dacs.doc electric

When asked if I wanted to review PhotoShop 6 for the Mac, I immediately responded “Yes!” Having used PhotoShop since the very first release, I had to see what the wizards at Adobe had in store for us this time. PhotoShop has been, and continues to be (despite some fierce competition), the best image-editing tool on the planet.

The most prominent new feature is the addition of vector support. Traditionally, PhotoShop has been a raster, or pixel-based tool, mostly used for editing photos. With this new tool you can bridge the two worlds and create hybrid art. The vector tools include basic shapes, such as rectangles and polygons, which can be moved or resized at any time during the image editing process. You can also create custom shapes, which can be used over and over again for projects.

It may seem like a simple change, but I think the biggest improvement is the new ability to edit text right on the canvas. I hated bringing up the text box, only to have to reload the dialog to make minor changes in fonts. Working with text is now easy, almost elegant, when compared to prior versions. Text remains vector text, so you can continue to manipulate it as you work, while maintaining the high quality output of non-rasterized text.

The coolest new feature has to be LIQUIFY. Although it sounds like something you do to a small mammal with a blender, it’s more like Kai’s Power Goo for grownups. This is an industrial strength way of distorting images. No, it’s not a filter, the Liquify command is special enough to rate it’s own place on the “image” menu. I had tremendous fun playing with images, distorting them with incredible precision. If only I could get paid to do this.

Adobe has added the creation of high-quality PDF output from PhotoShop 6. You can now create smaller preview files so that anyone with the free Acrobat Reader can view your images--they don’t have to own a copy of PhotoShop.

The most useful feature (in my opinion, anyway) is the slice tool. I’m going to let you in on a Web designer secret--they don’t create those fancy images and then program ‘em, they cut up the image first and let GoLive, Dreamweaver or FrontPage do all of the work. It used to be tricky to cut up an image, but now you can slice the image in PhotoShop and it will write the appropriate HTML code for you.

If you want to create fancy Web effects like rollover buttons, you can use the included and almost completely integrated ImageReady 3. They have been integrated so tightly that it’s hard to think that ImageReady is a separate program instead of a dialog box. There are some amazing effects available, including text warping rollovers and enhanced image maps. I’m looking forward to using these features on the next Web project I have to do.

There are so many features in PhotoShop 6--I could write almost two reviews. The only way to really learn about PhotoShop is to use it (or take a class). Although I’ve just started using this new edition, I’m already excited about the new features I can use to enhance my Web development efforts.

If I had to complain about one thing, it would have to be the cost. With the street price of a new version being more than $500, and an upgrade over $200, it’s too expensive for casual use. I do have to give Adobe credit for shipping a lower-cost version, PhotoShop LE, for about $99. It’s crippled in ways that won’t affect most users, so you can accomplish most Web or simple image editing with it.

If you’re serious about editing images, I highly recommend PhotoShop 6, or the upgrade if you have an earlier version. I have yet to see another program that even comes close to the stability, functionality or usefulness of this product.