Photoshop CS4 Will Be 64-bit on Windows Only

What does this mean for you as a Photoshop user? That working with large images on Windows Vista64 machines will be a lot faster. Don't expect everything to be faster in 64-bit, though, as Photoshop architect Scott Byers wrote in 2006.

So why won't the OS X version of Photoshop CS4 be 64-bit when the recently posted Lightroom 2.0 beta is 64-bit? All "older" Mac applications such as Photoshop, After Effects and even Apple's Final Cut Pro and iTunes are developed on the Carbon framework. Last year Apple canceled the 64-bit roadmap for Carbon so only applications built on the newer Cocoa framework will be able to be 64-bit-enabled, even though Steve Jobs in 2006 said "You can have fully native 64-bit UI Carbon or Cocoa applications."

For more in-depth explanations (and conspiracy comments) please see Adobe Product Manager John Nack's blog. There's also an FAQ: Plans for 64-bit processing support in Photoshop (PDF.)

It's still unclear if Photoshop CS4 will run on Windows XPx64 or if Vista64 (oh, the horror!) will be required.

- Jonas

How to Optimize Photoshop for Giant Images

The inside story on how to get maximum performance from Photoshop when working on very large files, courtesy of Scott Byer from the Photoshop team.

You'll want to look at the PDF in Adobe Acrobat, since OS X's Preview app won't render the text correctly. Conspiracy? :)

Another tip is to check out Russel Brown's scripts for Photoshop.

- Jonas

How to Remove Speckles and Dust in Scanned Images using Photoshop

Here's a quick tip I discovered today while cleaning up a lot of scanned images. It's a 30 second video tutorial on how to find dirt, dust and scratches that's hard to find when you're trying to remove the background.

How to Remove Speckles and Dust in Scanned Images using Photoshop (opens in a new window)

- Jonas

Search and Place 3D models into Photoshop CS3 Extended

Here's a cool, free beta plugin that will let you search, preview and download 3D models from Google's 3D Warehouse, directly from within Photoshop CS3 Extended.

I haven't tried it yet, but I see this being really useful for quick news graphics.

Sorry for not having a screenshot to publish, but I haven't had time to install the released build of Photoshop CS3 Extended yet. The irony of sitting on the bottom floor of the Adobe headquarters (notice the overhead roadsign for bonus geek points) waiting to listen to Photoshop Product Manager John Nack, with only CS2 installed, isn't lost on me.

- Jonas

3D model by jw_n_mo
Thanks to Rich at AE Portal News for the tip.

The Best Graphics Training Available Enters Term 4

If you only give yourself one thing this year, here's my advice: sign up for the new term of fxphd, the highest-level graphics training available online. Term 4 is just about to start (even though you can sign up later) with a bunch of interesting classes lined up. Not only do you get great classes, you also get real-world footage to work with (like 1080P motion control passes of miniatures shot by the DoP of "Superman Returns") that you can use on your showreel.



I've been a member since term 1, and even though I haven't been able to follow all the classes (the day only has 24 hours) my collection of classes is safely backup up on several drives, as I plan on keeping them for reference for a long time. I've even put them all on my iPod so I can learn something new every day.

Trust me, this is the best $300 you'll ever spend!



Complete Term Course Listing

• AFX221 - After Effects Design and More
• BKD204 - Background Fundamentals
• DRW201 - Character Drawing and Development
• FCP211 - Intermediate Final Cut Pro II
• FLM101 - Introduction to Flame
• FLM201 - Introduction to Expressions
• MAX101 - 3DS Max for Compositors
• MAX201 - Advanced Rendering and Mental Ray
• MYA203 - Intermediate Maya III
• PNT201 - Matte Painting Production Techniques
• PSD203 - Photoshop CS3
• SHK101 - Introduction to Shake
• SHK201 - Intermediate Shake I
• RTO201 - Rotoscoping Techniques
• TOX101 - Introduction to Toxik I
• TOX102 - Introduction to Toxik II

When you sign up, please enter "humlan" in your sign-up form under "Referring Member," which will give me access to an extra class (hmm, should I take the "Silhouette Roto" class or the "Matte Painting" class?)




fxphd tour movie

Podcast that discusses the different classes

- Jonas

Photoshop CS3 will open Videos and 3D Models

Adobe just announced that the CS3 version of Photoshop will be made available in two flavors, Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended. The public beta that's is available for free download is the regular version, so the extended features aren't made public yet.

No much info has been released, but the brief chart states that the extended version will have the ability to open and edit videos and 3D "content" (probably the textures.)

Of less interest to me seems to be another added tool set for counting and measuring.

Coming soon: Two editions of Photoshop CS3 (adobe.com)

- Jonas

Premiere is Back on the Mac

Adobe is giving Apple a run for its NLE-money when it will bring Premiere Pro as part of the next version of the Production Studio Bundle, which was previously only available for Windows.

There's no mention of any new features in the official press release, but the next version of the bundle will be available "mid 2007" and will also include another new Mac software: Encore DVD.

- Jonas

Photoshop CS3 Public Beta Now Available for Download

Within the next 24 hours the public beta of Photoshop CS3 will be posted to Adobe Labs.
All you need to run it is a valid serial number for Photoshop CS2.

More links:

Photoshop CS3 forums

Photoshop Product Manager John Nack's blog with links to videos and tips

Photoshop CS3 Beta One-on-One Preview with Deke McClelland at Lynda.com

The ten hottest features in the public beta according to NAPP

CS3 in action video

Official FAQ about the public beta (PDF)

Adobe Press release


Here's just some of the improvements, but I'm sure others will chime in as soon as the download is posted...


Better Selections
I love how the new super-cool Quick Selection Tool let's you just paint of the relevant parts of what you want to select. Together with the Refine Edge dialog you can very quickly make complex selections that previously had to be hand-painted when the Magic Wand couldn't cope anymore.


Better Cloning
You can now get an overlay of your clone source to help you align everything better, plus transform to cloning.


Non-destructive Filters
Now you don't have to do your photo editing in After Effects anymore, since Photoshop CS3 makes it possible to apply Smart Filters, which will let you tweak parameters and turn filters on and off. Third-party filters will have to be updated to be able to be applied non-destructively.


- Jonas

Photoshop 9.0.2 Available

The updates for Photoshop CS2 9.0 and 9.0.1 became available via Adobe Updater today. You can't download them via the web yet, so get them from within Photoshop via Help -> Updates...

Here's the main fixes (from the read me files.)

Windows XP:
- Menus now respond correctly after a single click.
- Undo/Redo work properly when multiple documents are open.
- Photoshop no longer produces a program error when encountering unsupported file
types through the Acrobat Touch-up workflow.
- Supported files that incorrectly produced an "unsupported color space" message now
open as expected.
- TIFF files with layer data greater than 2GB in size now open correctly.

Mac OS X:
- Photoshop no longer crashes when encountering unsupported file types through the
Acrobat Touch-up workflow.
- Supported files that incorrectly produced an "unsupported color space" message now
open as expected.
- TIFF files with layer data greater than 2GB in size now open correctly.
- A printing issue that could cause banding when using ink jet printers with Mac OS X
10.4 has been resolved.

Create Your Own Photoshop Filters

For a hobby-scripter as myself, FilterForge seems like a great resource for creating not only seemlesly tiling textures, but it will output normal maps, bump maps and other types of useful textures for 3D creation. And it's node-based, supports 32-bit and HDRI and is totally procedural, meaning it can render to any resolution you want. How's that for a fully buzz-word compliant feature set?

I haven't had time to try it out yet (I'm way behind on my FX PHD classes and my workstation is busy churning out 2K, 16-bit satellite image fly-throughs around the clock.)

A temporally enhanced version for After Effects would be a nice feature for version 1.1, but for now it only supports Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Painter, Photo-Paint and Paint Shop Pro.

Post a comment if you create anything cool!

FilterForge Beta (Win only)

HDR Photography in Photoshop CS2

Here's a tutorial I stumbled on recently. Apart from discussing the actual steps needed at the shoot and in Photoshop, the tutorial also deals with some HDR theory.
High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography in Photoshop CS2

Check out the other tutorials as well.

Photoshop CS2 update (9.0.1)

There's a patch for Photoshop CS2, upgrading it into the fenomenal version number CS2 9.0.1. :-)

The patch hasn't been posted on the main download page yet, but you can find links on this great Adobe blog:
John Nack on Adobe

Record JavaScript from Photoshop CS2

Here's a great tip for those of us who like to automate Photoshop:
Installing and using the ScriptingListener plug-in

I'd love to try it out for a project I'm currently working on where I need to cut up huge satellite images into 2.048 by 2.048 layer tiles in order for After Effects to be able to use the images in fly-bys.