Digipix

Oh dear...to buy or not to buy...

I'm toying with the idea of buying CS, but the general consensus amongst friends seems to be that it's really not worth it.

Two comments I've heard have concerned me a little...

I have a PC, not a Mac (please no lectures about how superior Macs are, I've always used a PC & I'm stickin' to it!) & I've heard that PSD files no longer preview as an icon of the image itself in Explorer. Considering XP previews most image files (tifs, jpegs, gifs, etc) as tiles of the image itself, I'd be pretty cheesed off to buy CS only to find it displays boring old PSD icons rather than pretty little pictures! That would mean having to actually be in Photoshop using the file browser to preview your images. I know the file browser has been improved, but I don't always want to open Photoshop to view my files. I've heard this is a PC peculiarity & Macs still have the benefit of image previews within document folders.

Can anyone confirm or deny this report?

The other issue that concerns me is that someone said you can no longer paste paths into PS from Illustrator - pixels only!

It's these kinds of backwards steps that could sway me towards sticking with 7.

Can any XP users with CS shed any light???

cz-

Hi Digipix

Don't know anything about the paths, but I've got thumbnails on psd-files in XP with Photoshop CS..

I don't understand the problem with the thumbnails; seems to work fine for me.

I can view a PSD as a thumbnail in explorer, I can see thumbnails when I open a file in CS and I can see them in the Image Browser. No problems here. And why do you need these thumbnails if you have the improved File Browser? [confused]

My impression is that most users don't know how to use thumbnails in explorer, so let me explain two things.

First of all, to make thumbnails visible you need to select the thumbnail view in explorer (see left image).

Secondly, if you want to this view for all folders then go to:

Tools/Folder options, click on tab named "view" and select apply to all folders.



Yes, for some reason copy/paste from Illustrator CS doesn't seem to work anymore. I haven't even found a solution to get an Illustrator CS path in Photoshop CS at all! [doh]

Your friends say that Photoshop CS has not a lot to offer...

You want the list?

new

Custom keyboard shortcuts
Raw Camera Plugin
Live Histogram Palette
Shadow/Highlight correction
Text on Path
Match Color adjustment
Photo Filter adjustments
Hard Mix blending mode
Fibers Filter
Filter Gallery
Jpeg2000
Layer comps
Nested Layer Sets
Crop and Straighten
PDF Presentation feature
Photomerge
Extend 16-bit support
Color Replacement Brush (useful for example to remove red eye)
Lens Blur filter

Improved

liquify
File Browser
Interface! (see PDF at the end of this post)
Extract command (textured image mode)
Healing brush works now on separate layer
Path tool has preview option
New document (preset options added)
Automate Features
Type Compatibility
Image Interpolation

And don't forget to read this 2mb pdf file:

http://www.adobeevangelists.com/pdfs...tWaitPS_CS.pdf (right click, save target as)

[innocent]

Bacardi

not to sound negative. My personal (!) view on all this:

new

Custom keyboard shortcuts : can brush size now be changed with shortcuts on non-English keyboards?
Raw Camera Plugin : digital cameras are the future, but none comes close to a traditional transparancy. Most non-pro's use jpg compression. Not all affordable camera's have raw mode.
Live Histogram Palette : I had it in Photopaint years ago. We now have it in the levels command.
Shadow/Highlight correction : I prefer correcting by hand
Text on Path : therefore I use Xara X
Match Color adjustment : ?
Photo Filter adjustments : only interesting for real, I'd say professional photographers who know the difference and the use of the different Wratten filters etc.
Hard Mix blending mode : most probably another combination of elementary modes. I don't even use the new ones in 7
Fibers Filter : Not really necessary for me
Filter Gallery : might be very interesting if, for example, it offers the two dialogs of displace together, and an extended set of fractal algotithms for clouds
Jpeg2000 : I have this in Irfanview
Layer comps : Might be interesting
Nested Layer Sets : Not really necessary for me
Crop and Straighten : I can crop and straighten now, although not together, but in increments. Could be interesting...
PDF Presentation feature : must look at this one.
Photomerge : must look at this one
Extend 16-bit support : can be ok for painting and other gradient work. For 48bit scans PS7 is sufficient. But it is a step ahead for HQ work. Hopefully, printers companies etc will come with drivers soon...
Color Replacement Brush (useful for example to remove red eye) : useful, but very limited use
Lens Blur filter : probably a gadget

Improved

liquify : nearly never use this feature, and it does the job in 7
File Browser : I prefer Irfan's as PS is already too much of a mastodont now.
Interface! (see PDF at the end of this post) : I will look at this one! If it now works like Cinema and is completely adaptable, then: wow!
Extract command (textured image mode) : closer to knockout? may be interesting
Healing brush works now on separate layer : can have its uses, but never missed it
Path tool has preview option : can have its uses. I prefer Xara for vector work, and my masks are painted, nearly never drawn with vectors
New document (preset options added) : these presets can be added in 7 too, with complete option to modify, delete and add. We had a thread on this where I explained how.
Automate Features : never use anything automatic
Type Compatibility : ? For most text I use Xara
Image Interpolation : must look into this


of course, this is highly personal. Glad you posted this list. I now know that I don't have to rush to get this upgrade.

I'll ask the more detailed questions later, like about that silly popup when you uncheck backwards compatibility etc.

If you have it, you have a top-quality app. Like you have when you have 6 or 7.

A few comments;

Shadow/Highlight correction : I prefer correcting by hand

But so you can with this tool, I don?t see the difference.
This tool is much more advanced than you think. Read this:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/adob...opcs/page2.asp

I?ve used it a lot of times and it?s just one heck of a great tool and my favorite one.


Color Replacement Brush (useful for example to remove red eye) : useful, but very limited use

It?s not clear yet if this is a very limited tool. It has quite some options and nobody really had to change to have a good look at it.


Lens Blur filter : probably a gadget

No gadget;

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/adob...opcs/page3.asp



New document (preset options added) : these presets can be added in 7 too, with complete option to modify, delete and add. We had a thread on this where I explained how.

This can now be done inside Photoshop. Not many users have the knowledge or patience to modify that particular configuration file.


I'm pretty sure that everyone can find something that might be useful. The only question that remains in the end; is the update worth the money. In my case it was.

Bacardi

Yes, you are right about the Shadow/Highlight tool. Being able to set the ranges is indeed quite handy.

Yet the LensBlur is typically for making a digital photograph look like a traditional one. Apart from that, I see no direct use for it, or it should be for creating some special effect.

At the moment, there is nothing I cannot live without. So I wait...no need to spend my money now.
We'll see in a few months.

[innocent] [bustagut]

tranquil222

Hey Erik, where is the thread that you talked about modifying this configuration file??? Ive never heard of this, and I would love to toy around with it.
thanks erik

Digipix, I had the problem too but I've finally solved it!

Illustrator CS;

- Go to Edit/Preferences
- Go to File Handling & Clipboard
- deselect PDF and Select AICB/Preserve Paths

I'm a happy camper now!

Digipix

Thanks for all your comments.

I asked my friend to elaborate & he said, (his words), "I'm not an idiot, I know how to view thumbnails in Explorer!". He does indeed have thumbnail view activated & has all other image file type icons showing as thumbnails - all except PSDs, which just show the regular icon.

In PS, he has the file saving options set as the default - always save image previews. Checking the file type in folder options didn't shed any light either - all is as it should be. He didn't have any problems with PS7 & is totally baffled!

Apparemtly Mac users have more options re. file handling preferences & I was wondering if this somehow related?

But as one of you said they're running XP & CS & have no thumbnail issues...the mystery continues!

Thanks again for your comments. I probably will end up buying CS...I'm one of those superficial people who like to keep up with the Jones's!