Are you ready to receive: plenty of insider information about the Adobe CC 2018 update, some unique examples of exactly how to use these new features and my personal views on Adobe's direction, as well as a closer look at the new technologies included in the update. Either watch the live stream or read on for an overview of everything I discuss and an in-depth look at a few of the many new features recently released in the Adobe CC 2018 update.


Adobe CC 2018 - New Features

Photoshop CC 2018

  • Variable Fonts - An intelligent new OpenType font format.
  • Curvature Pen - Tool to make selections.
  • Improved select & mask algorithm.
  • Preserve details 2.0 upscale.
  • Copy/paste layers within or between documents.
  • Properties Panel improvements - Leading and Tracking for Type layers, Adjust colour, font and size for multiple Type layers, Adobe Stock assets.
  • Faster New Document window - Shortcut Cmd+N.

Illustrator CC 2018

  • New essentials Workspace and Properties Panel.
  • Puppet Warp tool.
  • Artboard Alterations: Now allows a limit of up to 1000 instead of 99, you can select multiple artboards (Shift+click and drag or Cmd+A), align and distribute artboards.
  • Add and share text assets with CC Libraries.
  • Variable fonts - An intelligent new OpenType font format.
  • OpenType SVG fonts: Now provides multiple colours and gradients in a single glyph.
  • New swatch is a Global swatch by default.
  • Packaged Illustrator document and its links will automatically update after the packaged folder was moved.

Indesign CC 2018

  • Object Styles, Size and Position Options: This makes Object Styles work similarly to Master Pages, New EyeDropper option for picking up Transform Options.
  • Puppet Warp tool.
  • Artboard Alterations: Now allows a limit of up to 1000 instead of 99, you can select multiple artboards (Shift+click and drag or Cmd+A), align and distribute artboards.
  • Paragraph Border: combined with shading, can be saved into paragraph Style. 
  • Endnotes - An endnote consists of two linked parts: the endnote reference number that appears in the source text, and the endnote text that appears in a new frame at the end of the document. Right-click in source text > Insert Endnote then right-click Go To Endnote Reference.
  • Search for fonts based on visual similarity: up to now this feature has only  been available in Photoshop.
  • Add and share text assets with CC Libraries.

Adobe CC 2018: A More Detailed Look

Illustrator, Properties panel:

The new Properties panel in Illustrator lets you view settings and controls in the context of your current task or workflow. This new panel has been designed with ease of use in mind, ensuring that you have access to the right controls right when you need them. The Properties panel is available by default in the Essentials workspaces. You can also select Window > Properties
to view it.

Pannel Image Adobe CC 2018
PP V2 Adobe CC 2018
PP V3 Adobe CC 2018

Indesign, Object Styles, Size and Position Options:

Set and modify object size and position across pages in a document with Object Styles. Easily resize the width and height and reposition multiple objects across a document using Object Styles. The Object Style dialogue box now provides an option to choose and set the desired values for a position (X and Y coordinates) and size (height and width) for an object. This option is available as Size and Position Options in the Object Style Options dialogue.

Adobe CC 2018 Object

Indesign Endnotes:

You can now add endnotes and quickly reference annotations within long documents. You can either insert endnotes in the document or in a story, a single endnote frame is created for the document. You can also control the numbering, formatting, and layout of the endnotes. The numbering auto-adjusts based on the rearrangements of the endnotes in the text. Now, you can also import a word document having endnotes using import option. All the endnotes are imported and added to a new text frame.

Endnote Adobe CC 2018
Endnotes example Adobe CC 2018

Like This Post? 

If you have the time, take a look our past Live Streams. We have covered everything from Creating Pattern Brushes to Designing Movie Posters as well as discussing practical and essential skills for creatives of all types.

About the author 

Emily Melling

Emily Melling studied a degree in Visual Communication, after graduating she became a freelance graphic designer, specialising in Branding & Identity. She enjoys developing working relationships with clients and other creatives who are open to exploring new and innovative ideas.

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