Photoshop's new vector features provide even more control when compositing photographic images. You can use the vector drawing tools simply to create polygons and custom shapes, but they can also act as layer clipping paths--vector masks that hide or reveal image areas in underlying layers.
Editable layer effects such as drop shadow and glow were introduced in version 5.5; in version 6, they have been renamed layer styles. New options include satin, stroke and color, gradient, and pattern overlay. The layer styles dialogue box provides much more control--bevel and emboss has five style options as well as adjusters for technique, depth, direction, size, soften, angle, attitude, gloss, contour, highlight mode, opacity--and that's not all of them. And as the name suggests, layer styles can easily be saved and applied to other layers.
You can enter and edit text directly onto the layer and set style attributes from the new tool options bar. Photoshop 6 seems to have benefited from some of InDesign's superb typographic tools, with character and paragraph palettes providing precise control. Web imaging tools have been revamped, with layer-based slicing now available from within Photoshop itself, and a major overhaul of ImageReady introducing weighted optimization, rollover styles, and tweened animation.
If you want the best image editing software that money can buy, look no further. For users of 5.5, there never was a more compelling reason to upgrade. --Ken McMahon
A web designers must have!2001-09-30I am not a progessional graphics designer, but using photoshop 6.0 makes me look like I am. Every graphic and photo that goes on my companies webpage was created or touched up in photoshop. The "Save for Webpage" option is great. I can see how many seconds my graphic or photo is going to take to download on someones home computer. I try to keep every graphic under 5 seconds on a 28.8 modem. Photoshop lets me do this quickly and easily!
When I first opened up the program I didnt have a clue on how to do anything, but I got the Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book, and now I can do almost anything.
The most powerful raster graphics program around...2001-09-18What's new:
"Vector shapes" - a little misleading in its meaning. Indeed they are vector shapes, but when saved, they are rasterized. Maybe future versions will integrate the fundamentals of Illustrator (or Freehand - both the best vector graphics programs available) a little better. But the shapes feature is quite useful for logos, and small icons.
Editable text effects - Not quite "text on a path," but a very welcome feature. After skewing the text with this feature, you are still able to alter font styles/sizes/colors with no problem.
Dockable Palettes - a great feature, if you have a large enough monitor (17" w/high-resolution setting, 19" w/mid-res setting), in order to see the dock. Allows you to place heavily used palettes in the upper right hand section, without having to move them around.
It has quite a few more feature, but those I've mentioned are my favorites. Coming from 5.0 to 5.5 was fairly unimpressive, but the jump to 6.0 has made it a worthwhile upgrade.
So glad I upgraded!2001-06-30Improved Layer Styles, improved Gradients, improved cropping. I know there's much more, but I still am kind of a newbie, I can't remember them all. And the most dramatic and fabulous improvement - the TEXT function! Oh my gosh! No more annoying pop-up window to type text into! You just start typing on your image. Editing and changing fonts and sizes is so much easier now. Also, I like the taskbar thingie at the top of the screen. Very convenient, I don't know how I lived without it. ImageReady is also improved. I find myself using it more and more.
Also, I want to warn everyone - make SURE you have your CD of Photoshop 4 or above on hand. During the installation process, Photoshop 6 will want you to put in a previous version of Photoshop in your CD drive, to confirm you are qualified for an upgrade. They seem to only accept versions 4 or above. If you don't have a CD of at least version 4 of Photoshop, you need to contact Adobe support, and they will help you "unlock" the Photoshop upgrade, so that you can install it on your computer. Obviously, you must be a registered owner of Photoshop (any previous version) to qualify for this upgrade.
I read on Adobe's support site that sometimes it's better to drag the upgrade installation file from the PS 6 CD to your HD. Have your previous version of PS in your CD drive, ready and waiting. Then, start the PS 6 upgrade installation from the install file on your your HD. When you come to the part where PS 6 asks for a previous version of PS, it's right in your CD drive. (This way, you avoid the annoying and tricky "CD-swapping" right in the middle of the upgrade. Trust me on this one!) Anyway, MAKE SURE you have a CD of a previous version of Photoshop on hand. Just having the program installed on your HD isn't enough. Contact Adobe about getting a replacement if you lost your original CD to the previous version of PS.
Even though I am still a beginner/intermediate Photoshop user, I am finding MUCH to be excited about with this upgrade. I can imagine that most serious pro Photoshop users are elated. There's certainly a lot to be excited about. I cannot recommend this upgrade enough.
But wait, it's better than that!2001-02-08Of course, you'll want a LOT of RAM - my 35 mm slides bulk up to about 100 MB in 48-bit mode. It's worth every bit.
The industry standard gets better2000-11-04Adobe has updated the interface. Now when you select a tool all of the options for the selected tool appear (you don't have to go to the pallettes as often). The selection tools and text handling are much better than previous versions. There are several other improvements that I haven't mentioned.
Using Photoshop is an art in itself. I've been using this product for several years now and I'm still learning.
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