NEW - Macromedia Announces FreeHand 8.0.1b

Macintosh
"FreeHand 8.0.1 introduced the option to link rather than embed GIF, JPEG, PSD, and TARGA formats. When linked, they retain their original characteristics. When embedded, they become TIFFs, as they do in FreeHand 8.0. When opening files containing linked jpegs, 8.0.1 made poor use of RAM. Even worse, the subsequent error message read "Could not complete your request because the file is not the right kind." This was fixed in 8.0.1b.

FreeHand 8.0.1b can import JPEG images (RGB, CMYK or Grayscale), retaining their size and resolution as set in PhotoShop's Image Size dialog box, rather than defaulting to 72 dpi resolution.

Windows
FreeHand 8.0.1b works around a bug in how Windows NT allocates resources. Before the work-around, using FreeHand 8 for several hours on Windows NT would sometimes render the computer unresponsive. The screen would typically become completely gray, and any unsaved files were unrecoverable.

In 8.0.1, linked images in a FreeHand Mac file failed to print when taken to Windows. The images were not saved with an extension and the printer driver did not find them at print time. This was fixed in 8.0.1b.

FreeHand 8.0.1b for Windows has the same feature set as the Macintosh version and can open graphics regardless of filename, assuring cross-platform compatibility."

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Macromedia Announces FreeHand 8.0.1

"Free Update to the Industry's Leading Multipublishing Tool Enables Users to Output to both Web and Print

Macromedia have announced FreeHand 8.0.1, a free update to the company's popular FreeHand design software. Available September 1 as a free download for registered users from Macromedia's Web site, FreeHand 8.0.1 helps designers multipublish their content to both the Web and print by supporting the open Flash 3 file format standard and providing full compatibility with Photoshop 5.

The new Flash 3 support in FreeHand means that cutting-edge FreeHand effects such as editable vector transparency and clipping paths are preserved when files are transferred to Flash. Additionally, the new Flash exporter in FreeHand 8.0.1 greatly reduces the size of Flash (SWF) images and animations exported from FreeHand, ensuring fast download times even over 28.8 modems.

Other new FreeHand 8.0.1 features include updated compatibilitywith Photoshop 5. FreeHand 8.0.1 offers seamless export and import, along with full drag-and-drop support for Photoshop 5 (PSD) files. This drag-and-drop support extends also to Fireworks, Macromedia's hot new Web graphics production tool. The FreeHand 8.0.1 updater further provides refinements such as full support for linked JPEG images (important for reducing file sizes when transferring files over corporate intranets), in response to user requests."

For more information about Macromedia FreeHand 8.0.1, visit the Macromedia site.