Adobe Creative Cloud Review | technological radar

Adobe Creative Cloud Review | technological radar

When it comes to creative apps, Adobe is the undisputed 400-pound gorilla in the room. Aside from a handful of consumer products, almost all of its Windows and Mac software is available through Creative Cloud (opens in a new tab), by subscription.

Subscriptions mean you don't own the software you're spending money on, you have to keep paying each month, and if you cancel payments, you no longer have access to those apps.

However, there are many advantages to this diet. The most obvious is always being able to access the latest version, and Adobe doesn't rest on its laurels: they update their apps regularly, with patches and major revisions.

Application Options and Pricing

Adobe offers its portfolio either as an all-inclusive price, or if you prefer, you can choose which apps you want to pay for and leave the rest. However, there is a huge financial and creative incentive to opt for the all-inclusive option.

There are also different prices depending on whether you are an individual, a teacher, a team or a company.

Individual users will opt for the Individual option - opens in a new tab - and will be able to get all apps and 100GB of online storage for €52,99 (€49,94) per month. If you'd rather only pay for the apps you need, all major software like InDesign, Illustrator, After Effects, Premiere Pro, etc. will cost you €25.49 (€19.97) per month, each. If you pay for three of them, you might as well get all of them.

Students and teachers (opens in a new tab) get everything for just €19,99 (€16,24) a month for the first year (price goes up to €31,86 (€25,28) after that , but it is still almost half the price of what people pay) ).

Teams (opens in a new tab) are more expensive: €33,99 (€25,28) per month excluding VAT for a single application, or €79,99 (€59) for all, per license. The more people on your team, the more expensive it can be. However, there are many advantages to going for the Teams option. For one, it offers 1TB of online storage; enables collaborative video editing (see our Adobe Premiere Pro review for an overview of what this offers); you can reassign licenses at will if you go the single app route and have more team members than licenses, since not everyone will be using the same app at the same time; you can control this through a centralized deployment system; you get access to volume discounts (if you order 10 or more licenses), 24/7 technical support, one-on-one sessions with design experts, shared Adobe Stock plans, and unlimited job offers on Adobe Talent.

If that still sounds like a lot of money, let's take a look at Adobe's competitor in the video market: Avid Media Composer (opens in a new tab), a powerful video editing tool. You can buy it outright for €1,499 (€1,299) or, like Adobe, subscribe to the service for €23,99 (€21) per month or €34,99 (€31), depending on whether you agree to subscribe for a year or just pay each. months over time.

Yes, Adobe's plans are more expensive, but the range of tools they offer is a cut above the competition. Adobe apps also integrate seamlessly with each other, so you can effortlessly move your work between them. You have a wealth of technologies to get the most out of your creative work. With that in mind, Adobe's price is pretty hard to beat.

Teams online

When you participate in a team project, instead of saving it locally, it's saved online. Media isn't necessarily sent to the cloud, it depends on your needs and preferences, but if you're working on a video project, for example, you can have one person ingest, another edit subsets, titles, and another to edit footage.

Membership in Creative Cloud also means access to Adobe Stock photos, footage, web design templates, and other resources. If you're looking for a video, you can hover over its thumbnail to preview the footage over time, without having to download the clip first. This gives you a good idea of ​​what you are going to use.

If you like it, you can download it for free and use it in your project. It will be watermarked and lower quality, but once you're ready to finish your work, if you haven't shot other, higher quality footage, you can license and purchase it. The watermarked clip will be automatically replaced with the full-resolution version, and any changes or effects you've applied to it in the meantime will be fully preserved.

cloud control

Any asset you upload to Creative Cloud will be accessible from any computer, tablet, or phone you're working on. You can have shared libraries that other users can access and contribute to, and motion graphics templates from Premiere Pro and After Effects can be stored there as well.

Creative Cloud also gives you the option to contribute to Adobe Stock. Obviously, there are legal hurdles you need to overcome, like making sure you have everyone's written permission on the shot you submit, but once your footage has been approved, you can earn royalties when someone else uses your work. in their final projects.

All applications

You can see at a glance all the apps you're authorized to use and which ones are installed on your computer (Image credit: Adobe)

All of this is controlled through Adobe Creative Cloud. It is an application that works mainly in the background, allowing you to see what software you have access to and what products you have downloaded.

Updates

You have full control over when you update your apps (Image credit: Adobe)

Once installed, Creative Cloud resides on your computer in the applications folder. This is where you can control everything related to the service. You can see which apps have updates, and surely Adobe doesn't download them automatically, so you can work with your current version, at least until you've finished your latest project and checked out what all the new features are. sure.

The Your Work section allows you to control which files are stored in Creative Cloud.

sources

Fonts you've downloaded can be viewed in the Creative Cloud app. To get more, you need a web browser (Image credit: Adobe)

You can use the app to discover other parts of Adobe's vast empire, like its font collection. The interface is a bit weird at this point because you only see the fonts you've already downloaded, and if you want to find more, the app sends you to your web browser to find the ones you need. Once you download them, they instantly appear in the Creative Cloud fonts section.

Discover

Do you want to be inspired by the creations of others or learn new skills? Then the Discover tab is for you (Image credit: Adobe)

Discover is a section dedicated to giving you tutorials or showcasing the work of others in areas that interest you, such as photography, design and layout, video and motion, illustration, user interface and experience, 3D and augmented reality. Select some or all to see what is available.

You have a handful of them on your screen, and clicking "see more" again will take you to your web browser to see more.

Fortunately, the search box displays results right in the Creative Cloud app, but clicking on any result, whether promoted or found via a search query, will send it, yes, back to your browser for reading or see him.

Our shop

Browse a huge library of images and videos that you can download and use, for a fee (Image credit: Adobe)

Stock is Adobe's comprehensive library of photos and videos. You are given 10 freebies to start with a 30-day free trial. When you click the "Start" button, you guessed it, your web browser where you are likely to find any image or sequence you can think of. You can also access Stock from within Adobe's own applications, so you can edit a video, for example, find Stock, and add something directly to your project without ever leaving Premiere Pro.

final verdict

You get what you pay for with Adobe Creative Cloud, from cloud storage to collaboration features, and of course, all the apps you might need to generate content. The combined weight of it all, plus the fact that Adobe updates all of its apps regularly, means you could see immense value in this subscription option, and to seal the deal, they offer you a free 7-day trial, so you can You really have nothing to lose by checking it out.

Adobe Creative Cloud Deals

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