Photoshop CS6 Public Beta is now out and available at: http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/photoshopcs6.html
Take a look at the new blur tools which are not modal, and gain their speed of operation when you have compatible video cards because Adobe is using their processing power to achieve the heavy computational load via OpenGL and OpenCL. There are three distinct types of blur Field Blur, Iris Blur and Tilt and Shift Blur which offer different feels to the blur employed.
Then there is Adaptive Wide Angle which is a new way of dealing with how local elements within an image are transformed – straight lines that due to say the use of a fisheye lens take on a curve can be straightened, parallel vertical lines that appear to taper or expand can be restored to vertical, or horizontal lines that no longer lie horizontally can be pulled back to the horizontal. This is designed specifically to allow for creativity in how an image is projected by constraining local areas within an image to achieve the desired end result.
These two new tools are high on my list of changes in this latest version of Photoshop, but even more fundamental is the new way in which raw files are processed using the 2012 Process Version when passing through Adobe Camera Raw, and this has resulted in the controls being both slightly renamed as well as the way in which they now work is slightly different which may be disconcerting initially, but take the time to use them and you will see that they are ultimately easier to use to get the best result, and that result can sometimes be very much better than before.
Another change which may take a few moments for you to become accustomed is that Adobe have Split the Perspective Crop tool from the standard Crop tool, and once again the new way may take some time for acclimatisation, but it does ultimately make sense. The tools which employ ‘Content Awareness’ have been increased and improved. One new item here is the Content Aware Move tool found within the Healing tools section in the toolbar.
There are changes within the Layers panel, such as the new ability to search for specific layer types, but for me the most important change is that where before there was no indication that ‘Blend If’ had been used on a layer, there is now a symbol displayed, which hopefully will bring more users to this very useful yet little known facility within the Layer Style dialog box. There are other little tweaks in the Layers panel such as being able to colour code multiple layers in one go.
A Properties dialog box has been implemented to bring more order to Adjustment layers, the Print dialog box has been completely reworked to ensure that the chances of colour management changes are not applied twice and the end results are more predictable and well-controlled.
Under the Filter heading is Oil Paint which gives an interesting one-stop location to apply this style of effect, and it is very fast. Lighting Effects has been completely updated offering new controls and improved speed. 3D is now somewhat simpler and is completely hived off into the Extended version. Paragraph Styles and Character Styles have now come to Photoshop which will certainly impress the Design community.
The best way to understand what this latest incarnation has to offer is to download the Public Beta from:
and if you need more guidance, take a look here:
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