Cavalcade of wares at Seybold

In its formative years, Seybold's show floor, keynotes and tutorials were dedicated to print publishing.

Now, the growth of the Internet and other digital media has put cross-media publishing front and center, and this year's hardware and software offerings reflect this new reality.

Perhaps the biggest and least surprising announcements came from Adobe Systems Inc. ( adbe), which unveiled both the updated Photoshop 6 and the brand-new InScope 1.0.

Photoshop 6 furthers the image editor's Web capabilities, tying it more closely to the included ImageReady, which was a separate application for optimizing Web graphics before being rolled into Photoshop 5.5. Version 6 also gains improved color management; vector tools with rollover capabilities for Web pages and (to the relief of designers everywhere) a revamped type engine. Instead of having to open a separate, modal window to insert and style type, users will be able to create text complete with effects, such as warping, directly on their images.

"The improvements in this update of Photoshop fall basically into three main areas: the creative area, with features that let you go beyond pixel-based editing into more object-oriented, vector-based tools; Web design, with the expanded tools for Web graphics; and general usability, to make Photoshop easier," Senior Product Manager Kevin Connor told ZDNet sister site MacCentral.

The Web-based workflow and asset-management application InScope, which was the subject of years of rumors under the code name Stilton, is based on the modular engine developed for Adobe's page-layout application InDesign. San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe is touting InScope's ability to integrate with that software as well as with Photoshop and Adobe's InCopy copy-management system.

InScope supports multiple types of digital content with an eye to cross-media publishing. Asset categories let publishers specify the exact purpose of each content element, which allows users to repurpose assets for different types of media. Similarly, the internal asset organization in InScope provides details about which assets belong to which sections and stories so individual stories or even entire publications can be presented on alternate media while maintaining the intended organization and layout, Adobe said.

The market for Photoshop plug-ins seems quieter without the hallucinatory -- and sadly defunct -- Kai's Power Tools, but it's lively nonetheless. The Altamira Group's Genuine Fractals 2.0 continues its file-compression ways but is now better integrated into Photoshop; the plug-in's capabilities are now accessible through Photoshop's own Open File and Save As menu choices.

LensDoc is a new Photoshop filter from Andromeda Software; it offers corrections for lens distortions in original images. Synthetik Software, makers of the hybrid image-creation application Studio Artist, has Wack, a plug-in for creating textures.

And perhaps looking to fill the void left by KPT, Alien Skin Software is showing off the beta of its Eye Candy 4000 set of plug-ins, which offer a variety of trippy effects.

As previewed last week, content-management software will play a big role at Seybold. Arbortext's Epic 4.0, Ektron's eMPower 2.0 with eWebEdit Pro 1.8, Macromedia's (macr) Dreamweaver UltraDev and Saxotech's Publicus all focus on helping publications move raw content through the editorial and production process.

Some, such as UltraDev, use a networked application for managing Web content; others, like eMPower 2.0, use Web browsers and XML to alter, approve and process content with multiple media targets.

One format that's rapidly becoming a heavyweight in the press world is Adobe's Portable Document Format. Once seen as a failed alternative to HTML for Web pages, PDF has become the basis of workflows in many service bureaus.

As reported by MacCentral, Helios Software GmbH will be demonstrating PDF Handshake Internet Printing, part of the company's upcoming PDF Handshake 2.0 server-based pre-press system for prepping and delivering PDF files.

Two companies, Acquired Knowledge and Latana Software, will be showing plug-ins for Adobe's Acrobat and Acrobat Distiller, applications for creating PDF files. Acquired's EZ-PDF 2.0 adds full support for Acrobat 4.0 and more to the plug-in which enables the generation of PDF files from almost all Mac applications. Latana's PDF ImageWorks 1.0 will enable scaling, rotation, color balance and image-editing features.

If you want to distribute PDF files as an end product, you could use Aries Systems' DocuRights secure electronic publishing and delivery system, which adds authentication to purchased electronic documents, blocking free redistribution. However, DocuRights does allow a repurchasing function. This software joins the previously reported PDF Merchant from Adobe and Microsoft's Digital Asset Server.

Although there's more interest in pro-level than consumer digital cameras at a professional gathering such as Seybold, it's getting more and more difficult to distinguish those rubrics by price alone.

You can still spend a lot if you want to. Eastman Kodak Co.'s (ek) Kodak Professional DCS 620x digital camera, which is designed for capturing sports and actions shots, will set your creative budget back $10,495. It's one of the Hot Picks chosen by the editors of the Seybold newsletters, as is CreoScitex's Leaf Cantare XY digital studio camera. It can achieve up to 6-megapixel live-action captures and also uses Leaf "XY Weave" technology to lace together multiple exposures of individual pixels for better color reproduction.

CreoScitex also announced PressTouch for clients already familiar with the company's Brisque and PS/M prepress systems. PressTouch is a new alternative to the MacFAF and Remake software for editing and trapping Brisque, PS/M and LW files; it supports multiple views of a single document or simultaneous viewing of different pages.

As outlined in Mac Product Watch, Olympus America debuted the E-10 and ES-100 digital cameras. The $1,999 E-10 features a 4X zoom lens, a hot shoe and PC flash port as well as up to 4-megapixel resolution. For $500 less, the ES-100 RS boasts 1.5-megapixel resolution as well as a burst mode that can grab 10 JPEG images at up to 15 frames per second. It also has the ability to capture 640-by-480-pixel QuickTime movies at up to 30 frames per second.

Seybold San Francisco 2000 runs August 27 to Sept. 1 and is produced by Key3Media. SAN FRANCISCO -- Seybold San Francisco 2000 is off and running, and companies, giant and small, have pulled the tarp off products aimed at creative professionals facing a sea change in their profession.

In its formative years, Seybold's show floor, keynotes and tutorials were dedicated to print publishing.

Now, the growth of the Internet and other digital media has put cross-media publishing front and center, and this year's hardware and software offerings reflect this new reality.

Perhaps the biggest and least surprising announcements came from Adobe Systems Inc. ( adbe), which unveiled both the updated Photoshop 6 and the brand-new InScope 1.0.

Photoshop 6 furthers the image editor's Web capabilities, tying it more closely to the included ImageReady, which was a separate application for optimizing Web graphics before being rolled into Photoshop 5.5. Version 6 also gains improved color management; vector tools with rollover capabilities for Web pages and (to the relief of designers everywhere) a revamped type engine. Instead of having to open a separate, modal window to insert and style type, users will be able to create text complete with effects, such as warping, directly on their images.

"The improvements in this update of Photoshop fall basically into three main areas: the creative area, with features that let you go beyond pixel-based editing into more object-oriented, vector-based tools; Web design, with the expanded tools for Web graphics; and general usability, to make Photoshop easier," Senior Product Manager Kevin Connor told ZDNet sister site MacCentral.

The Web-based workflow and asset-management application InScope, which was the subject of years of rumors under the code name Stilton, is based on the modular engine developed for Adobe's page-layout application InDesign. San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe is touting InScope's ability to integrate with that software as well as with Photoshop and Adobe's InCopy copy-management system.

InScope supports multiple types of digital content with an eye to cross-media publishing. Asset categories let publishers specify the exact purpose of each content element, which allows users to repurpose assets for different types of media. Similarly, the internal asset organization in InScope provides details about which assets belong to which sections and stories so individual stories or even entire publications can be presented on alternate media while maintaining the intended organization and layout, Adobe said.

The market for Photoshop plug-ins seems quieter without the hallucinatory -- and sadly defunct -- Kai's Power Tools, but it's lively nonetheless. The Altamira Group's Genuine Fractals 2.0 continues its file-compression ways but is now better integrated into Photoshop; the plug-in's capabilities are now accessible through Photoshop's own Open File and Save As menu choices.

LensDoc is a new Photoshop filter from Andromeda Software; it offers corrections for lens distortions in original images. Synthetik Software, makers of the hybrid image-creation application Studio Artist, has Wack, a plug-in for creating textures.

And perhaps looking to fill the void left by KPT, Alien Skin Software is showing off the beta of its Eye Candy 4000 set of plug-ins, which offer a variety of trippy effects.

As previewed last week, content-management software will play a big role at Seybold. Arbortext's Epic 4.0, Ektron's eMPower 2.0 with eWebEdit Pro 1.8, Macromedia's (macr) Dreamweaver UltraDev and Saxotech's Publicus all focus on helping publications move raw content through the editorial and production process.

Some, such as UltraDev, use a networked application for managing Web content; others, like eMPower 2.0, use Web browsers and XML to alter, approve and process content with multiple media targets.

One format that's rapidly becoming a heavyweight in the press world is Adobe's Portable Document Format. Once seen as a failed alternative to HTML for Web pages, PDF has become the basis of workflows in many service bureaus.

As reported by MacCentral, Helios Software GmbH will be demonstrating PDF Handshake Internet Printing, part of the company's upcoming PDF Handshake 2.0 server-based pre-press system for prepping and delivering PDF files.

Two companies, Acquired Knowledge and Latana Software, will be showing plug-ins for Adobe's Acrobat and Acrobat Distiller, applications for creating PDF files. Acquired's EZ-PDF 2.0 adds full support for Acrobat 4.0 and more to the plug-in which enables the generation of PDF files from almost all Mac applications. Latana's PDF ImageWorks 1.0 will enable scaling, rotation, color balance and image-editing features.

If you want to distribute PDF files as an end product, you could use Aries Systems' DocuRights secure electronic publishing and delivery system, which adds authentication to purchased electronic documents, blocking free redistribution. However, DocuRights does allow a repurchasing function. This software joins the previously reported PDF Merchant from Adobe and Microsoft's Digital Asset Server.

Although there's more interest in pro-level than consumer digital cameras at a professional gathering such as Seybold, it's getting more and more difficult to distinguish those rubrics by price alone.

You can still spend a lot if you want to. Eastman Kodak Co.'s (ek) Kodak Professional DCS 620x digital camera, which is designed for capturing sports and actions shots, will set your creative budget back $10,495. It's one of the Hot Picks chosen by the editors of the Seybold newsletters, as is CreoScitex's Leaf Cantare XY digital studio camera. It can achieve up to 6-megapixel live-action captures and also uses Leaf "XY Weave" technology to lace together multiple exposures of individual pixels for better color reproduction.

CreoScitex also announced PressTouch for clients already familiar with the company's Brisque and PS/M prepress systems. PressTouch is a new alternative to the MacFAF and Remake software for editing and trapping Brisque, PS/M and LW files; it supports multiple views of a single document or simultaneous viewing of different pages.

As outlined in Mac Product Watch, Olympus America debuted the E-10 and ES-100 digital cameras. The $1,999 E-10 features a 4X zoom lens, a hot shoe and PC flash port as well as up to 4-megapixel resolution. For $500 less, the ES-100 RS boasts 1.5-megapixel resolution as well as a burst mode that can grab 10 JPEG images at up to 15 frames per second. It also has the ability to capture 640-by-480-pixel QuickTime movies at up to 30 frames per second.

Seybold San Francisco 2000 runs August 27 to Sept. 1 and is produced by Key3Media.