Photoshop 5.5: ImageReady adds Web Power

Photoshop 5.5 box shotProduct: Photoshop 5.5

From:  Adobe, www.adobe.com

For: PowerMac (A Windows 9x/NT version is also available)

Price: US$995, with an estimated street price of between C$900 and C$1000. Discounted upgrades from previous versions available. Contact Adobe for details.

Pros: Improved clone function, new object-outlining and "history" tools. Bundled ImageReady program adds value.

Cons: ImageReady not integrated into Photoshop, nor is 5.5 available without it.

Overview

Don't let them fool you. Low-end graphics editors such as Corel's Photo Paint for Mac, Adobe's own PhotoDeluxe or the free GIMP graphics image processor for Linux are decent programs and often excellent values for the money, but they don't hold a candle to Photoshop. Photoshop is both easy to learn and unbelievably powerful. It's what many call a "killer app" -- a program so good, that people buy computers just to run it.

There is also a Limited Edition ("LE") version of Photoshop that suffers from a number of notable limitations. It lacks support for CMYK graphics mode, making it unsuitable for the preparation of graphics for offset printing. It also lacks a number of the advanced special effects plug-in filters found in the full versions. But perhaps most importantly, it lacks the unlimited undo feature that Adobe finally added to Photoshop in version 5.0.

ImageReady

The biggest change in Photoshop 5.5 is the inclusion of ImageReady, a slick tool, previously available separately, that is primarily intended for the preparation of web graphics. ImageReady has sophisticated tools for reducing the number of colors or dithering effects in a GIF, JPEG or PNG image, showing you exactly what the effects of GIF or JPEG compression will have on your file. It's a bit of a one-trick pony, but it works extremely well. It also supports animated GIFs and allows animated images to be assembled, cropped and otherwise manipulated. However, there are changes to Photoshop itself, too.

Improved Cloning Tool

Photoshop 5.5 dramatically improves the "rubber stamp" cloning tool functionality, to a point where it's a safe bet no one would prefer it the way it was implemented on recent releases. Previously, it would clone whatever was on the screen underneath the cloning tool. Thus, if this area was in the middle of a cloning operation, the rubber stamp would pick up a clone of a clone of a...mess. This is fixed.

Photoshop & SMP

Adobe says running Adobe Photoshop 5.5 under Windows NT with dual processors can improve by 80% the program's performance on mathematical or computational-intensive operations (such as converting a document from RGB mode to CMYK); by 20% to 30% for less intensive operations; and by 10% for screen redrawing. Apple's MacOS does not currently support SMP; however, it is reasonable to assume that multi-CPU Mac systems running Mac OS X or its successors will derive similar benefits.

Adobe has also optimized Photoshop, via a plug-in for Apple's new G4 computers, for the newest Motorola MPC7400 processor.

For Further Reading:

• Mac Buyer's Guide: a preview of Photoshop 6
• AppleInsider: An Exclusive Inside Look at ImageReady 3.0
• MacUser: Leaked document reveals details of Photoshop 6.0
• Adobe Photoshop 5.0
• Adobe_Photoshop_2.5
• Adobe Photoshop 3.0
• Real World Photoshop 3
• Photoshop 4.0
• Adobe InDesign - an exclusive hands-on review of Adobe's latest DTP and graphics powerhouse.
• Graphics Tools - The Sequel
• Why I dumped Photoshop for Corel Photo-Paint..and Then Switched Back

Tutorials (external links):

• Graeme Bennett's Introduction to Photoshop (also available in PDF format, suitable for printing)
• Getting started, making selections: http://brillig.nebrwesleyan.edu/~glarose/classes/html/photoshop.html
• Cloning tips: http://ise.uoregon.edu/photoshop_demo/Photoshop.html
• Retouching photos; fixes for Moire: http://abgnet.com/abg/tips/retouch.htm
• Color Body: Color Relationships in the Light Spectrum, added March 2, 2000.
• Recommended reading: "Photoshop and the Web: Improving Photos For The Web" at MacReviewZone

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