Adobe Announces Visual Communicator 3

June 25, 2007; 03:33 AM
Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Visual Communicator® 3 software, which enables educators and students to easily create scripted, television-quality broadcasts. Designed for those new to video, the software is ideal for project-based learning, distance learning courses and campus-wide newscasts. With this new version, simplified templates and wizards give even inexperienced users the ability to create professional video presentations that can be streamed live over the Internet in the FLV format using Adobe Flash® Media Server software, or output to a projector, television, or Channel One Closed-Circuit System.

“For tomorrow’s broadcast professionals, Visual Communicator delivers a fast-track to the quality of results seen every night on television news reports,” said Mark Randall, chief strategist, Dynamic Media at Adobe.

Adobe Visual Communicator 3 eliminates traditional timelines, making video production faster and easier. Enhancements include new set-up wizards, drag-and-drop animated templates and an interactive “Coach” that gets users up and running quickly. Similar to a professional television studio, users can preview up to three cameras at once while recording or presenting live with the mini-switcher feature to create interview-style videos in real time. In addition, a full-screen teleprompter allows the presenter to read scripts from a distance.

“Visual Communicator 3 allows me to teach students as young as 10-years-old how to independently create video presentations within minutes,” said Rob Zdrojewski, technology educator at Amherst Middle School in Buffalo, NY and director for Amherst Tech TV. “The new templates and wizards in Visual Communicator 3 will enable students to get up-to-speed even faster and with less initial instruction. With the increased use of technology in today’s schools, Visual Communicator is also a great way to make static classroom presentations more visually appealing and engaging.”

Broadcast-Quality Results

Adobe Visual Communicator 3 provides everything a student or educator needs to create a television-quality news broadcast. Users can create a video presentation, set it to music, and enhance it with an entire library of newscast-style graphics, effects, and titles. This version offers an enhanced keyer that allows users to replace a solid green or blue background with an image, video or graphic background and now includes stronger FLV support and enables users to produce live video content streamed using Adobe Flash technology. Additionally, Adobe Visual Communicator 3 can be used to narrate digital photo collections or video created with Adobe Photoshop® or Adobe Premiere® Pro software. Finished projects can then be exported to Adobe Encore® or Adobe Premiere Elements software and burned to a DVD.

Pricing and Availability

Adobe Visual Communicator 3 for Microsoft® Windows® is expected to be available in an English language version at www.adobe.com in fall 2007. The full version of Adobe Visual Communicator 3 will be available for an estimated street price of US$399, and registered users of qualifying earlier versions of Visual Communicator can upgrade to Visual Communicator 3 for the estimated street price of US$149. Qualifying education customers can purchase the software for the estimated street price of US$169. To download a preview version of Visual Communicator 3, visit Adobe Labs at http://labs.adobe.com/.

More information on Visual Communicator can be found at www.adobe.com/go/vc3.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

© 2007 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe Encore, Adobe Premiere, Adobe Premiere Elements, Flash, Photoshop and Visual Communicator are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.