Mountain View, California-based Adobe Systems Inc’s Consumer Products Group, formerly Aldus Corp’s consumer division, has launched is first selection of products for the home consumer market. The new group, created when Adobe finally bought Aldus, is aimed at developing graphics and desktop publishing applications for the home and small office by exploiting the technology of Adobe’s professional graphics product line. These are the Adobe Designer product line, a suite of products that enables consumers to create home plans, landscapes and interiors; the Adobe QuickPublish product family that creates letterheads and forms; brochures and flyers and cards and invitations; and CD versions of popular graphics products. The Adobe Design offering includes three related software applications: Adobe Home Designer, Adobe Interior Designer and Adobe Landscape Designer. Adobe promises unlimited ‘what if’ design scenarios and do-it-yourself projects, including creating home improvement plans; adding a room; experimenting with a furniture arrangement; determining how large a fruit tree planted in the back garden will be in several years; or even designing a house. The programs are said to approach projects from a ‘real world’ perspective, rather than from a ‘drawing program’ one, such that users do not have to learn drawing tools or unfamiliar terminology. The Adobe Designer interface looks like a bookshelf and is lined with catalogues containing more than 2,000 images representing designs for walls, windows, doors, furniture, appliances, floor coverings, shrubs, trees, bedding plants, patio furniture and so on. Users drag items from the catalogues and drops them into their plans. All three products are offered for Windows and Macintosh systems in both floppy disk and CD formats.
Professional-looking results
Users need 80386 or 80486 machines with Windows 3.1 or later, 8Mb of memory, a hard disk, Video Graphics Array or better gra-phics adaptor board and a mouse. On the Macintosh front system for users need a colourcapable Macintosh, running Mac OS System 7.0 or higher; a hard disk; a high density drive; 8Mb RAM; and a 13 colour monitor or larger. The three programs will have a list price of $50 or for all three on CD for $80. The Adobe Designer product line will be available in the first quarter of 1995. Adobe QuickPublish is a Macintosh desktop publishing program that is supposed to enable novice computer users create professional-looking results without the learning curve normally associated with this type of software. It is based on Adobe Home Publisher and uses the same AutoCreate capability to lead users through an interview process to create documents. The interview is a series of screens that offer a variety of layout and design choices. Once the interview is complete, the Adobe QuickPublish product family applies the choices to assemble a complete, ready to print document. Included in the package are 45 templates; 40 forms and letter samples; a collection of clip art and the ability to add logos. There is one to create brochures and flyers, and cards and invitations. Users require a colour-capable Macintosh; 4Mb of RAM; a 13 colour or larger monitor; and System 7.0 software or later. The packages will retail at around $30 and will be available in January. Adobe HomePublisher 2.0 Deluxe CD and SuperPaint 3.5 Deluxe CD, on CD will be available from January, at a cost of $70 each. Also available is Adobe Paint & Publish Deluxe CD, at $100. Superpaint is said to enable even novice artists to create original artwork. HomePublisher 2.0 creates home and office documents, including fliers, brochures, labels, calendars and more. And the Deluxe CD features more than 1,500 clip art images that can be viewed and accessed easily from the program’s on-line browser. There are 50 built-in templates to create frequently-used documents, such as business cards and newsletters; and there are 12 fonts and specialty designer papers that are also included.
