Photoshop CS4 Feature Wrap-Up

As I’ve mentioned a few times, Adobe has officially announced the release of their new Creative Suite 4 which includes Photoshop CS4. I’m going to go through and point out some of the new features and include a number of video examples of a few of those new features.

Adobe Photoshop CS4

To get you started, here’s a brief video by Brian Hughes, the Photoshop Product Manager for Adobe. He’ll walk you through some of the new features of Bridge CS4 and Photoshop CS4.

Smoother panning and zooming and fluid canvas rotation

Photoshop CS4 uses acceleration in a Graphics Processor Unit (GPU) to greatly speed up zooming, panning, and rotation of images.

“Navigate to any area of an image with new, ultra-smooth zooming and panning. Maintain clarity as you zoom to individual pixels and easily edit at the highest magnification with the new Pixel Grid. And use the revolutionary new Rotate View tool to smoothly turn your canvas for distortion-free viewing at any angle.”

Adjustments Panel

This looks like a pretty cool addition. Basically a panel allow you to select adjustments that you would like to use on your photos by clicking a button and manipulating sliders. This creates adjustments layers on the fly for use later on.

“Simplify image adjustment by easily accessing every tool you need to nondestructively adjust and enhance the color and tone of your images; on-image controls and a wide variety of presets are also included in the new live and dynamic Adjustments panel.”

Masks Panel

I was hoping for this one the other day. It’s a panel that lets you edit the active mask with easy sliders and powerful options. It seems to integrate a number of the features from the “Refine Edge” dialog in CS3.

“Quickly create and edit masks from the new Masks panel. This panel offers all the tools you need to create editable pixel- and vector-based masks, adjust mask density and feathering, easily select noncontiguous objects, and more.”

Content-Aware Scaling

Now this is really cool!!! Super-smart math algorithms…who am I kidding?!!? Super-smart programmers who wrote super-smart math algorithms allow you to dynamically resize images (up or down) while keeping important content in the image intact.

“Use the new and revolutionary Content-Aware Scaling feature to automatically recompose an image as you resize it, smartly preserving vital areas as the image adapts to the new dimensions. Get the perfect image in one step without time-intensive cropping and retouching.”

It’s a bit hard to explain, so watch this video by Russel Brown (a.k.a.- “Dr. Brown”) for more info:

If you’re really curious about how content-aware resizing works in general, this YouTube video may interest you:

Auto-Blending of Images

This feature, along with the next two, basically improve the way that Photoshop deals with series of shots that have different tones, focal points, exposures, etc.

“Easily create a single image from a series of shots that have different focal points with the enhanced Auto-Blend Layers command, which smoothly blends color and shading and now extends your depth of field, automatically correcting vignettes and lens distortion.”

Auto-Alignment of Layers

“Create accurate composites with the enhanced Auto-Align Layers command. Move, rotate, or warp layers to align them more accurately than ever before. Or use spherical alignment to create breathtaking panoramas.”

Here’s a video by Russell Brown where he creates a spherical panorama:

Extended depth of field

“Combine a range of images, each with a different exposure, color, and focal point — with options to preserve tones and colors — into a single color-corrected image.”

Efficient File Management with Adobe Bridge CS4

There have been some cool changes in Bridge (highlighted in the first video of this post). Looks like Adobe’s also providing a faster start-up of files from Bridge into Photoshop. Cool.

“Get instant access to Adobe Bridge CS4 with faster start-up, use new workspaces to jump to the right display for every task, easily create web galleries and PDF contact sheets, and more.”

Better Raw Image Processing

Hopefully we’re all processing our raw files in Lightroom rather than straight into Photoshop through the Camera Raw dialog, but…

“Enjoy superior conversion quality as you process raw images with the industry-leading Adobe Photoshop Camera Raw 5 plug-in, which now offers localized corrections, post-crop vignetting, TIFF and JPEG processing, and support for more than 190 camera models.”

Industry-Leading Color Correction

Some changes to the Dodge and Burn Tools… Hopefully you’re not using these in Photoshop anyway…at least for their intended purpose.

“Enjoy dramatically enhanced color correction with reengineered Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools that now intelligently preserve color and tone details.”

More Powerful Printing Options

The out-of-gamut printing warning and 16-bit printing support (for Mac only…yet another reason to get a Mac) are definitely features of interest.

“Get outstanding prints with superior color management, tighter integration with leading printer models, and the ability to preview out-of-gamut image areas. Support for 16-bit printing on Mac OS offers increased color depth and clarity.”

File Display Options

We could definitely stand to have some fine-tuning in the file display interface. They also dropped back down to three screen modes (tap the “F” key) from the four in CS3.

“Easily work with multiple open files by using tabbed document display or n-up views.”

Create powerful images with the professional standard. Adobe® Photoshop® CS4

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended

Here, Product Manager Zorana Gee demonstrates some of the new features in Photoshop CS4 Extended. Photoshop CS4 Extended includes all of the features in Photoshop CS4 mentioned above, as well as some additional exciting features.

Revolutionaly 3D Painting and Compositing

This is where it’s headed people…3D and video. Like it or not. Photoshop CS4 Extended added some really cool 3D features, including the ability to clone or paint right onto the objects themselves.

“Now paint directly on 3D models, wrap 2D images around 3D shapes, convert gradient maps to 3D objects, add depth to layers and text, get print-quality output with the new ray-tracing rendering engine, and enjoy exporting to supported common 3D formats.”

3D Object and Property Editing

One of the neatest things about this feature that I’ve seen is the new lighting effects.

“Edit, enhance, and manipulate 3D images in a streamlined interface without dialog boxes. Adjust lighting, meshes, and materials. Easily orient objects and position the camera using 3D axes and a ground plane.”

In order to better demonstrate these new 3D features, here are three videos by Russell Brown:

Enhanced Motion Graphic Editing

More on video and motion. Wow.

“Edit motion graphics more efficiently with new single-key shortcuts, sync visual effects with specific points in an audio track using new audio syncing controls, and turn any 3D object into a video display zone.”

Integration with Other Adobe Software

“Be productive with enhanced integration between Photoshop Extended and other Adobe applications you depend on, including Adobe After Effects®, Adobe Premiere® Pro, and Adobe Flash Professional software.”

Discover new dimensions in digital imaging. Adobe® Photoshop® CS4 Extended

Other Adobe Creative Suite Applications

You may be interested in some of the other Creative Suite 4 applications announced recently. Here are some links:

• Adobe® Dreamweaver® CS4 – Design, develop, and maintain standards-based websites and applications.
• Adobe® Fireworks® CS4 – Rapidly prototype and design for the web.
• Adobe® Flash® CS4 Professional – Create and deliver rich interactive content.
• Adobe® Contribute® CS4 – Simplify web content management.
• Adobe® InDesign® CS4 – Design professional layouts for print and digital publishing.
• Adobe® Illustrator® CS4 – Explore new paths with the essential vector tool.
• Adobe® InCopy® CS4 – Collaborate in demanding editorial workflows.
• Adobe® Soundbooth® CS4 – Create and edit audio with ease.
• Adobe® After Effects® CS4 – Create motion graphics and visual effects with the industry standard.
• Adobe® Premiere® Pro CS4 – Capture, edit, and deliver video online, on air, on disc, or on device.
• Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 Master Collection – Design across media.
• Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 Web Standard – Streamline web design, development, and maintenance.
• Adobe® Creative Suite® 4 Design Premium – Deliver innovative ideas in print, web, and mobile design.

Filed Under: (02) Product Reviews

Tags: cs4 • photoshop • video