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Review
Installation & Documentation
Ease of use
Value for money
Price	$1124
Operating System	Mac OS X 10.2.2 or 10.2.4+
Available from	Authorised resellers (www.pacific.adobe.com)

Adobe is aiming to maintain its strong position in the publishing world with its release of the Acrobat 6 line. Acrobat, half-a-billion copies of which have been shipped since its 1993 introduction, effectively combines elements created in other Adobe software packages in pdf (portable document format) documents which can be read by almost anybody on Mac, Windows or Linux machines using freely downloadable Acrobat Reader software. This is remarkable, since the documents can include a variety of embedded images made in different hardware/software combinations and use a variety of typefaces, a situation that was once the designer's nightmare.
In fact, the Acrobat imaging engine is so robust it forms a part of Mac OS X, and most OS X applications can export straight to pdf format via the print dialogue, sidestepping the need for dedicated Acrobat software for simple uses.

Acrobat 6 Professional has more/better editing and annotation tools

Since the pdf format has been so fundamentally useful, Acrobat has become not only a default format for downloadable documents from the web and for electronic manuals included on CDs etc, it has become a de facto standard for exchanging documents in proof-reading streams - for example, NZ Macguide is made using Adobe InDesign, low resolution pdfs are created, emailed to the office to be printed and forwarded to Fiona Rae, our proof reader. The original documents are then corrected, re-output to low resolution pdfs (small and very emailable) and these are forwarded to me. I read these second draught pdfs on my computer and annotate the files using the pencil for circling problem areas, the highlighter to indicate changes in the text, and the note tool to show exactly what should replace the selected text.

The designer uses these second proofs to correct her original InDesign docs and then outputs once again to pdf format, this time high resolution. These go to our direct-to-plate printer, First In Print, which uses the pdfs to output directly to printing plates (Acrobat 6 also supports pdf/x-compliant files, favoured by print production houses).

This whole process took five days off the production cycle; publishing is always a balance of workload over time, so this is a really significant speed-up.
Of course, we at Parkside Media were already doing this with Acrobat 5; Acrobat 6.0 Professional offers improved annotation and review tools.

There's also more advanced control over document exchange, review, and output, since 6 has the ability to review colour separations on the final high resolution files (the ones we hand off to the printer), preview transparency flattening, use the built-in preflighting to make sure there are no font or image problems, create host-based or in-RIP separations, save composite eps files and utilise pdf/x compliance if we need to.

Previewing transparency flattening - especially important when using Photoshop's and InDesign's transparency features in final output

To be fair, I was a little surprised at the 'reviewing colour separations' bit, as we've been doing this since at least 1994, rasterising our output files (in Postscript format, another Adobe innovation) using Acrobat Distiller, and then opening the pdfs to check the plates - this was our crude form of preflighting, as it was the only way we could see if a font had become corrupted or if an image had stayed RGB (red, green and blue, the three colours that monitors use) instead of the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black, the four inks for the four separate plates that combine to create colour blends in print). Still, it was a laborious process and it's a whole lot easier now. Acrobat 6 Pro is so powerful designers and editors can open those final high-res files for print output, correct and spell check text actually in those final documents, and even send the embedded images to image editors for final touch-ups, a pretty grand feature for production managers.

Preflighting is comprehensive. Users can choose preset profiles for pre-press checking or configure their own settings. Our own production manager, Joseph Burdett, found the raft of features quite intimidating compared to FlightCheck's simple interface (MarkzWare still hasn't released an OS X version). However, he acknowledged he needs to find the time to explore Acrobat's in-depth analysis.

Coupled to big-hit features like this are lesser, but no less nifty features like 'reduce file size', which shaves about 15 per cent off a file's size for emailing (but it crashed my Beta - expect Adobe to have this fixed in the full release).

Pros New tools It's the standard Ability to print proof reader notes Cons Quite pricey for an upgrade Dauntingly comprehensive feature set A little sluggish (NB I was reviewing the Beta version)

Further info Registered users of Acrobat 4.0 and Acrobat 5.0 can upgrade to Acrobat 6.0 Professional for an estimated $336. Acrobat 6 Standard is a less full featured package designed for business document exchange and review. It requires a minimum of a PowerPC G3 processor, Mac OS X 10.2.2 or 10.2.4+, 64MB of RAM (128MB recommended), 340MB of available hard disk space, CD-ROM drive Acrobat Professional requires a minimum of PowerPC G3 or later processor, Apple Mac OS X 10.2.2 or 10.2.4+, 128MB RAM recommended, 370MB of available hard disk space, CD-ROM drive. Available from authorised resellers; see www.pacific.adobe.com/

© Parkside Media 2004
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