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Michael Tate Jones
11-29-00
Forgive me for starting with a
clicheŽ, but as they say, first impressions are
everything. Adobe's Photoshop 6 left me with a
very good impression. [See previous
review.] In this continuing series on Photoshop,
I'll examine the all-new Liquefy tool, the enhanced
web design features, and new support for vector-based
graphics. I'll also cover other minor, but welcome
additions and changes to Photoshop. So let's get
to it!
Now Liquefy!
 If
for no reason other than endless hours of fun
and uncontrollable giggling, Photoshop 6's new
Liquefy Tool alone is worth the upgrade price.
Actually, I think Liquefy may be an inaccurate
name for this new feature. I would have called
it 'The Amazing Distort-o-Matic!' All fun aside,
this new feature is very powerful. Some of you
may recall a program call 'Kai's Power Goo'. At
its essence, the new Liquefy tool is an implementation
of this program built into Photoshop. Those of
you familiar with Power Goo know how fun it is
to bend, warp, bulge and pinch away at photos
of friends (or enemies) to give them a hilarious
and often in-human new look [See example below].
High School photos aren't the only things the
Liquefy Tool is good for. It also allows you to
create transformations on text layers to add a
unique look for a company logo or text effect.
The location of the Liquefy tool
in the menu selections is rather ambiguous. I
thought it might be in the 'Filters' menu under
the 'Distort' sub-menu, however, after further
investigation I discovered it to be under the
'Image' Menu. A little strange, but I know where
it's at now. The range of tools available in Liquefy
mode is impressive. The distortion tools include
the Warp tool, Twirl Clockwise, Twirl Counter-Clockwise,
Pucker (Pinch) Tool, Bloat tool, Shift Pixels
Tool and Reflection Tool. Other brushes allow
you to reconstruct part of an image previously
distorted and 'freeze' parts of an image you don't
want distorted. The 'thaw' tool 'unfreezes' areas
previously frozen. To freeze part of an image
you simply paint over the area with a brush. The
brush paints a mask onto your image. The mask
can even be made different colors depending on
which color is easiest to see over top of your
image. A grid allows you to see which areas of
your image have distortions applied. Like the
masks, the grid can be made different colors as
well. Using variations of brush size, brush pressure
and distortion tools allows you to make broad
sweeping changes to your whole image or make minute
changes to only part of your image. The range
of control is quite remarkable. The best way to
learn the Liquefy tool is to pick an image and
just start playing with the different tools. I
found myself fascinated by this new feature and
spent over an hour just warping to my hearts content
(and even elicited a slap on the shoulder from
my wife)! Too much fun indeed.
Web Designers Paradise
I've never used Photoshop in a
web development environment, but from what I can
tell, web designers will delight in the host of
features added to Photoshop 6. Web designers who
purchase Photoshop 6 will be glad to know that
Adobe ImageReady 3 is part of the package yet
again. I won't discuss ImageReady 3 in detail.
I'll just say that you still have the ability
to seamlessly jump back and forth between Photoshop
6 and Image Ready 3 at the click of a button.
Plus, ImageReady 3 adds new 'Image Map' tools
and an 'Image Map' palette that let's you define
image maps complete with URL, target frame and
Alt text options. You can also define an image
map based on layer boundaries. Rollover enhancements
allow you to save rollovers as styles in a new
'Styles Palette' just like Photoshop 6. You can
now preview your rollovers in Image Ready 3 as
well. Getting back to Photoshop, notice there
is a new Slice Tool in Photoshop's tools palette.
This gives web designers greater flexibility by
defining and editing slices directly in Photoshop
6. Other enhancements include Slice-specific formatting
and optimization. This gives you the ability to
apply specific optimization settings to one group
of slices (slices with text in them) and an entirely
different set of optimization settings to another
group (slices with photos or graphics in them).
Dynamic layer-based slices give web designers
the ability to set up slice content on separate
layers and then let Photoshop or ImageReady generate
layer-based slices. What does this mean to the
web designer? When you reposition or edit the
content of the layer, the slice dynamically adjusts
to accommodate any changes made. Adobe's manual
notes this is particularly useful for generating
precise slices for rollovers. Lastly, users of
Adobe GoLive 5 will gain greater integration with
Photoshop and ImageReady. Including integrated
optimization with GoLive 5, Automated updates
and HTML integration.
Vector vs. Raster
No, it's not the title of a Godzilla
movie (although it could be, couldn't it?). Photoshop
now offers support for resolution-independent,
vector-based graphics. To understand what this
means, let me briefly describe what a vector graphic
is to those of you who are not familiar. A vector-based
image is simply an image defined by mathematical
rules and not pixels (which is what raster-based
images are made of). A vector image can be infinitely
scaled up or down and not become pixilated (fuzzy
edges). Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Live Motion and
Macromedia Flash are all programs that currently
use vector-based images. Now, Adobe Photoshop
joins this bunch. New shape tools allow you to
create custom shapes in the vector format, edit
them with the direct selection and convert anchor
point tools then output these resolution-independent
graphics to other vector-bases programs or directly
to a Postscript printer for high resolution output.
Photoshop also allows you to easily combine shapes
with the add, subtract, restrict and invert buttons
similar to joining paths in Illustrator. You may
then save custom shapes for use later or to share
with other members in a work group. Type is now
treated as vector-based images in Photoshop as
well. This allows you to combine text with crisp
edges and pixel-based graphics in the same image.
For example, I created the text 'Vector-Type'
at 72 points in Photoshop 5.5 and 6.0 for comparison.
I then used the Free-Transform tool to expand
the type beyond the edges of the canvas. Notice
the major difference between type created in Photoshop
6 and Photoshop 5.5. Adobe only gave one sentence
to this amazing new feature in the manual. Photoshop
users who use lots of type in their compositions
will notice a big difference in the quality of
their images. Taking vector-based imaging one
more step, Photoshop can also create editable
vector-based shapes used to clip out or mask image
areas better known as layer clipping paths. Using
the previously mentioned vector tools, you can
further modify these shapes as much as you like
without deteriorating the fine edges of your mask.
New vector output options allow you to print directly
to Postscript printers as I mentioned briefly
above. Advance PDF output extends Photoshop's
ability to integrate with other Adobe products.
Enhanced PDF output allows you to preserve transparency,
layers and vector objects in the PDF format. If
your print service provider uses Adobe Acrobat
InProdution (or similar Acrobat prepress plug-ins),
they can prepare your PDF files for high-end printing.
As I stated in my previous review, this is the
most improved version of Photoshop to date. The
integration of vector-based imaging is yet another
affirmation of my opinion.
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What's your vector Victor?
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Here is a raster font from earlier
Photoshops.
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Here is a vector font from Photoshop
6.
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More Notable Additions
You can add notes and audio to images for
collaborative environments.
Although these new
features aren't quite as impressive I feel they
deserve mention anyway. The new Preset Manager
now makes it much easier to manage all of your
custom brushes, gradients, shapes, contours, patterns
and layer styles by grouping them into a single
window. Once you've loaded a preset library it
then becomes available whenever its elements are
used in Photoshop. This includes the new contextual
option bar, Styles Palette and Gradient Editor
dialog box. These preset libraries can then be
shared with other members of your creative team
to streamline your workflow. Another nifty feature
that is invaluable in a workgroup environment
is the ability to add notes and audio annotations
to your Photoshop documents. These text and audio
comments are supported in both Photoshop and Adobe
Acrobat.
The Vote is in...Please, no recounts!
Well, here it is. I give Adobe
Photoshop 6.0 5 Bites out of the Apple, our highest
rating. If I could I'd give it 6 (one for each
version!), I would. Its broad range of new features
is sure to satisfy all Photoshop users. Add to
that it's tighter integration with other Adobe
and third party products and you've got one impressive
upgrade. Pricing for current Photoshop owners
is set at $200. The full version is priced at
$600.
Now, I am going to liquefy something
. . .
Michael
Tate Jones
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