The scale and complexity of the Adobe universe is truly staggering, but this video does a fantastic job of just laying out the basic idea of what each program does.
(But you know what’s funny? It doesn’t even mention Rush, Adobe’s new simplified* version of Premiere Pro video editor. That’s because the video was done in March and Rush was introduced in that same month. Here are my notes from watching the video:
- Photoshop – pixel-based digital draw, photo, etc.
- Illustrator – vector-based digital artwork creator
- InDesign – publishing software for multi-page layouts for printing
- InCopy – editing text content for InDesign documents in progress
- Lightroom – photo managing and processing
- Bridge – visual media manager for all types of media files
- premiere Pro – professional video editing software
- After-Effects – creating visual effects for video
- Media Encoder – renders video for export to multiple formats and uses
- Prelude – rough, large-scale pre-editing video arrangement
- Audition – recording and modifying audio
- Flash Professional – 2d animation
- Flash Builder – more programing environment for Flash
- Scout – a tool for analyzing performance issues for games made with Flash
- Animate – upgraded, new version of Flash
- Air – rendering Animate games multi-platform
- Character Animator – tracks your face to animate 2D cartoon characters
- Dimension – for arranging 3D models in a 2D photograph or setting
- Fuse – making human 3D models for export to Photoshop or other program
- XD – prototyping tool for designing apps user experiences, websites, interfaces
- Dreamweaver – web designing software
- Acrobat Reader – a reader for PDF files
- Acrobat Pro – make PDF files
- Creative Cloud – a subscription service so you can get different bundles of software, an integrated cross-platform storage environment, and more
- Stock – stock photos, videos, and 3D models
- Typekit – all things font-ish
- Behance – social media platform for creators
- Portfolio – specifically for making portfolio websites
- Photoshop Elements and
- Premiere Elements – simplified versions of their bigger counterparts
- Spark – Free, online graphic and video creation, the super simple version
- Cold Fusion – a programming language for development platform, declining in popularity
- Experience Cloud – a set of products for marketing analytics including marketing cloud, advertising cloud, analytics cloud. For analyzing digital engagement, reach, scheduling roll-out, etc.
- Mobile apps: Photoshop Express, Premiere Clip, Illustrator Draw, Lightroom for mobile, Capture (color schemes), Aero (augmented reality), Scan (paper notes to pdf),
- Robo-help, for creating KB platforms for businesses, like a Borg wiki
- Presenter – create interactive slide shows
- Captivate – create e-learning courses
- Framemaker – for writing large technical documents
- Discontinued applications
- Speedgrade – discontinued color-correction software
- Story Plus – discontinued screenwriting tool for movie scripts
- Muse – discontinued website building
- Fireworks – discontinued graphic design tool for website designers
(* The author uses the phrase “dumbed-down” to describe some applications. I do not like that term and prefer “simplified”. People do not use complex software because they are smart; they use it because it is required for what they need to accomplish. If the task can be simplified, the software can be as well.)