Adobe CS5: Photoshop v12
Friday, 11 June 2010
I installed Adobe’s CS5 Master Collection, which shipped last month, on my MacBook Pro. Unlike the previous version, which took up five DVDs of applications and came with an extra content disc, my version fitted on just two DVDs yet placed 20 folders in the Applications folder on my 2007 MacBook Pro 15-inch.
The folders are Adobe (it just has the Adobe Help app in it), Adobe After Effects, Bridge, Contribute, Device Central, Dreamweaver, Encore, Extension Manager, Fireworks, Flash Builder 4, Flash Catalyst, Flash, Illustrator, InDesign, Media Encoder, Media Player, OnLocation, Photoshop, Premiere Pro and Soundbooth.
So there’s a lot to get through. Generally, I’d characterise this latest suite as a productivity booster rather than a whizz-bang update, but across the programs that represents a significant boost in productivity that makes a compelling case for forking over some cash.
One change across the suite is the reintroduction of Mini Bridge, which is a one-palette access to the full-blown Bridge. It’s basically a Media Browser like that of iMovie, Pages and Keynote etc. In Photoshop you can use it to browse files or launch the full-blown Bridge.
I’m starting with Photoshop as I’m very familiar with it (I’ve taught it); I also often use InDesign (MagBytes is created in InDesign) and Illustrator. The others … I’ve either used them in the past or tried them out, so I’ll at least try and mention the features. But they’ll be in follow-up posts to this one.
So, Photoshop. The big news and indeed the big noise is mostly about Content Aware. Anyone who has worked with any previous versions of Photoshop has inevitably struck the same problem: that one picture of the Taj Mahal (or whatever) that you need to use has some winsome bloke standing in the way.
So you cut them out and then tortuously clone in the background where they were so make it look like they never were.
Now, with Photoshop 12, you can bang a quick marquee around them with the lasso tool, then just press Delete. Photoshop magically fills in the gaps. It’s more surprising on some images than others – for example, a subject posed against a rough brick wall or a bush will disappear more convincingly than someone in a street scene, but either way it’s going to save you a considerable amount of work, even if it’s not perfect.
The last version (CS4) of Photoshop had content-aware scaling, in which you could resize and image dynamically and Photoshop would attempt to leave objects alone while manipulating the spaces around them. This was a wow! feature when shown, but I must admit, I haven’t used it even once in actual jobs. I’m sure people did and do, but this content-aware deletion is sure to be used a hell of a lot more.
Basically, Photoshop 12 analyses the image data around what you have selected and uses that data to replace the hole with a simulacrum of the background. But when you press Delete you get a choice (left) to replace the selection with foreground or background colour, a colour from the Color Picker, Content-Aware, Pattern or History, black, 50% (neutral) grey, or white.
So you can still do a basic delete if you need to.
Results are mixed. But even if they’re not perfect, it certainly speeds up your cloning work. An object against a rough and randomly-textured wall disappears perfectly with one click, but more complicated objects against more structured backgrounds are less successful (as below). Even so, i’s a lot easier to hit delete and then start cloning; it’s a real speed up.
Collaborative functions have been boosted too. You can use Share My Screen in the File menu using a feature called ConnectNow, which is an acrobat.com service.
Also in the File menu (as with previous versions, it’s useful to click on the Window menu, go to the second item Workspace and choose ‘New in CS5’ which highlights all the newly added or modified items in menus) is an item called ‘Create New Review …’ This launches a panel called CS Review, which lets you create, share and get feedback on creative projects. All of this acknowledges this generation of designers which can be working together while spread around the building, the country or the planet. You just register and sign in to the service to deploy it.
In the edit menu you get a Paste Special command, which lets you paste in place . Yes! In other words, paste in exactly the same position, on another layer for example, rather than just bang in the centre. Other options include Paste Into and Paste Outside (a selection).
Fill now has Content-Aware, but Puppet Warp is more impressive still. Make a selection and choose Puppet Warp; a mesh appears on the selection. Click in the mesh to make yellow push-pins and you can drag them around to warp the object. It’s called Puppet Mesh because it works particularly well with human figures *right), but actually is has a host of uses. To me it’s a bit weird that it’s in the Edit menu and not Filters, but it’s placed next to the Transform tool and I guess that makes sense.
It works really well – I selected a human figure in this example, copied it, deleted with content aware, pasted in place so it was on a new layer, then applied puppet warp to repose the legs to make it a bit more dynamic. Two minutes work … not you can repose your actors to your heart’s content.
In the Select menu, you get a Refine Mask option (left) that gives you more control than ever over masks with options to smooth, feather, alter contrast etc. Over in Filters there’s a new Lens Correction one which draws on a database of lens profiles. It loads them for Apple, Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax, Sigma (a lens manufacturer) and Sony. It correctly identified the above soccer shot as taken with a Canon 5D MkII.
This filter is great to use – it loads a full-screen dialogue box and offers tools to drag towards or away from the centre for global correction, an excellent Straighten tool (about time!), the ability to move the alignment grid, a grabber hand and a zoom.
The Custom tab gives you even greater control; I almost wish the 5D MkII lens wasn’t so good so I could ‘fix’ it. You can manipulate fringing, distortion and vignetting.
3D
Photoshop has been beefing up 3D tools in the Extended versions of Photoshop (the version that comes with the Master Collection is Extended) and this got several new features in CS5. Repoussé is one – ‘repoussé’ describes a metalworking technique in which object faces are shaped and patterned by hammering on the opposite side.
In Photoshop, the Repoussé command converts 2D objects into 3D meshes, which you can then extrude, inflate, and reposition in 3D space.
I can’t do much with 3D on my three-year-old MacBook Pro – it really benefits from hardware acceleration on video cards, but mine wasn’t up to it, so it chugged along trying to do it in software. Then it crashed Photoshop, so yeah, sorry, can’t tell you much about the new 3D features. Without a stonkin’ tower to try it on, anyway – plus some 3D files.
The details
When you drag a selection, a pale rectangle shows up to show you the outermost limits of the selection – this disappears as soon as you let go. It’s a nice little touch and a real help.
Another cool feature is the rule of thirds – finally! – appearing by default when you use Crop.
In the View menu, a new item called Show … lets you choose to show layer edges, grid, slices and more, with a Show Extras Options in which you can tick to refine what’s available (Selection Edges, Target Paths, Notes etc).
In the Window menu under Workspace, there are new options too – you can now choose workspace layouts to suit 3D, Design, Motion, Painting and Photography.
Extensions also has its own pop-out menu here, with Access CS Live, CS News and Resources, CS Review, Kuler (the once-third party colour matching tool, above) and Mini Bridge all available. These all produce palettes. Presumable these aren’t in the normal View menu as items because … I don’t know. Maybe just to make sure you’re aware they’re new and separate. Below that, though, in the usual list of palettes you can choose to display, there is a new 3D palette option, a Brush plus a powerful Brush Presets palette (great – see above).
Conclusion
If this was the only part of CS5 you'd use, you might consider getting a standalone Photoshop upgrade. It will certainly speed you up and make your life easier. It was hard to tell it was faster on my system as I only have 4GB RAM (my limit), but CS5 now runs native 64-bit applications on Mac.
What's Great: Puppet Mesh, Content Aware and Lens Correction, definitely.
What's Not: 3D work needs more serious video cards than three-year-old MacBook Pros have.
Needs: Someone who does lots of recomposing
What: Adobe Photoshop 12 (CS5) $1528. CS5 Master Collection $5326, upgrade from any previous CS version to MC $2717.
System: visit Adobe for the lengthy list.
More info: Adobe Pacific (30 day trial available). Available from NZ Apple resellers and IT providers (make sure you get the Macintosh version!)
