messy, including the selection and removal of stray points, removal of
unpainted objects and removal of empty text paths.

* Zig Zag Filter distorts paths by moving them in a pattern perpendicular
to selected path(s).

* Eyedropper Tool samples colors from within any open document.

* Transform Each combines Move Each, Rotate Each and Scale Each into one
filter, now accessed from the Arrange menu.

* Saturate combines the Saturate, Saturate More, Desaturate, and Desaturate
More filters.

* Arithmetic in Numeric Fields lets users perform Addition and Subtraction
within any text fields in which numbers are used.

* Control Palette identifies the location (x,y), the width and height, and
the rotation and scaling of the selected object(s). Editing each of those
fields will affect the selected objects.

* Align Palette combines key features of the Align and Distribute filters
into an intuitive and simple palette.

* Expand turns patterns and gradients into objects.

Added Value

The Adobe Illustrator 6.0 package includes the Deluxe CD-ROM, containing:

* Adobe Illustrator 6.0 application

* Adobe Dimensions 2.0 software for turning 2D objects into 3D artwork that
can be imported into Adobe Illustrator. The program renders in PostScript
outlines, the industry standard, allows infinite resizing and transforming
of 3D rendered objects without any loss in quality. Users can copy and
paste objects between Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Dimensions using
PostScript on the Clipboard.Page 3 of 5 Adobe Illustrator 6.0 for
Macintosh

* Adobe Photoshop-compatible plug-ins can be used directly within Adobe
Illustrator to enhance and add special effects to raster images

* 12 filters from Adobe Gallery Effects, including Accented Edges; Bas
Relief; Fresco; Glass; Grain; Halftone Screen; Mosaic; Patchwork; Rough
Pastels; Spatter; Stamp, and Sunrise

* 300 of Adobe's Type 1 fonts
* New QuickTime movies
* Hundreds of clip art
* Sample files
* Stock photography
* Sample Path Patterns in a variety of categories
* New Art Gallery showcasing some of the world's finest artwork
  created with Adobe Illustrator
* Documentation in PDF format

System Requirements

Minimum system requirements for Adobe Illustrator 6.0 include a 68K-based
Macintosh computer with 4 megabytes of application RAM or a Power
Macintosh with 6 megabytes 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. For optimal performance, Adobe recommends 6 megabytes of
application RAM for 68K-based systems and 8 megabytes of application RAM
for Power Macintosh systems. Requirements for viewing the tutorials on the
CD-ROM include a CD-ROM drive, QuickTime 2.1 extension, which is included;
4 megabytes of application RAM, and a 640x480 or larger color display.

Price and Availability

Adobe Illustrator 6.0 for Macintosh is expected to be available from Adobe
Authorized Resellers in the First Quarter of 1996 at a 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
upgrade package of Version 6.0 for $99, which includes everything but the
floppy disks. A floppy disk-based upgrade, which also includes the CD-ROM,
is available for $129. For more information, please call 1-800-521-1976
and refer to code #511216.

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 when Version
6.0 of Adobe Illustrator for Macintosh ships. 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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