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Adobe has upgraded its Creative Suite collection of design tools and, with every application boasting major improvements, it's proving to be a must-have. But you'll need to do a little planning before you buy: Adobe has split the suite into six versions, so that users can get only the tools they need for their jobs -- or get everything all at once.

Print designers should look to the Design Standard ($1,199, upgrade from $399) or Design Premium ($1,799, upgrade from $599) collections. The Standard offers Photoshop (a lighter version than with any of the other collections, which lacks 3D and motion image editing tools), Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat Professional. Design Premium offers Photoshop Extended instead of the basic Photoshop, as well as Flash Professional and Dreamweaver.

For Web designers, there are Web Standard and Premium editions. Web Standard ($999, upgrade from $399) gives you Dreamweaver, Flash Professional, Fireworks, and Contribute. Web Premium ($1,599, upgrade from $499) offers those four tools plus Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, and Acrobat Professional.

People who specialize in video should look to Production Premium ($1,699, upgrade from $799). It combines Premiere Pro, Soundbooth, After Effects Professional, Encore, Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, and Flash Professional.

And, for those who just have to have it all, there's the Master Collection ($2,499, upgrade $1,399). This is the only choice for do-all designers who edit video, design the Web sites where that video will go, and work with images.

Best New Features

For intranet professionals, Web Premium is probably the way to go, but look to the Master Collection if you use video on your site and you prefer editing with Premiere. Here are the top new features for the most useful apps, to help you decide if you need to upgrade:

Photoshop Extended: Selecting items in an image is faster with the Quick Selection tool which lets you loosely select the subject and then finishes the work for you. You can then refine your selection with the Refine Edge tool.

Nondestructive filters lets you experiment more without harming your original image. You can add, edit, or remove a filter without having to save or start over.

New 3D tools include the ability to bring 3D content into your 2D composites. You can edit the textures of 3D objects directly within Photoshop Extended.

You can also work with imported video with Photoshop Extended, painting it, adding text, or cloning over multiple frames.

Dreamweaver: Dreamweaver still works seamlessly with Fireworks, but they're both Adobe apps now. Import prototype images from Fireworks or Photoshop directly to your page design. You can also verify your page with a new browser compatibility check.

Many of the Dreamweaver improvements let you develop rich pages with the Spry framework for Ajax. Create rich interactive forms using XML data from an RSS feed or database.

After Effects: You'll find some of the most eye-catching new tools in After Effects, such as the Puppet Tool which lets you easily animate static characters. Brainstorm, a cool new tool for getting ideas, lets you set parameters for an animation, and then presents you with several different variations to choose from.

Premiere Pro: Adobe video editing now comes to the Mac, as Premiere runs on Intel-processor Apple computers (watch out Final Cut Pro). The editor now works with the Panasonic P2 format and can output to Blu-Ray. It offers great tools for creating slow-motion effects and creating video for mobile devices.

Site designers, check back in a few weeks when we'll offer a detailed look at the CS3 Dreamweaver improvements.

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