Review – Adobe is set to release the next generation of its professional image editing software and will release first details about the software today. TG Daily had the opportunity to play with the beta version of CS4, code-named Stonehenge, for several days and we have to admit that we are deeply impressed. It is the first commercial software we are aware of that leverages GPU acceleration, which dramatically improves the performance of certain components of the application. Features such as Camera Raw support and image blending were improved, 64-bit and 3D support added and components such as Bridge thoroughly reworked. Read our impressions of the CS4 beta for Windows here.




         
Introduction

I have been using Photoshop since version 2.0 and CS4, the 11th generation of the image editing software, will be the sixth version I am reviewing. With every new version, there is a clear anticipation of finding new features and determining the value for users. Over the past 15 years, Photoshop’s focus has changed and continues to depart from print-focused features (they are still there) to cater to the needs of an increasingly digital world, but it remained the application of choice for anyone who depends on image editing as a professional or enthusiast user.

Any such application faces an evolutionary challenge – what do you improve, add or change to create a reason for customers to upgrade? There were several releases of Photoshop that offered too little new value to justify the price for upgrade and Adobe occasionally had a tough time adjusting the software to emerging needs of graphic designers.

A few months ago, we had a tiny clash with Adobe when we reported that the software would be called CS4, that it would include GPGPU acceleration and that it would be announced in early October. Adobe reacted upset, which was surprising to us since the information was based on a press demonstration provided by the company, and I wasn’t particularly happy either that the company accused us of negligent reporting. That clash has been resolved and today we know that we were right on target on all three claims. Most importantly, the key feature we were excited about – GPGPU acceleration – in fact made it into the final. But let’s look at the user interface first.


Look & feel: A thorough overhaul

Adding new features always brings the challenge of re-organizing and updating the interface of the application to avoid increased complexity and avoid an application with overloaded menus. The GUI of Photoshop CS4 won’t win any beauty contests with its very simplistic and grey-themed layout that stands out from your average Windows Vista application. But it is much more lightweight than CS3 and improved in key areas. For example, multiple image files are now organized in tabs in the main window – much like you are using tabs in a web browser. It takes some time getting used to, but switching between full-size windows simply via tabs is a very effective addition and I don’t want to miss it anymore, even if Adobe could have gone all the way and included tab grouping for users who may open dozens of images at the same time.

Workspaces have been expanded with a few new options (you can create your own workspace as well) and include a “What’s new” option that makes it easy to find the new features you may not be familiar with. If you have used a recent version of Photoshop, you will feel right at home in a matter of a few hours, even without studying the help file. That may seem a lot, but let’s not forget that Photoshop is an extremely complicated software.



GP GPU acceleration only applies to certain components of CS4, but I noticed that CS4 loads about 20% faster on my Gateway GT5628 (Core 2 Quad Q6600, 3 GB memory, 1 TB HDD, Nvidia GeForce 8500GT) than CS3, which indicates that the program code has been overhauled. Some components, such as image blending, also worked noticeably faster.          

Read on the next page: Key features: GPU acceleration, Stack Blending, Content-Aware Scaling