Adobe Photoshop 7.0 is on its way, and boy have we been waiting for an OS X update for it!
When?
If we are to believe Adobe, PS 7 is in stores before June 2002. In the past, Adobe have been known to release their software before the anticipated dates (unlike some other companies), so this means it will probably be a good summer for Macintosh users
For the PC, it is slightly more unclear when the new version of Photoshop will be launched, but it is safe to assume that it will be ready approximately at the same time as the OS X version.
What?
Most graphics professionals I have spoken to (and considering I am a semi professional photographer - that ain't few), including myself, have been 100% happy with Photoshop 6.0. It does everything you would want it to, and this has sort of made us wonder what the hell Adobe could do to make PS any better than it already is.
Adobe, on the other hand, are rather cunning bastards, and they have proved that they can come up with some nifty improvements, whether the consumers want them or not :)
Improvements:
New features:
- A new file browser allowing you to shift large amounts of graphics files in the search for the image you need, both visually and via textstrings. It also searches the images' metadata and file headers (EXIF info). You can search through resolution, file type, file size, date created and/or modified etc.
- Healing brush - I am not sure if I understood the bloke at Adobe correctly, but if I am not mistaken, this is a tool for removing wrinkles, dust and blemishes from images. A tool to make Photoshop easier for newbies, in other words (I don't understand that - PS is a pro tool to begin with - why making it less sophisticated?). The Adobe press officer described it as an "advanced clone tool", so I might be wrong about this.
- Patch tool: Now this is more interesting - the patch tools will automatically match a pasted selection to the target area (shading and tone etc) - this wasn't hard to do using layer opacity and some fiddling in the previous versions of PS, but if this tool does what it promises, it will be insanely great :)
- new paint engine - Adobe obvously want to take on Painter, and with the new tools available in Photoshop 7, it is not completely inconceivable that they can.
- Pattern maker - A new pattern maker for making seamless backgrounds
- Full AppleScript support! Yay!
- Better security; Invisible watermarking of your images, password protected Photoshop PDF files etc.
- Multi-language spell checker
In use
I have been using PS 7.0 beta (build 43) for a few hours, and I must say that I rather like it so far. Its performance is substantially better than the PPC version on my G3 iBook, and I can't wait to try it on one of my uni's multi processor G4 macs tomorrow.
I'll be back with more info shortly!
Pricing
Being a professional tool, PS 7 is priced as such. According to Apple, the OS X version will cost nearly US$ 600, with upgrade prices for about $ 150, Adobe says the PC version will cost about the same.
sources: www.adobe.com, www.apple.com and a phonecall to Lara Vacante, PR Manager for adobe Photoshop.
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