I’ve definitely had my hands full these last few days testing out the release of Creative Suite 4 and the new Adobe AIR, version 1.5 (not publicly available yet). I will publish information on the new version of AIR 1.5 after it has been released by Adobe. In the meantime, here is a summary of my findings with CS4 so far…

Adobe Creative Suite 4
Adobe is referring to CS4 as the company’s biggest release in its 25-year history. So far, I just might have to personally agree. Of particular interest, is the new 3D capabilities of Flash Pro CS4. Additionally, Photoshop CS4 Extended and Illustrator CS4 have both gotten upgrades to complement the new 3D capabilities of Flash.

Other new features of Flash include the “Bones” tool, which makes animating objects quicker and more realistic by creating relationships between connected objects using pivot points. For example, I could tell flash that my stick-man’s arm, forearm, and hand is connected and the elbow and wrist are the pivot point. I can then set certain parameters which let Flash know how these objects are related and what the movement restrictions are. Therefore, if my stick-man’s hand moves forward and up at an angle, the forearm and upper arm will automatically move with it. It’s pretty sweet once you figure out how to leverage the power of this tool.

Integration with Photoshop Extended and Illustrator has gotten better as well. For example, you can easily create a 3D object in Illustrator or Photoshop, and then Export it to Flash, where you can add your 3D animations to the object.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Inside Scoop: Adobe Flex 4 and Flash Builder 4 official release
• Adobe Burned Twice After Apple Shuns Flash One More Time
• A few words on the state of current web tech: Apple’s iPhone, the iPad, Adobe Flash, and HTML 5
• Adobe takes Flash to the iPhone at MAX 2009
• Adobe Flash Builder 4: Data-centric Features for PHP (PHPBuilder.com)