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Just returned from a trade show in NYC. Although the announcement wasn’t official, Photoshop 7 is slated for a May or June release. Spent some time in the developer’s kiosk area as well as some one-on-one with Adobe personnel. Lots of tips and insight gained on not only Illustrator and Photoshop, but Acrobat , InDesign, and GoLive as well. If you haven’t invested the time in understanding about .pdf, you may want to do so. If I understood the information correctly, Illustrator 10 native format is actually .pdf based and that trend is going to continue with most other apps in the future. ( I think this is a good thing but still don’t understand it enough to say it with conviction)
I didn’t speak at length with anyone from Corel, but was told that version 11 would probably be released just before the new year. I think RAVE will still be part of the suite, but nothing was concrete. Didn’t ask if Doug Downey’s “pow-wow” had any influence as to what will be available in 11 or if any other sign shop request will be included. Don’t know if I caught them at a bad time or what, but the information wasn’t flowing like it has in the past.
One of the developers in Adobe’s booth was Celartem Technology, makers of VFZoom. This product was mentioned in a thread titled Altamira Genuine Fractals?. Neat product! I even received an email from their Seattle sales manager providing information as a result of that thread. (I can forward this information if interested, just email me) The product looks solid and well worth some time for investigation. Booth staff was friendly and answered what questions I had.
I didn’t tell anyone inside their booth, but one problem I see with this software, and other packages as well, is the cost. For the power and labor saving techniques these packages are offering, the cost is extremely low, IMHO. Price points being what they are allow just about anyone to get this software and help “muddy” the waters for everyone. I’d much rather see higher prices and a lower volume of users on certain software offerings. (i.e. Sign specific programs Omega/Sign Lab as opposed to Draw/Illustrator) Pricing that keeps most “hobbyist” at bay but invites serious users would also probably lesson the support burden on a company as well. But that’s a topic for another days worth of discussion.
-------------------- Bob Gilliland InKnowVative Communications Harrisburg PA, USA
"The U.S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself." Benjamin Franklin Posts: 642 | From: Harrisburg, PA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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You can go to the Celartem website and download a demo of VFZoom. Take a small bitmap of a face, zoom it up 1200 percent in both Photoshop and VFZoom and compare the eyes side by side. VFZoom is the superior product for enlargements.
If you need to enlarge bitmaps for printing you will want to look at this product.
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I didn't see anything significant at Adobe's site as far as improvements. Mostly the typical web enhancements all the others seem to be adding. What is everybody's take on the difference between Corel Photopaint and Adobe? It seems that everything that can be accomplished in one can be done in the other. Corel is a great buy.
Check our www.mediachance.com Real Draw and Photobrush are a couple of nice programs with excellent effects, and cheap too. Free thumbnail picture maker is available there too.
-------------------- Wright Signs Wyandotte, Michigan Posts: 2789 | From: Wyandotte, MI USA | Registered: Jan 1999
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Reading about the new features just don’t offer the same punch as actually interfacing with the program. It is rather impressive! There are plenty of reasons to upgrade to 7, IMHO, and the price is ridiculously low for what it offers to an educated user base. (Hope to be in that group someday)
Just some of the things I took note of… new paint engine, spell checker, dithered transparency, password secured .pdf based files, healing brush, brush size limit increased to 2500 pixels, file browser and XMP support (metadata), enhanced liquefy tool, tool presets palette, patch tool, re-worked layers palette (IMHO, much better), ability to replace color with transparency, support for managed workgroup functionality, savable workspaces, patch tool, enhanced slice and slice select tool, flow control on the airbrush tool, and I think a lower upgrade cost. Since the show I’ve been informed that an April 1st time frame is very possible, not the May/June as indicated above.
I’m not a power user by any stretch, but once you get away from “standard” tools and work flow procedures, I believe there are significant differences between PS and PP. For the every day - run of the mill - minor corrections and manipulation type stuff, there really isn’t that much of a difference; and most plugins work with either package. Start doing “advanced” work, in a corporate environment, for long durations; the differences start to become evident quickly. Inter-product support on Adobe’s side is really becoming quite impressive as well. Certain items within a Photoshop file can be manipulated from within Illustrator, GoLive, InDesign, Acrobat, etc., or vice a versa, all without having to launch the original program for modifying. Managed Productive Workflow, YES!!
-------------------- Bob Gilliland InKnowVative Communications Harrisburg PA, USA
"The U.S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself." Benjamin Franklin Posts: 642 | From: Harrisburg, PA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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(I can forward this information if interested, just email me) The product looks solid and well worth some time for investigation. Booth staff was friendly and answered what questions I had.
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