PS 6.0

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GRAPHICS AND PUBLISHING

 

 

 

 

 

Photoshop 6 In-Depth First Look

Get the Lowdown on this Latest Version of Adobe's Graphics

Powerhouse

By Ben Long

 

 

Photoshop

 

 

 

>From cubic computers to the impending release of OS X, there's

been a lot of exciting news in the Mac community recently. But

few events are as anticipated as Adobe's forthcoming upgrade to

Photoshop. Whether you're a print professional, Web designer,

photographer, animator, special effects creator, or just a

hobbyist, Photoshop 6 proves to be the most exciting Photoshop

upgrade in years.

 

Not since version 3, when Adobe added Layer support, has

Photoshop seen as broad and significant an upgrade as version 6.

Whether tweaking the interface or adding features, Adobe's

improvements range from huge changes -- such as the addition of

vector tools -- to simple changes -- such as a crop tool that

actually displays your crop.

 

No matter what you use it for, Photoshop 6 has something new for

everyone.

 

What's Our Vector?

The most anticipated new feature in Photoshop is probably the

addition of Vector layers. While previous versions of Photoshop

provided a bézier pen tool for defining paths and selections,

Photoshop 6 now lets you actually draw and edit vector shapes

that remain vectors -- that is, they're never rasterized into

bits. In addition to their editability, vectors are ideal for

those times when you need shapes that print sharply at any

resolution.

 

Though you can still use the pen tool for defining paths, you can

now also use it to create a new Vector layer, where vector shapes

are stored and edited. Each Vector layer has a color assigned to

it and any shape drawn in that layer is filled with that color.

The shape itself is defined by a clipping path linked to the

Vector layer.

 

 

 

In addition to the pen tool, Adobe has added basic shape controls

(rectangle, rounded rectangle, ellipse, and polygon) and

converted Photoshop 5's Line tool into a vector-shape tool.

They've also included some nice automatic Boolean controls. You

can click on mode buttons to cause Photoshop to automatically

union, subtract, or exclude shapes that are drawn on top of each

other, a feature we'd love to see in Illustrator.

 

And, like any other type of layer, you can add Layer Effects such

as drop shadows, bevels, and embosses to any Vector layer.

 

Although it's no replacement for a full-blown drawing program

like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop 6's vectors will save you a lot

of trips into Illustrator.

 

Primary Text

It took six versions, but the company that invented PostScript

has finally added good text controls to Photoshop. You can now

enter text directly onto the canvas rather than working through a

dialog box.

 

As in version 5, text is entered into a special Text layer, but

version 6 actually provides support for paragraphs and

typographic controls. Everything from text color to kerning and

leading controls are provided, as well as Adobe InDesign's

excellent single and multiline composers.

 

Adobe has also added a good selection of type-warping filters

that allow you to create effects that normally require Strider

Software's TypeStyler or text-styling plug-ins.

 

 

 

Though far overdue, Adobe has done such a good job with

Photoshop's type upgrade that it was almost worth the wait!

 

Layers

With version 3, Adobe added support for layers, allowing you to

keep separate parts of an image on separate, discreet layers.

Version 4 saw the addition of adjustment layers, which allow you

to apply many image-processing functions -- such as Levels and

Curves controls -- through editable, changeable layers.

 

To version 6, Adobe has added powerful layer-management

capabilities. You can now group layers together in Layer Sets,

which appear as folders inside your Layers palette. In addition

to reducing clutter in your Layers palette, Layer Sets allow you

to easily apply complex effects to multiple layers

simultaneously.

 

Just as you can apply a Layer Mask or Adjustment Layer to an

individual layer, you can now apply such effects to an entire set

of layers. Thanks to Layer Sets, you no longer have to merge

layers when you need to process them as a single layer.

 

 

 

Photoshop 5.5's Layer Effects features have been improved with

the addition of a Styles palette. You can create combinations of

Layer Effects that can be stored as Styles and easily applied to

any layer of a document.

 

Web Support

Adobe continues to move more functionality from ImageReady into

Photoshop. Version 6 provides a comprehensive set of tools for

Web designers.

 

Photoshop 6 includes a Slice tool which lets you create and edit

slices, with full support for defining everything from slice name

to associated URL. Photoshop 5.5's excellent Save for Web dialog

has been updated to support the exporting of slices, complete

with corresponding HTML code.

 

 

 

The latest upgrade to ImageReady (version 3) is bundled with

Photoshop 6. Together, the package provides a very good facility

for simple, automatic creation of Java rollover buttons and

animated GIFs. Photoshop 6's vectors, Layer Effects, and Styles

palette make it easy to create and manage multiple button-state

graphics. These graphics can be exported to ImageReady to create

rollovers.

 

Change of Face

Photoshop 6 sports hundreds of subtle little changes, both in

features and in interface, yet one addition is apparent as soon

as you launch the program. A toolbar-like palette now extends

across the top of the screen. Serving as a context-sensitive

replacement for a number of different palettes, the toolbar

displays all the options and settings for whatever tool is

currently selected.

 

When you choose the Brush tool, for example, the toolbar displays

pop-up menus of brush shapes, as well as mode controls, an

opacity slider, and a Wet Edges check box -- that is, everything

that used to be spread between the Brush Shapes and Info

palettes. You may find that the toolbar (which reduces screen

clutter) takes a little getting used to, as things that used to

involve a click on a palette, now involve a menu selection from a

toolbar.

 

As one would expect from such a substantial upgrade, many menu

options and keyboard commands have had to change to facilitate

new tools and controls. Fortunately, Adobe has given a good deal

of thought to these changes, and even longtime users should

quickly adjust to the differences.

 

Finally, Adobe has not forsaken their pre-press roots. Photoshop

6 provides extensive support for PDF-production workflow as well

as eliminates the color shift that used to occur when moving

images into Illustrator 9.

 

The Last Word

Despite all its great new features, Photoshop is still not a

perfect product. I'm still waiting for filters that can be

applied as layers, for example. But Photoshop comes closer to

perfection than most software. Any one of version 6's major new

features would be worth the price of an upgrade. The fact that

you get them all means there's something new here for everyone

who uses Photoshop. I'm tempted to say that I can't wait to see

version 7, but the fact is, I'm still having too much fun with

version 6.