Photoshop CS6 Beta Available for Download

Richard · March 22, 2012

Teaser video here: http://www.youtube.com/photoshop

Download it here: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/photoshopcs6/

Enough said.

Dan7312 · March 22, 2012

PS6 in beta
PS6 is available as a beta now and a lot of info about its new features is available

http://www.deke.com/content/photoshop-cs6-enters-a-several-week-period-free-public-beta

http://www.photoshopuser.com/cs6

Mod note: Post merged into already existing thread on the topic.

novicesnapper · March 22, 2012

Introducing Photoshop CS6 beta download now available
I just received this via email and didn't see it posted yet for those that want to try it.
Introducing Photoshop CS6 beta
Discover the latest breakthroughs in imaging magic, editing speed, and creative abilities that will soon be available in Adobe Photoshop CS6 software. Download the Photoshop CS6 beta and see for yourself how the world's best digital image editing software is about to get even better.
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/photoshopcs6/

RevLinePhoto · March 22, 2012

downloading my self cant wait.

Richard · March 23, 2012

So has anyone tried it yet?

MarkR · March 23, 2012

Played with it briefly. The new content-aware stuff is nice-- the patch tool now works the way I've always thought it should have worked. The "new" database driven auto-levels and auto-curves are overhyped. And somehow I'm having a hard time getting as enthusiastic about this release as previous ones.

Maybe because with LR4 I have even less reason than before to move to Photoshop?

Richard · March 23, 2012

MarkR wrote: »

Maybe because with LR4 I have even less reason than before to move to Photoshop?

From the demos, it looks like the most important stuff for me would be in the ACR improvements, which are included in LR4.

Dan7312 · March 23, 2012

I haven't used it yet but I've gone through some of the tuts... I just don't want to do a download and change while I'm in the middle of a project. I mostly use PS to do technical illustrations for the video courses I make. Making the shape layers more like Illustrator, for example changing the properties of shapes after the fact, is a big plus for me. It even does real dashed lines now! It looks like PS is now pretty much a full fledged vector drawing tool on par with Illustrator.

MarkR wrote: »

Played with it briefly. The new content-aware stuff is nice-- the patch tool now works the way I've always thought it should have worked. The "new" database driven auto-levels and auto-curves are overhyped. And somehow I'm having a hard time getting as enthusiastic about this release as previous ones.

Maybe because with LR4 I have even less reason than before to move to Photoshop?

Dan7312 · March 23, 2012

Deke's example (http://www.lynda.com/Photoshop-tutorials/Photoshop-CS6-Beta-Preview/97406-2.html) of greatly reduced artifacts in ACR7 is pretty impressive. But, of course, this is the same ACR that's in LR4.

Richard wrote: »

From the demos, it looks like the most important stuff for me would be in the ACR improvements, which are included in LR4.

SteveF · March 23, 2012

Hi,

Just finished playing around with the Iris Blur filter. Boy - this is such an easy way to draw focus in an image. Very cool.

Haven't done much else yet but looking forward to it.

arodney · March 23, 2012

Richard wrote: »

From the demos, it looks like the most important stuff for me would be in the ACR improvements, which are included in LR4.

Well for photographers I think that is correct. If you are a LR user, not much here to really make you super excited. I like the new Print dialog but then I print from LR.

Over on Luminous Landscape, I’m surprised it is hardly discussed. LR probably gets 100X more attention so I suspect that Photoshop is becoming less and less relevant for the photo crowd.

DavidTO · March 23, 2012

arodney wrote: »

I suspect that Photoshop is becoming less and less relevant for the photo crowd.

I'm sure it is as LR adds to its arsenal. Unfortunately, PS is still necessary for some shots, and for me it's totally backwards, investment-wise. I use LR for 98% of my work, yet it's just a fraction of the cost of PS. I look forward to the day that I don't have to maintain both. Having said that, I doubt I'll be upgrading to CS6. PS already does what I need.

Dan7312 · March 23, 2012

With the new video additions in PS6 it looks like Photoshop is also creeping into Premiere Elements for making quick, stitch together videos too.

Photoshop is used for a lot of non-photography things though. Is there any public info about the percentage that PS is used for illustration, application UI mockups and such, vs. strictly photo image processing? Maybe that's the direction Adobe is taking PS???

DavidTO wrote: »

I'm sure it is as LR adds to its arsenal. Unfortunately, PS is still necessary for some shots, and for me it's totally backwards, investment-wise. I use LR for 98% of my work, yet it's just a fraction of the cost of PS. I look forward to the day that I don't have to maintain both. Having said that, I doubt I'll be upgrading to CS6. PS already does what I need.

divamum · March 23, 2012

Unless LR is adding layers, and significant retouching features (eg various blurs etc), I can't imagine not having PS at my disposal. I'm still using CS3, which is fine given I do 80% of my editing in Lightroom, but I suspect the time to upgrade will be soon. Was toying with downloading the beta, but just not sure I want to deal with crashes etc, plus with a 4yo system I'm not sure I want to find out the hard way just how underpowered I'm going to be with the next upgrade.

However, the content aware stuff intrigues me and could be VERY helpful; frankly, detailed cloning is the other reason I go from LR to PS, so if it can do the job better... it will be a big bonus.

The other thing, of course, is how much this beast is going to cost. I can get an educator's discount and should only need an "upgrade" from CS3 (if that's offered), but even so, isn't it usually $300 or so? Ouch.

Nikolai · March 23, 2012

PS CS6 has some really nice features, both in ACR7 module and in PS itself.

ACR7 has considerably improved the usability and consistency. The new sliders are all 0 based, with +/- adjustments. The structure of the general tab changed slightly, making the operations more fine-tuned and, IMHO, easier to use (although, if you have a strong muscle memory you might get consfused at first since some of the old sliders are gone and are replaced by the new ones).
Its lens/camera correction module is wonderful. At some point I plugged in an old picture of Green River valley from one of SM shootouts which was taken with 40D/10-22 and featured a slightly curved horizon. ACR 7 made it a straight line in an instant.

In PS itself the changes are far more numerous...
To begin with, you can finally have it in Dark UI, thus diminishing the need for the "F"/Tab game.
A lot of tools got power cursors, displaying the pertinent info right next to the mouse pointer.
The new crop tool (very much like LR) finally can lock the ratio without changing the resolution.
The content aware patch can be helpful in some situations, albeit defintely not always, in my experience.
New Tilt-Shift effect makes working with perspective adjustment an easy task.
New Iris and Field blur can help to create LensBaby and shallow DOF effects in a snap
New Lighting filter can be used for many desired effects, from basic vignetting to simlating stage lighting.
There are a lot of improvements in 3D/Video (PS Extended) sections.
I'd also say it feels more snappy than 5.x, but on my Cobra pretty much everything is snappy.

I'm sure there will be a whole bunch of articles and tutorials about this Adobe new flagship product. As far as for me - I like it a lot!

arodney · March 23, 2012

divamum wrote: »

Unless LR is adding layers, and significant retouching features (eg various blurs etc), I can't imagine not having PS at my disposal. I'm still using CS3, which is fine given I do 80% of my editing in Lightroom

Exactly. I’m not suggesting any of us can live without Photoshop. There is fine pixel editing and layer work necessary after rendering the raw data from LR. But upgrade?

In terms of moving past CS3, well I’ll say the newer content aware functionality that appeared in CS4 or CS5 may be worth the upgrade if you need to do this kind of work. But what else?

Richard · March 23, 2012

arodney wrote: »

In terms of moving past CS3, well I’ll say the newer content aware functionality that appeared in CS4 or CS5 may be worth the upgrade if you need to do this kind of work. But what else?

The mask panel is a big time saver for me and there was no easy way previously to adjust mask density. I think that was introduced in CS4. And yeah, the content-aware stuff is useful, but the big changes have all been in ACR.

arodney · March 23, 2012

Richard wrote: »

but the big changes have all been in ACR.

Which for an LR user isn’t a factor. It would be if you wanted to use Smart Objects or when using LR, ask it to Edit in Photoshop (which uses ACR). That is kind of nice, but you could just export the image, then open in an older version of Photoshop.

For seamless integration of LR and Photoshop, you have to keep the two in parity and thus upgrade.

Adobe should offer LR users who are also Photoshop users a ‘special’ upgrade price!

MarkR · March 23, 2012

Thinking about my workflow, most of my forays into PS tend to be for very specific filters: Nik, Topaz, that sort of thing. Otherwise I'm using the built in filters for repairing old prints/slides/negatives. With the exception of Content-Aware, most of those filters haven't changed since PS CS or earlier!

I will reiterate that the CA-patch tool is pretty awesome. I remember using patch tool in previous versions-- everything looked great until you let go of the mouse. :lol

pathfinder · March 23, 2012

I haven't tried CS6 beta yet, and I will probably not until is is a final release. I just don't like dealing with betas that well.

I do find I can do most of everything I need with LR4 and CS4 or CS5. But I will upgrade to CS6 when it is finalized.

I have been a bit slow developing affection for the new rendering sliders in LR4 ( since I was so comfortable in LR3 ), but I do find the new RAW engine in LR4 works REALLY nicely with scans of slides. It is able to correct blown highlights, and open Kodachrome shadows much, much better and more easily than I could ever do in Photoshop.

I think the new Raw engine in LR4/ACR 7 is a great step forward in image quality.

Icebear · March 25, 2012

divamum wrote: »

The other thing, of course, is how much this beast is going to cost. I can get an educator's discount and should only need an "upgrade" from CS3 (if that's offered), but even so, isn't it usually $300 or so? Ouch.

Diva, you may want to think very quickly about upgrading to CS5. I don't know Adobe will let you upgrade from CS3 to CS6. You may find yourself faced with a full price upgrade (well, full ''educators" price anyway.) You owe it to yourself to check on that!

kdog · March 25, 2012

arodney wrote: »

Adobe should offer LR users who are also Photoshop users a ‘special’ upgrade price!

That would be nice. You have friends at Adobe, don't you?

Manfr3d · March 28, 2012

So after reading about what's new in CS6, who is planning to upgrade from CS5 to CS6? Right now there are losts of cheap CS5 and 5.5 Suites to be had, which include a free upgrade to CS6.

Dan7312 · March 28, 2012

I am, but because of it's drawing features not it image features, but I'll use those too. It looks like PS will be pretty close to Illustrator now, for the kinds of stuff I do.

Manfr3d wrote: »

So after reading about what's new in CS6, who is planning to upgrade from CS5 to CS6? Right now there are losts of cheap CS5 and 5.5 Suites to be had, which include a free upgrade to CS6.

Photoshop CS6 Beta Available for Download

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