NVIDIA Quadro CX boosts Adobe CS4

Following closely on the heels of Adobe's Creative Suite 4 release, NVIDIA on Thursday unveiled the Quadro CX, offering users an optimized GPU for the new software suite's explicit use of the graphics hardware. The Quadro CX is designed to help produce visual effects within Adobe Photoshop CS4, After Effects CS4, Premiere Pro CS4, and several other of the suite's applications. NVIDIA claims the card offers users a "dramatically fast and fluid experience."

Photoshop CS4 is able to offload real-time image rotation, zooming, and panning, as well as instantaneous view changes, 2D and 3D content compositing, and anti-aliasing at any zoom level. The Quadro CX also assists with brush resizing, brushstroke previewing, 3D movement, HDR tone mapping, and color conversions.

After Effects CS4 will see an enhanced workflow, with many effects being accelerated by the custom GPU. The Quadro CX receives all depth of field, bilateral blur effects, turbulent noise, and cartoon effects.

Users of Premiere Pro will note acceleration in many effects, such as motion, opacity, color, and image distortion, in addition to faster editing of multiple HD streams, graphic overlays, and output options.

NVIDIA has not yet announced whether the card is available for Mac Pro computers, but Apple's improved relationship with the company, as well as the presence of the Quadro FX 5600 card are both good signs.