Adobe ImageReady
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Adobe ImageReady | |
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| Developer: | Adobe Systems |
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| Latest release: | CS2 (9.0) / April 2005 |
| OS: | Mac OS X, Windows |
| Use: | bitmap graphics editor |
| License: | commercial |
| Website: | http://www.adobe.com |
Adobe ImageReady is a bitmap graphics editor shipped with Adobe Photoshop by Adobe Systems. It is available on both Windows and Mac OS X platforms.
ImageReady has fewer features than Photoshop and is designed for quick editing of web graphics rather than effects-intensive graphics editing. To that end, ImageReady has such features as animated GIF creation, image compression optimization, slices for creating rollover effects, and HTML generation.
ImageReady is a handy tool to web designers because it allows you to create roll over on the fly, as well as giving you the option to save optimized images.
The Photoshop Toolbox has a quick link to ImageReady — the Jump to ImageReady button allows you to edit your current image directly in ImageReady. When the Jump to ImageReady button is clicked, the image in the active Photoshop Document Window will automatically open in ImageReady. ImageReady can also be opened from within the programs list of your computer.
The ImageReady Toolbox is similar to Photoshop's Toolbox. You will recognize most of the tools available in ImageReady. One set of tools that looks different, however, is the Image Map set of tools, indicated by a shape or arrow with a hand.
One great thing about ImageReady – if you download and install the Photoshop demo version, ImageReady comes too. Whereas the Photoshop trial expires after 30 days (hence locking the application), ImageReady keeps going, leaving your computer with a ‘Photoshop Lite’ perfect for the occasions when Windows Paint isn’t enough.
The ImageReady Toolbox includes several features not found in Photoshop, including:
- Toggle Image Map Visibility and Toggle Slice Visibility ImageReady Visibility tools — These tools toggle between showing and hiding image maps and slices, respectively.
- Preview Document ImageReady Preview Document tool — This tool provides a preview of rollover effects in ImageReady rather than viewing them in a browser.
- Preview in Default Browser ImageReady Preview in Default Browser tool — This tool previews the image in a browser, including any rollover or animation effects.
- Screen Mode Screen Mode — There are three screen modes:
- Standard Screen Mode
- Full Screen Mode with Menu Bar
- Full Screen Mode
- Jump to Photoshop ImageReady Jump to Photoshop — This button opens the current image in Photoshop.
[edit] Release history
Adobe ImageReady 1.0 was released as a stand alone application. ImageReady has been packaged side-by-side with Adobe Photoshop since version 2.0; thus, the version numbers are listed with the version of Photoshop that it is packaged with. Adobe synced up the version numbers of ImageReady and Adobe Photoshop with version 7.0
