Photoshop CS2 - A Quick Look at New Features

A glance at Photoshop CS2’s new goodies

Adobe’s release of Creative Suite 2 sparkled a lot of interest, but also a lot of questions, due to its close release to it predecessor — Adobe Creative Suite. Many designers have probably asked themselves this very legitimate question: “Is this upgrade worth its money?” This article by guest writer Katherine Huck will take you through some of the new features of Photoshop CS, one of the programs part of Adobe’s Creative Suite 2.

Smart Objects

With Smart Objects you can stop worrying about losing quality in your images if you have to resize them. When a file is placed in Photoshop, it is linked to the original object so Photoshop can use the data from the original file to keep objects looking pristine.

A Smart Object Layer (enlarged version)

Even cooler than that is the fact that you can open the original object in its native application, i.e. Illustrator, by double clicking on the Smart Object icon in the layers palette, make changes to the original file, save the changes, et voila, the changes are reflected in your Photoshop document. And, if this isn’t enough, now you can duplicate the Smart Object layer so that when you edit the original layer, the duplicated layer reflects those changes.

Layers Palette

This has to be my very favorite improvement to be found in CS2. Although it’s not a huge change, linking and unlinking layers has been made even easier. Now you can shift-click layers to link them together temporarily, or you can choose to click on the link icon at the bottom of the layers palette to link them together with more permanency. Either way, unlinking has been made easier as well. If you’ve shift-clicked, just click on the layer you want to move or edit. If you’ve linked them together using the icon, you can just control-click on the link icon and all the layers linked to the one you’re on are unlinked at one time.

The only thing that I was a bit disappointed with was with the change to the way layer styles are copied. In past versions, you could easily copy layer effects from one layer to another by simply dragging. However, in CS2, you have to add in the Alt (Option) key to accomplish the same thing. Not a big thing, but a bit of a change.

The Layers palette
(enlarged version)

Adobe Bridge

The Bridge initially appears to be the File Browser on steroids…but in reality is a separate application that gives you access to all of your images. Yes, all of them. Video, illustrations, photos, PDFs. And, now the Bridge is available from all Adobe programs, not just Photoshop. Some of the improvements include better search functions, a customizable thumbnail size, new rating scheme, file colour coding, better Batch renaming, and more Metadata options.

My only beef with The Bridge is that it seems to take forever to open…much slower than the File Browser. But, this is a case of “give a little, get a lot”.

Adobe Bridge
(enlarged version)

New Filters

Smart Sharpen
You can now control highlight and shadow sharpening separately. The large preview, and additional controls let you avoid the nasties that occurred when using the Unsharp Mask.

Vanishing Point
It lets you edit, clone, and retouch images in perfect perspective. In comparison to the “old” way of using Perspective, the Vanishing Point filter is faster, more accurate, and just plain simpler.

(Enlarged version)

Image Warping
For anyone who’s ever wished that image warping could be as simple as text warping, well, your wish has come true in CS2. Not only can you warp an image using the predefined shapes such as arc and fisheye, but you can apply and edit a custom warp as well.

(Enlarged version)

A few other goodies

1. Now you can adjust layer opacity and Blend Modes while you are using the Free Transform function. Finally.
2. Try this: Window, Arrange, Tile Vertically. Pretty nice eh?
3. The font menu now has previews of the font face. Now if Adobe will add in the ability to navigate the font menu by typing a letter the font menu will be perfect.

© Copyright 2005 Katherine Huck.

Katherine Huck is the owner of Keystone Consulting. Established in 1998, Keyston Consulting exemplifies professionalism enhanced by creativity and whimsy. Katherine’s impressive hands-on experience as a marketing agent and designer includes: visual and performance arts, education, underground technology, transportation and heavy equipment, communications, and computer solutions. Her extensive copy writing experience is reflected in weekly contributions to The Sudbury Star’s business and arts sections. Visit her website: http://www.keystoneconsulting.on.ca