PhotoShop CS5

[W3MIV]

Despite being a legendary cheapskate, a series of projects has forced my hand. Much as I admire The Gimp, it would not manage the work flow that I need. So, I masticated the minié and downloaded the latest issue of PhotoShop, CS5. I qualified for an upgrade price, thankfully.

Wow. This edition is astonishing. It even manages silhouetting around hair! The range of controls and the flexibility in the new Raw Process have been enhanced substantially, even for my ancient Canon.

There are a lot of image editors out there, but there is only one PhotoShop. CS5 earns a two tips of the Albi bowler.

[KG4CGC]

Congratulations! I was upset when I had to move to PS7 from PS5. Everyone I know out there is using CS3 and up. I'm still stuck in 1998. LOL! I've learned to adapt which is crucial when following tutorials.

[W4RLR]

Congratulations! I was upset when I had to move to PS7 from PS5. Everyone I know out there is using CS3 and up. I'm still stuck in 1998. LOL! I've learned to adapt which is crucial when following tutorials.

I'm still using CS3. I got it when I was a student at Northwest Florida State at the education level price. Good thing, I can't afford the full retail for as little as I use it now.

[KG4CGC]

What kind of things have you used for, Richard?

[W3MIV]

Richard: I was using CS3 and just upgraded to CS5 for $199 --- a bitter pill, but one I really needed to take. It is downloadable from Adobe, but there downloading system is a bit strange and it may take some time after payment before you can actually download the file. You will need your former serial number as well as a newly issued serial number to install the program. The download is about 1 GB and the downloader you need to manage it is another few megabytes (two downloads). Both 64-bit and 32-bit programs are available; I downloaded the 64-bit flavor and both were downloaded and installed for some reason.

The new features are nothing short of astonishing, especially in refined abilities in outlining (vignetting to replace a background, for example) and the new "content-aware" setting for the "healing brush" is a major step forward. The menu structure is different from CS3, which is a PITA, but there is so much newly added that Adobe had to redistribute and reconfigure some of the menu items to adjust the new work flow. I went to Borders and shucked out another fifty bucks for "Adobe PhotoShop CS5 for Photographers," by Martin Evening (published by Focal Press) which contains a DVD that includes interactive help files and a series of Quick Time movies that, alone, were worth the fifty bucks. The book is very comprehensive and very heavy. ;)

Even though I no longer use other members of the Adobe Creative Suite, I find Bridge a very useful tool for managing images. Bridge has been improved substantially, and they have added a "Mini-Bridge" which is much smaller and more compact and can be kept attached to your various working palettes in the main window.

As I mentioned above, silhouetting hair is now not only possible, but it actually yields a good result. You can now take a model out of one background and put her over a different background and not have her head look like a football helmet. Masking tools now have a very strong "refine edge" tools that, while complex and a trial to learn to use effectively (the story of everything in PS, I think), is amazingly powerful.

The raw file processing module has been significantly improved as well. So well, in fact, it makes little sense to shoot in any other format (though the file sizes may be such that it limits burst shooting somewhat since it will take the camera longer to swallow each file). Raw also is both lossless -- a substantial advantage over jpeg -- and the original files from the camera are not permanently altered, so that you can go back again and again, making subtle changes to what you did earlier -- if you so choose.

Lotta money, but well worth the bite.

[WØTKX]

I have Photoshop 6.01 that was on a used PC, and I have been able to move/reinstall it on a newer on. I doubt I could upgrade it. Great program as it is, and I play with Gimp as well. But I was always more of a CAD/CAM guy, and loved doing 3D work.

I've been considering upgrading my free version of Sketchup from Google to the Pro version.

$495 for full blown 3D CAD is damn good.

[W1GUH]

I've been considering upgrading my free version of Sketchup from Google to the Pro version.

Just downloaded that, and was disappointed to see that rendering needs a plug-in. Can you recommend a renderer for it?

And re: Photoshop....

Have they yet realeased a version that only includes the image manipulation, and not all of the publishing stuff that I don't need? I'm thinking about getting Photoshop elements again...probably all the image processing I'll ever need.

[W3MIV]

PhotoShop Elements 9 should suit you.

[WØTKX]

I've only been doing wireframes in Sketchup, so far. And the lo res rendering such as it is.

Used to do 3DS Max, and Poser. They spoiled me.

[W1GUH]

I've only been doing wireframes in Sketchup, so far. And the lo res rendering such as it is.

Used to do 3DS Max, and Poser. They spoiled me.

My question may have been incomplete. I was talking about lighting.

Or, I may just find an old disk and use MaxEd -- the editor that came for free with the original Max Payne. Had lots of fun with that.