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Adobe System, Inc. officially
announced today (February 25, 2002) Photoshop 7, the next
version of the world's premier image editing software. The
breadth and depth of the improvements makes this an upgrade
that's certainly worth your dollars.
At first glance, the difference between
Photoshop 7 and its predecessor doesn't seem that important. But
that first glance is deceiving! While this upgrade doesn't have
the instant impact of Photoshop 5.5's inclusion of ImageReady,
nor the in-your-face addition of Photoshop 6's Options Bar, it
will change the way we work.
Perhaps most significant is Carbonization.
Photoshop 7 runs natively in Mac OS X. In addition, it is fully
Windows XP compliant (although Photoshop 6 also runs well in
XP). With the move to OS X, Photoshop 7 gains preemptive
multitasking, protected memory, and a more stable operating
environment. Those who run multiple programs simultaneously know
how frustrating it is to lose work in one program because
another crashes. OS X prevents that from happening: Under most
circumstances, a program that locks up or crashes leaves the
others unaffected.
Okay, then, now that we've covered the
important-but-boring part of the upgrade, let's take a quick
look at some of the major new features:
FILE BROWSER Say goodbye to the Open command-you
may never use it again. The File Browser, which can act as
either a palette or a window, allows you to navigate, preview,
open, even delete or rename files.
The primary area of the File Browser, to the
right, shows previews of all documents that can be opened in
Photoshop. (You won't see previews of SVG or SWF files, since
Photoshop cannot open them.) You can double-click a preview on
the left or right to open the image in Photoshop.
To the upper left (in the default "expanded"
view) is a hierarchical directory, such as that used in Windows
Explorer. Click on the arrow (or plus/minus in Windows) to
expand or collapse a folder. Click on a folder to jump to its
contents. (And note the pop-up navigation menu above the
right-hand frame.) In the middle on the left is a larger,
individual preview area shows the selected file. At the bottom
of the left column is file information. Digital photographers
especially will be happy to know that in addition to general
file information, EXIF data can be displayed. The dividers
between the panes can be dragged to re-size them, too. The
preview on the left will re-size itself automatically to adjust
to changes in the size of the pane.
Here's one of the coolest features of File
Browser: drag a file from the right side into a folder either
there or in the navigation pane on the left to move it. Yes,
really, you actually move the file, just as you would in the Mac
Finder or My Computer for Windows. Open a folder full of digital
photos and sort them as you go. Hey, want to rename them? Click
on the file name and start typing. Again, the change isn't made
just in Photoshop, but to the actual file itself. (And, in an
effort to keep us from shooting ourselves in our feet, File
Browser doesn't let us accidentally delete the file extension.)
Notice that below each file name is "Rank." File
Browser allows you to assign a priority or category, from A
through E, to each file. You can sort by name, rank, file size,
width, height, and more.
In the lower right corner you'll see a couple of
buttons. The trash can, of course, deletes the selected image.
The curved arrow rotates the preview. If you rotate a thumbnail
and open the image, Photoshop automatically applies the rotation
for you.
File Browser creates a cache that stores the
thumbnails and file data for the contents of a folder. You can
export this data to the folder to speed the File Browser next
time you look at the folder. This is especially valuable when
burning a disc - export the cache just before you burn and
include it on the CD or DVD.
The File Browser can be docked in the Palette
Well for easy access (it functions like a palette), or it can be
opened using the File or Window menus (it works like a window).
In window mode, Photoshop's floating palettes ride above the
File Browser, and it can remain open behind the active document
window.
TOOL PRESETS
So, you set headlines in 36-point Adobe Garamond Pro Semibold,
Strong anti-aliasing, 30 point leading, tracking at -10. But
body text requires Bodoni, 12-point, Crisp anti-aliasing,
14-point leading, and default tracking.
Perhaps you often crop images to 4x6 inches at
240 dpi. And just as often you crop them to 5x7 inches at 200
dpi. But sometimes you need 5x7 @ 240, or 4x6 @ 200, or 8x10 @
240.
How would you like to change all of those
setting with a single click? Welcome to the Tool Presets
palette! Set up a tool with whatever options you desire and save
it as a preset. Change to that tool, with those options, with a
single click. Talk about a time saver! Just as File Browser
makes the Open palette seem provincial and under-powered, so
does the Tool Presets palette make the Toolbox look archaic.
Perhaps now we switch from the Move tool to the
Type tool, then go to the Options Bar to select font. And style.
And size. And anti-aliasing. And alignment. And THEN have to go
to the Character palette because we need to adjust leading and
tracking and height and width and baseline. In the future, we'll
simply pop over to the Tool Presets palette and click on the
Preset labeled Headline or Body text or whatever else we call
it. (Yes, tool presets can be named.)
You can set the Tool Presets palette to show all
presets, or only those for the active tool. (You can still
switch tools with a keyboard shortcut, so the Toolbox isn't even
necessary when Tool Presets is set to Current Tool Only.)
SAVED WORKSPACES
Just as you can save tool presets, Photoshop 7 allows you to
save "workspaces." Set up the palettes just as you like them for
Web design. Save the workspace. Move those palettes into the
positions most appropriate for your color correction work. Save
the workspace. Switch back and forth using the list at the
bottom of the Window> Workspace menu.
HEALING BRUSH and PATCH TOOL
Among the flashiest of Photoshop 7's new capabilities are the
Healing Brush and the Patch Tool. Designed to help you clean up
and restore scanned images, they are a step beyond the Clone
Stamp tool. The Healing Brush, with an icon that looks like a
Band-Aid (it even glows in the correct color when you mouse over
it in the Toolbox), can repair damage without removing texture
or lighting. This allows a more natural look to the result,
avoiding the Clone Stamp tool's possible "discount plastic
surgery" appearance.
The Patch tool works similarly to the Healing
Brush, but uses selections to define an area to be "healed." You
make a selection, change to the Path tool, and select either
Source or Destination in the Options Bar. Drag the selection
with the Patch tool to the pixels that you want to fix
(Destination) or the ones from which you want to copy (Source).
(HINT: When you first start playing with this, think "Where am I
dragging to?" The answer to that is Source or Destination.) Like
the Healing Brush, the Patch tool retains lighting and texture
in the pixels being repaired.
SPELL CHECKER, FIND/REPLACE
Oh, how we've asked for these features! The advances Photoshop
has made in the type arena have been huge, and we're almost
"there" now. (It's hard to believe that just a few short years
ago Photoshop type capability was limited to making selections
in the shape of letters.) Photoshop is still not ready to
replace Quark, InDesign, and PageMaker, but it's definitely
going to make some of our lives easier.
One extremely cool feature of Photoshop 7's new Spell Checker is
its multi-lingual support. You can assign a language
(dictionary) on a word-by-word basis, making it as easy as
Apfelstrudel to spell check multi-lingual sentences.
While Photoshop 7's Find and Replace Text
command doesn't quite have the sophistication of, say Microsoft
Word's Replace feature, it's certainly adequate for an image
editing program. Here you see the Replace capabilities of
Photoshop 7 (top) and MS Word (bottom) compared. Word offers
search by formatting, special characters, and more.
IMPROVED BRUSHES PALETTE
Photoshop 7 marks the return of the leave-it-open Brushes
palette. When moving to Photoshop 6, for many one of the most
difficult transitions was the auto-closing Brushes palette. Some
never seem to have adjusted to not leaving the palette open on
screen. That's just one of the changes to the Brushes palette.
Far more important that being able to leave the
palette open on screen are the changes to Photoshop's painting
engine. The Brushes palette gives you control over more than 40
painting variables, from textures to fine art media to special
effects. The Dual Brush mode vastly increases the number of
effects you can produce.
The new Brushes palette has nine different
panes, making it seem rather daunting at first. Let's take a
peek at a couple of the key sections. Much like the familiar
Layer Styles window, you'll see a list of panes on the left
side. You can click the checkboxes to activate with the current
settings or you can click on the category names to open the pane
containing those variables.
The Brush Presets pane is rather basic, allowing
you to select a brush tip and scale it. Scale it? Yes, that's
right, any brush tip - round, square, pattern - can be scaled,
from one pixel to 2500 pixels.
Other panes of the Brushes palette give you
control over quite a variety of options, many of which can be
controlled with a Wacom tablet's pen.
Perhaps the most impressive trick (and
potentially the most rewarding when mastered) is Dual Brush.
Combining a pair of brushes can produce very complex patterns.
(We'll be presenting much more on the new
painting engine and the Brushes palette in the coming weeks.)
DOCUMENT PRESETS
Here's a time saver that most of will be quite happy to use
immediately. Photoshop's menu New dialog box now includes
presets.
The presets automatically set not only the
dimensions but also the resolution. (Color mode is not changed
automatically.)
PATTERN MAKER
Make a selection and use the pattern maker plug-in (you'll find
it under the Filter menu). Photoshop 7 generates a seamless,
non-repeating pattern. Grass, rock, wood, pavement, cloth,
abstracts. The dialog box even allows you to determine the size
and offset of the new pattern.
. . . AND A WHOLE LOT MORE!
-Photoshop 7 offers support for the WBMP file format. That's the
graphics format often used for PDAs and wireless devices.
-The new Auto Color command (under the Image>
Adjust menu) goes beyond Auto Levels and Auto Contrast. It
checks the highlights, midtones, and shadows to check for color
casts. Unlike Auto Levels, it doesn't change the dynamic range
of the image.
-PANTONE metallic inks anyone? Just as you
select PANTONE Coated and Uncoated inks, Photoshop 7 allows you
to select metallics.
-Improvements to ImageReady's Rollovers palette
will be warmly welcomed by Web professionals. View all slices,
rollovers, animations, and image maps. And add layer-based
slices with a single click.
-A new anti-aliasing option called Sharp is
specifically targeted toward the Web (although it looks good
with lots of small type).
-Dithered transparency gives the appearance of
partial transparency. Say hello to shadows on the Web!
-Another major Web-related advance is weighted optimization for
type and vectors. Assigning a higher priority to vectors allows
them to remain sharp when prepared for Web.
-Most of the filter dialog boxes have larger
preview windows.
-Liquify is more user-friendly, including a Zoom
tool and a companion Hand tool. You'll also find a new
Turbulence tool.
-Both Picture Package and Web Photo Gallery have
been worked over, and you'll find them both more efficient and
more flexible.
The Bottom Line
There's much more to say about Photoshop 7, and between this
announcement of Photoshop 7 and the actual shipment of the
product, you'll hear a whole bunch more. We'll all make our own
upgrade decisions, based on work requirements and budget. But if
you can, get in line now - you'll love Photoshop 7, especially
if you're moving to Mac OS X. |