Anyone Tried Photoshop CS3?

[Grafitti 0]

Has anyone here installed the beta of CS3? If so, how do you find it? Do you think it's worth the upgrade?
I don't know if it's only because it's a beta, but for one, it loads much faster than CS2 for me. I like minor things about it, such as the redesigned tools bar, the dynamic resizing of palette windows, quick select, and smart filters, but I'm not sure that's worth my money to go and shell out for it. The rest of the new stuff I wouldn't use enough to offset the cost. Here is a list of the new features: So what do you think?

https://l'>https://l https://l'>https://l'>A Quick Look at the New Featuresin Photoshop CS3, Public Beta Preview
By Scott Kelby, Editor, Photoshop User magazine

Well, the future is here and CS3 is available for download. As with previous upgrades of Photoshop, thereâs a lot of cool new stuff here: some features weâve been dying for, some we didnât know we wanted until we saw them, and some stuff that will just make our lives a lot easier.

Hereâs a quick look at some of the features that I think will be creating a lot of buzz:
1. The new user interface

Anytime Adobe (or anybody for that matter) messes with the interface for a product, it sends chills down the spine of many users. However, in CS3 the changes can be as minor or major as you want because this is probably the most customizable interface for Photoshop yet.

The first thing youâll probably notice is the single-column toolbar. It freaked me out a little the first time I saw it, but once I learned that you can return to the familiar two-column toolbar with just one click (right above the toolbar on the far left), then I felt right at home. Once my fears were gone, I started using the single-column toolbar and now I feel right at home with it. Best of all, it takes up less space on screen (which means more room for my images).

The other big interface change is the palette scheme, which (once again) is designed to put your images center stage by better managing your palettes (and the loads of space they used to occupy). Again, you can go back to the old method of âfloating palettes everywhereâ, but if you take a few days to get used to these new âget out of the way fastâ palettes, I doubt youâll want to go back. My favorite change in this area is the new âMaximize Screen Modeâ view, which adjusts your window size automatically as you add and collapse palettes.

Fig.1
2. Huge improvements to Camera Raw

Camera Raw has really matured. The new version built into CS3 brings a wealth of new features, and (get this) the ability to use the Camera Raw dialog to edit both JPEG and TIFF images, as well as raw images. This changes everything!!!!

Among the main improvements is a Fill Light slider (kind of like the Shadow slider from Photoshopâs Shadow/Highlight command, but without the âmilkyâ side effect that comes from using that control with its default settings). Thereâs also a brilliant slider named Recovery, which lets you pull back some of the highlights (to avoid clipping the highlights) without having to lower the Exposure, which affects more than just those blown-out highlights. This just rocks. Also new is the Vibrance slider, which does a much better job of increasing the saturation of any under-saturated areas in your photo without overly-affecting colors that are already well-saturated. This will probably put the regular Saturation slider out of business because itâs just that much better. Besides these improvements, there are also a lot of handy interface tweaks, including color-coded bars to help you know which way to move the sliders to achieve the color or brightness youâre looking for.

Theyâve also added a wonderfully designed, intuitive Parametric Curve adjustment that makes it easy to adjust your image, and will even help users who donât understand Photoshopâs regular Curves function get a better grasp of how to unlock its power. This definitely shares âStar of the showâ status with the Recovery slider and Fill Light sliders.

Split Toning, the popular feature from Adobe Lightroom, has made its way over to Camera Raw in CS3. Honestly, I like the easy implementation of it here better than in Lightroom. Couple that with the new ability to save custom presets of your favorite Camera Raw settings and youâve got one kick-butt new version of Camera Raw that makes previous versions obsolete!

Fig.2
3. The Quick Select tool

OK, this tool is probably the best selection tool since Extract because itâs incredibly easy to use, and best of all, it really works. However, as cool as this tool is, in my opinion, the bigger feature is the Refine Edges floating palette, which gives you unprecedented control over selections; not just with this tool, but with ALL of Photoshop CS3âs selection tools. You will be amazed at how much easier selections (especially tricky selections) have gotten with these two new âmust-haveâ tools.

Fig.3
4. Mo Better Curves

Adobe has stayed away from the Curves dialog for a year, and with good reasonâitâs just about perfect. The key words there are âjust aboutâ because theyâve added some options and made the tool more flexible without changing (i.e. messing up) the basic operation of this âproâs color tool of choiceâ. Theyâve done this through an Options area that lets you choose which options you want to display, including the long-awaited Clipping Warnings and in-dialog Histogram. So, youâve got a better Curves dialog with more visual feedback, without messing anything up. Well done, Adobe!

Fig.4
5. Printing Done Right

Adobe made a number of modifications to the Print dialog, and theyâre all in the right direction, including a usable preview and easier configuration, without digging through a bunch of different dialogs like you had to back in CS2.

Fig.5
6. Black-and-White Conversion Control

Not only did Adobe add a better tool for converting from color to black & white, not only did they give you built-in presets, not only did they give you built-in tinting and the ability to leave the dialog box and click-and-drag within an area of your photo that corresponds with the color sliders in the Black-and-White control, bless Adobeâs little pixel-lovinâ heart; they made it an Adjustment Layer. Life just got better.

Fig.6
7. Auto Align and Auto Blend

Think of the magic that Photomerge uses to put a panorama together: aligning elements within your sections of photos, then blending the colors seamlessly. Now imagine youâre not stitching together a pano, but you have those same controls (and then some). Thatâs Auto Align (which automatically aligns to related photos), and Auto Blend (which blends color seamlessly). These are some of those tools that look like real magic. Pretty darn brilliant.
8. New and Improved Bridge

I would have thought that Adobe Camera Raw would win my award for most-improved player, but once I saw the new Bridge, I knew we had a winner. This is a HUGE step forward for the Bridge, adding features such as a built-in Loupe tool for magnifying specific areas without zooming in on the entire image. Itâs very well implemented. Also, the ability to compare photos side-by-side is just huge. There are tweaks and improvements all over, including easier access to information, much faster drawing thumbnails thanks to new smart-thinking view options, and improved Slideshow capabilities. Iâm just scratching the surface, but I can safely say that if this CS3 version had been Bridge 1.0, it sure would have made a lot of converts.

Fig.8
9. Smart Filter

Think Smart Objects, but perhaps a little bit smarter. Finally, hereâs a non-destructive way to apply multiple filters to an image and still go back and change your mind later (much later if you like). Implementing these Smart Filters like Layer Styles was a stroke of interface design genius. It just makes so much sense. Throw in the mask that comes with every Smart Filter and youâve got a big winner on your hands. A big pat on the back to the engineer(s) who came up with this puppy!

Fig.9
10. Improved Cloning and Healing

The new Clone Source palette makes the process much more visible (you can finally see a live preview of your clone source before you actually start cloning). Youâve now got more control over your cloning and healing than every before. Try it once, youâll be hooked.

Fig.10

Besides those âTop 10â features, thereâs loads of improvements and enhancements throughout; everything from an improved Brightness/Contrast control, to a well-designed Import Photos dialog for the Bridge, to little buttons that do wonderful things to make your life easier (they just werenât there in CS2).

Best of all, youâll get to try all these out yourself and see what a big difference CS3 makes to your daily workflow.

My hatâs off to Adobe for once again adding features we needed, features we didnât realize we needed, and for making Photoshop even more fun without making it feel even 1% more bloated. And these days, that is really saying something.

So, what are you waiting for? Download the free Public Beta Preview and start taking it through its paces yourself. See if you donât quickly agree that this is, without a doubt, the best Photoshop ever!!!!

[Saint_Michael 3]

Theirs a beta out already??? :PLucky me I have a small members accounts at adobe so I can download the beta. Should be interesting from what I read in the blurb that CS3 has a new look.Right now downloading it So I see how this bad boy works, hopefully it won't override my CS2 or I will be very upset.edit: well after reading that serial number disclaimer I basically canceled the download since I can use it...cough cough.

Edited December 18, 2006 by saint-michael (see edit history)

[Grafitti 0]

You can choose to install it without a serial number, though, and you get 30 days to try it. I installed it parallel to my CS2, haven't had any coexistence problems.

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

Hm, haven't tried it, but once I get back to my apartment so I have the high speed connection back (*sigh*) I'll have to try that out. Any word on when the final release will be? I love CS2 but if this one loads better and has nicer tool bars I am all about that. I love GUI enhancements and any added perkiness, especially on load times, is always welcome.

[KDEWolf 0]

You can choose to install it without a serial number, though, and you get 30 days to try it. I installed it parallel to my CS2, haven't had any coexistence problems.

Actually from what I've read, the 30-day trial is a typo. The real trial period you get without a valid CS2 serial key is only 2 days. Adobe personnel know about this but I don't think they did change it up until now. Also, most of the download locations from adobe are outdated or don't exist. And the CS2-to-CS3 serial generator is most times broken, giving users many issues. Mac users have an almost twice as big download, I'm glad I do use Windows.

From my personal experience, CS3 is a decent improvement, adding many Macromedia-like interfaces. Finally you have a more intelligent way of organizing your tabs and panels. But I don't think one should upgrade unless you own CS2 or you're getting your first Photoshop version. Actually, it's been quite some time while you can comfortably use Photoshop versions 6/7 and do (almost) the same... But that's just my opinion. Many people prefer having the newest possible hardware/software versions...

[Grafitti 0]

No, it can be 30 days. I've heard that some people though have had this 2-day issue, but for me it's been running 5 days now. Plus you can get keygens on the internet already for it. So that's a minor issue, and not necessarily even "warez" since it's just a beta and they're letting you download it for free anyways. Adobe's server seems to be overloaded at times, but you can get fast rapidshare download mirrors of it, and i don't think i need to explain how to find that. From what I've heard, March 2007 is the target release date.

[unimatrix 0]

I know a couple firms that have beta copies, but not heard much in terms of what new features are worth anything. Frankly, for most users, including myself, upgrading past about version 6/7 has been pointless. I have CS1 and don't use 80% of the features. If it wasn't for a couple plug-ins that are invaluable to my business, I'd be running GIMP as my image editing application. That being said, I'm not a "power-user"...I just need it from time to time.

[borlafu 0]

Looks nice. I'm a photoshop user from 3 years ago and I think that it's a very good program, almost neccesary for Windows systems.It could be nice to try out that new features, but I haven't realy tried out all the Photoshop CS2 potencial

[patronus4000 0]

Ooh, cool. *reads date* XD Last post in December. Great. Nevertheless, I probably wouldn't be able to get the beta version because of my slow connection, though if I did have a faster connection, I would be rushing over to their website to test it out. I've used CS2 at school sometimes, and the amount of features and options is daunting. I think I'll just stick to The GIMP - while it doesn't have as many options, it's a pretty good free Photoshop-substitute and it's open-source.

 

Serena

[Atomic0 0]

I currently have Adobe CS2 installed on my computer. I did try the Adobe Photoshop CS3 on a virtual machine, and I really liked the new GUI design that minimises the amount of space the toolboxes and other windows take up. The introduction of the new Adobe Device Central that helps you when designing for mobile devices.Overall, I am looking forward to the new suite of Adobe CS3 programs, especially Flash CS3.

[toby 0]

Won't bother, but how much better is this on Mac? Is the download still a lot bigger and how much better is it without emulation?

[EXLAZA 0]

I HAVE TRIED THE BETA VERSION .I LIKED IT THAT I CAN SAY

[Grafitti 0]

Now that I've tried the release on someone else's computer, (it was only the Creative Suite compendium), I found things i like and things i dislike. I was impressed with the layout and general functionality of Photoshop, and the way everything is closer at hand in both photoshop and dreamweaver. On the Mac with a dual core Intel in Boot Camp it runs much faster than on a parallel windows xp pro PC. Still, not having video and photo editing as my sole purpose in life, i still do not feel the urge to pay through the nose for a Mac of my own. Neways, I dislike how long it took to install. Everything was in one single file, and every time you wanted to install or change installed components it had to extract the whole thing. Which took about 5 minutes, plus another 10 minutes to install the shared components, which are mandatory. It got a bit infuriating after the Illustrator part of the installation failed 3 times in a row, and to reinstall that single component i spent the better part of an hour waiting for it to do its shared components thing. Still, after a little while I'm sure the pros will outweigh the cons and i'll be itching to switch it on my own machine, but for now I'm fine with the CS2 suite.

Edited May 2, 2007 by Grafitti (see edit history)

[Grafitti 0]

Latest> I've gotten the CS3 Design Premium. It fails miserably in the installer. Bloated, takes an hour to install, refuses to install illustrator CS3, a simple repair or installation of ONE component of the suite means a full hour to install shared content as well, which it insists on doing. I finally found a workaround after a lot of searching on the internet here.
Basically you have to go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.svg
and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.svgz
and give the system account complete rights on them because of some error. (Talking WinXP Pro SP2, I don't know if it's the same for other OS)
thatâs all he said, but i tried it and in my install log it failed again, because
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\.svg\OpenWithList\Illustrator.exe
wasnât given rights as well. So you might want to create that key yourself before wasting another hour attempting to get it to install. Really a disappointment. I have come to expect so much better from Adobe, especially for a final product, this is a total letdown. any joys of using the new programs have been dampened by the unfriendly installer and glaring problems, not to mention hours wasted, in which i couldn't do anything else useful, as the installer insists on having basically every other program closed before it will start installing.

[foolakadugie 0]

Yeah the beta is really bloated and slow to install. I do really like the way that the new interface works. It makes things easier to organize on screen. There are some very cool new features and small changes too. Overall though it hasn't made any HUGE steps forward from CS other than the interface.