Photoshop CS3

[Firky]

Its pretty good, for once it has some improvements over the one before it that are worth paying (?) for. I never upgraded from CS1 as there was very little difference, but CS3 has a few new bits and bobs, new interface, and adobe bridge is actually good this time round.

Still quite hungry on memory, you need at least 5GB of free HDD space for the swap file / scratch disks.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Pay? What is this pay you speak of?

 

[Firky]

Photoshop is the only software I'd pay for, I do own a legit copy of CS1

 

[alef]

I'm still learning the new features on CS1, and I suspect in years to come I'll still be learning things that have been in Photoshop since the beginning. It really is one of the most remarkable pieces of software ever! In particular I'd like to nominate the inventor of Unsharp Mask for an award.

 

[mauvais]

Ick! Does noone else use ClearType? S'the only good thing about XP!

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/tuner/Step1.aspx

 

[Firky]

Ick! Does noone else use ClearType? S'the only good thing about XP!

Hurts my eyes. Always looks slightly out of focus to me.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Photoshop is the only software I'd pay for, I do own a legit copy of CS1

 

[Firky]

Work paid for it

 

[Pingu]

i actually have a legit copy of cs2... shame my ability is just above that of windows paint

 

[jeff_leigh]

When I first heard about the new CS3 I went into Geeky download mode just because I can, but then I realise is it really gonna be worth the hassle? Afterall I only use Photoshop for a little PP of my photos and probably about 5% of all the features anyway.
I even downloaded those Total Training for CS2 dvd's a while back, just sitting on my hard drive doing nothing, I'll get round to looking at them sometime, maybe that'll be my new years resolution

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

what concerns me about it is that this beta sems to be with out curves or brightness contrast two really important features have been knocked out as far as i'm concerned... though it's less memory hungery that cs2 which was a fat wallowy and unreasonable hippo of a program...

Intrestingly this will be the first mac for intels version of PS and it seems they have really pulled out the stops in making it work...

 

[Pie 1]

what concerns me about it is that this beta sems to be with out curves or brightness contrast two really important features have been knocked out as far as i'm concerned.

I have to say that Brightness & Contrast was always a misplaced feature IMO. It's a quick fix without the overall refinement needed for subtle alterations. B&C alterations should always be approached via the use of Levels AFAIC.
Good ridence if they've dropped it.

 

[pinkmonkey]

When I first heard about the new CS3 I went into Geeky download mode just because I can, but then I realise is it really gonna be worth the hassle? Afterall I only use Photoshop for a little PP of my photos and probably about 5% of all the features anyway.
I even downloaded those Total Training for CS2 dvd's a while back, just sitting on my hard drive doing nothing, I'll get round to looking at them sometime, maybe that'll be my new years resolution

I've got CS2 and photoshop 6 - I still use photoshop 6, I don't need all the extra stuff that CS2 has, 6 suits me fine. Agree with garf tho - CS2 was a lumbering beast, took ages to load etc...I do use Illustrator CS2, though although the text does my head in.

 

[Firky]

what concerns me about it is that this beta sems to be with out curves or brightness contrast two really important features have been knocked out as far as i'm concerned

It is still there dude and like everything else it is improved quite dramatically. The histogram is behind the curves too and you have finer control over individual channels.The clipping warnings bit is well handy, I may actually use the curves feature this time. Like pie 1 I tended to use levels:

 

[Vintage Paw]

Is it easy to port add-ons like extra brushes/patterns etc over from CS2? Coz I know I'm a fool who doesn't save all of them in a separate file

So what's the deal - you download the beta and then what? I heard it expires after a certain amount of time - is that right?

Oh, and I own a legit copy of CS2 too *is proud* *or stupid*

 

[Firky]

Yes, just carry them across.

I Downloaded a cracked beta that doesn't expire from pirates bay.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

It is still there dude and like everything else it is improved quite dramatically. The histogram is behind the curves too and you have finer control over individual channels.The clipping warnings bit is well handy, I may actually use the curves feature this time. Like pie 1 I tended to use levels:

that's ona mac i can't fidn it on the doze.... where the hell is it i was looking for it to do a sepcificthign to see if the changes were any good...

 

[Firky]

you're doing something wrong, its under image but I just press ctrl+M

 

[cybertect]

I have to say that Brightness & Contrast was always a misplaced feature IMO. It's a quick fix without the overall refinement needed for subtle alterations. B&C alterations should always be approached via the use of Levels AFAIC.
Good ridence if they've dropped it.

B&C is still there, they've just made some changes to the way it works so that it's actually incredibly useful instead of being a junk feature.

I've been running CS3 on my Mac for a couple of weeks and it's growing on me.

Camera RAW is hugely improved, Bridge is now actually useful. There's a new 'Refine selection' feature which is dead handy, as is the new 'Smart Select' tool. On my G5 Smart Sharpen is almost instantaneous. Lots of other goodies.

[declaration of interest: I've had a legal PS licence since v2.5 ]

 

[Pie 1]

Camera RAW is hugely improved

Good to know.
I'm hoping (from a pro POV) that ACR begins to set some sort of RAW Dev standard. The number of RD programs popping up is begining to look worrying and needs to be nipped in the bud IMO.

 

[Divisive Cotton]

I've got Photoshop 7. I don't need anything more advanced.

 

[Pie 1]

I've got Photoshop 7. I don't need anything more advanced.

There's something to be said for this if you don't need the full professional clout .
A re toucher mate of mine says they should just charge £4000 for new versions of PS and chuck in the latest Mac Pro to run it

 

[Firky]

I have spent thousands of hours retouching photos, paintings, sketches and even blueprints in photoshop. The patch tool and healing brush are one of the greatest things in photoshop. It is still shite at resizing images however. Bearded Frog do a good resizer.

Hate that, "can you print this on canvas 12" please?" and they hand you a 640x480 badly compressed JPEG. Then look at you in disbelief when you tell them it won't look very good. "Well it looks big on my 21" monitor at home." Probably because you have that set to 800x600 windows default

 

[cybertect]

Good to know.
I'm hoping (from a pro POV) that ACR begins to set some sort of RAW Dev standard. The number of RD programs popping up is begining to look worrying and needs to be nipped in the bud IMO.

I'm being tempted back to using ACR after a couple of years with Canon DPP. Adobe seem to have tweaked the colour rendition and there are some very nice controls for b/w conversions.

Parametric Curves in ACR have turned out surprisingly useful.

Oh, and you can use it to open JPEGs and TIFFs as well as RAW files so you can take advantage of its editing facilities with those too.

 

[Vintage Paw]

I'm starting to feel very tempted to download it ... CS2 takes an age to open up now on my intel imac (1GB ram). I need more ram, I know that, but in the mean time it will be lovely to have photoshop that runs natively

 

[Pie 1]

in the mean time it will be lovely to have photoshop that runs natively

You'll be disapointed I fear.
It's still beta so I doubt they've mixed in the final memory requirments yet.
If Lightroom is anything to go by, then stick with what you've got or risk punching your iMac's screen out in sheer rage!

 

[Pie 1]

I need more ram, I know that

Just do it.
£70

 

[Vintage Paw]

Just do it.
£70

£91 for my ram - ooh, darn sight cheaper than from Apple. Don't I invalidate warrenties and all that malarky by using third party gubbins?

 

[Pie 1]

Don't I invalidate warrenties and all that malarky by using third party gubbins?

Nah.
That would be like Ford telling you you're only allowed to use Shell petrol

 

[salaryman]

I imagine not, but will there be a possibility of upgrading from CS1 to CS3 when it comes out? I'm happy with CS1 except I have a Mactel so ideally I'd like CS3 for the universal binary.