Adobe Photoshop CS3: New Features

I pretty much grew up on Photoshop and have been using ever since version 2.5. It amazing to see it grow over the years. I just attended a demo of Photoshop CS3 (Photoshop 10) at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store and wanted to share my notes.

Key Features

Native Intel: This is the first version of Photoshop that runs natively on the Intel Macs, which means there won’t be a performance lag for the new Macs. And there will be a noticeable boost when run on the upcoming Leopard OS.

Increased Desktop Space: Many of the toolbars and palettes were reorganized to maximize the workspace. The 2-column toolbar that we’re all used to could be toggled into a 1-column bar.

Built-in ImageReady: Isn’t it about time they did this? The ImageReady features are now built into Photoshop, so there’s no need to run 2 programs that look almost exactly the same!

Video Support: Videos can be opened and edited in Photoshop CS3. It’s not powerful, but definitely breaks the tradition!

Intelligent Tools

Auto-align Photos: When placed in layers, similar photos can be automatically aligned in one step with a fair amount of accuracy. The demo last night was done with two photos shot right in the store without a tripod.

Quick Selection: This tool does a pretty good job of distinguishing different objects in a photo (ex: person & background). The user just loosely draws and an object in the photo and the selection expands little by little. It’s similar to the magnetic lasso we use now, but more accurate.

Refine Edges: This option offers different settings for placing a cut-out selection on top of different backgrounds. So there’s a setting for placing on white and for placing on black that will get rid of the halo that sometimes occurs.

Smart Filters: This is a non-destructive way of applying filters and settings can be adjusted after the filter is applied. This cuts a step out because the user no longer had to keep undoing to try out different settings.

Improved Vanishing Pt: Vanishing Point made its debut in CS2, but actually detects the perspective grid of the object that’s being mapped in CS3.