Description:
With each new release of Photoshop, Adobe manages both to satisfy the expectations of existing users and to pull a few magic features out of its hat. Version 6 is no exception. Powerful vector editing and masking, improved layer controls, layer styles, incredible typographic control, new Web publishing tools, and a cleaner, more accessible interface are already making version 5.5, itself a groundbreaker, look like ancient history. 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. 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
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