Happy '07 everybody and hope you all had a great holiday!
As we noted before the non-denominational holiday break, Adobe distributed a public beta of there much anticipated Photoshop CS3, which is their second Mac/Intel compatible application (Acrobat 8 is mactel friendly as well).
We asked friends and colleagues who use Photoshop regularly and have been test driving the beta to send us their reactions. This week we will post a selection of the responses. First up is Chris McCormack.
Name: Chris McCormack
Position/Company: Adobe Certified Expert and Adobe Certified Training Provider, Principal of McCormack Inc.
Photoshop User Since: 1990
ZI: When did you get the beta?
CM: I've been part of the Adobe Beta program for a number of years. I began testing CS3 around 6 months ago going through various builds
of the Bridge and CS3 releases.
ZI: What platform did you install the beta on?
CM: I ran the build on various Mac's running in native at first but to run the beta successfully you need at least 10.4.8 or Leopard to really make it shine.
ZI: What was your first reaction?
CM: My first reaction was shock, launching the first time and seeing a single row tool palette and being bummed that I would have to learn the locations of all my familiar tools all over again, but switching to a double column in the Tool box is as simple as clicking the top icon on the Tool box palette.
ZI: What features most interested you?
CM: The features that most interested me were ones that I hoped for and features I didn't see coming at all! The ability to turn off your Color Correction Adjustment Layers as you clone and Heal is a retoucher's dream. The Quick Selection Tool which is like the Magic Wand on steroids will blow people away in it's ability to make selections and the ability to zoom up on previews with the new Loop Tool within the Bridge to check for sharpness on Raw files is a cause for celebration among photographers and digital assistants. As a designer the enhancements to Vanishing Point are going to take you design treatments to a whole new level now that you can edit in perspective at any angle (CS2 was only able to work at 90 degree angles if you wanted multiple perspectives.)
Those are just a few that will make users smile.
ZI: Will this change your workflow any? If so how?
CM: The Bridge will change the way everyone will work. It appeals to different groups but overall effects every user. Most people now have a digital camera and are shooting Raw or working on images within Photoshop.The cataloging, managing and overall effectiveness of the Bridge to stream line your production or enhance your creative searches for content will affect all creative, production and digital artists. The enhancements within the Smart objects and the ability to run filters on a file non destructively with the new Smart Filters has taken the imaging world well into the future of imaging.
ZI: Final thoughts?
CM: Thank you Adobe!
And thank you Chris! Check back this week for other users reactions to Photoshop CS3!
Submitted by
January 2, 2007 - 6:56pm
