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The User Group
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WOW... filters galore
But color correction and panoramas are just the gimmicks to hook the consumers.
There's a ton of other features in Elements that make it a truly well rounded program
-- for instance, the Layer Styles palette and Filters palette. Pull out the Filters
and you'll see more than 90 special effects that can be accomplished simply by dragging
the tile onto the image, or double-clicking. (Effects are affected by memory, so
you'll want to see the technical notes below.)
____ WOW! How
many times have you tested a filter in Photoshop just to try and remember what it
actually does? This is a super feature! Same goes for the Layers Styles palette.
You simply drag and drop the item you want into the image and it does shadows, pattern
fills, bevels, and dozens of others. If you want something really rude and garish,
you can mix and match the styles to the point of nausea! Hey, they're cumulative,
have a ball! (Below we illustrate the Filter Options. To view the Effects
in a new browser window, click here.)
For Web developers,
you can get rid of about a dozen other programs you've had to juggle in order
to get good, well-optimized gifs (particularly gifs with typography,) excellent photo
or photo-mechanical jpegs, typography with effects, gif animations, and even complete
drag-n-drop photo web galleries with literally no html required.
____ I absolutely
hate to say "no html", because invariably someone out there will believe
it and actually start doing it. What Adobe neglects to tell everyone is that yes,
your gallery will be created, however it will be very ugly, very boring and always
slow loading. I know, I tried it. I've never seen an automated web gallery that meets
the muster, even from Elements. The beauty here is that Adobe does the grunt work.
It builds the thumbnails, (doing somewhat of a decent job of optimization) hooks
up the links, and arranges the pages in a directory. You could, theoretically publish
it at that point. But you wouldn't want to. You'll want to go back in and do your
own captions, and give it your own visual look. So never believe anyone if they say
their software will automatically create beautiful web pages.
____ Two features
we've wanted for years are: text changes without dialog boxes, and ready-made/easy
to access art brushes. Add text, fonts and effects right on the image without having
to use the traditional cad-like dialogs. It's really sweet. Select from a variety
of brush strokes and shapes that not only simulate traditional media, but may be
combined for extra effect. You can access brush libraries from other programs or
generate your own brushes making them permanently available on the brushes palette!
Outstanding. To duplicate the same depth of these two features alone you would need
several software programs.
____ Photoshop
Elements seems to live up to all the hype. The Pictures package offers painless printing
options for single, multiple page formats, contact sheets, and near flawless color
management. It imports and exports a variety of file formats including PDF, and even
comes with a CD of stock images, tips and training materials It has a good manual
which provides the training you'll need without buying additional dummies, idiots
or classroom books. (It will be interesting to see if Adobe even comes out at all
with a Classroom book for Elements!)
____ You
beginners and intermediates out there: get Photoshop Elements to springboard into digital imaging painlessly.
A lot of the things you'll want to do can be accomplished in a click or two, and
you don't even have to touch the deeper tools if you don't want, or have the time
to. (And, you can forget all those times I advised you to get PhotoDeluxe.)
You old dogs, like me, who are finding it more and more difficult to learn all
the new tricks these days -- or who yearn to simplify rather than complicate your
life: get Photoshop Elements. You don't have to tell any one, and you can think of
it as Photoshop NOT on steroids. While all your most important
old friends are still there -- the tools, blending modes, layer effects, buttons,
bells and whistles -- the junk has been thrown away. Whew, thank goodness. You can
sigh a little relief and take it easy for a change, getting the job done with fewer
clicks and white hairs!
____ Will I be
using it, you ask?
____ Ahem... well,
uh, I'm not at liberty to disclose that information at this time. <wink>
Fred Showker
Editor/Publisher: DT&G Magazine
Contributing Editor: User Group Network News Service
Nitty Gritty Notes:
We ran Photoshop Elements splendidly on
Mac G3s running OS 8.6, and 9.1, from 260 to 333 mHz, 128 to 390 meg ram. It should
scream on the G4s with OS 9.1, or the new 9.4. My brother called last night to report
that once he got OS X off his new 500 mhz iBook, Elements runs like a charm. He loves
it. (He picked up Elements at Macworld last week -- and used to be a dyed-in-the-wool
GraphicsConverter and ColorIT user.)
During the panorama series, we did experience some lock-ups and #2 Errors running
on the 300 mHz G3 PowerBook running under battery power only -- which is what I used
to produce this article and its graphics. The series utilized 1024 x 768 shots directly
off a digital camera, so the slowed cycle rates are probably the reason for that.
If you plan on many panoramas, dedicate as much ram as you can to the program. My
virtual memory stays turned off -- Panoramas seem to be handled in ram until you
commit with the save command.
OS X folk will have to wait. It is not carbonized. Running in Classic mode simply
is not acceptable at all. (That's why my brother stripped OS X off the iBook!) You
may be in luck though. At the Adobe breakfast the Adobe guys said they couldn't give
out delivery dates, but then grinned a sly grin at the suggestion of the end of the
year.
Windows users should have a great time using Photoshop Elements with a Pentium level
processor and Windows 98 through 2000. NT users will require several service packs.
Although the box says 64 megs of ram 'required', we all know that's really just a
software industry joke on society. You'd better be running at least 128. You'll need
150 megs of hard drive storage for the full install, but I slid it in under 60 megs
leaving the stock photos off, but keeping the recipes and help files. Try that one
with Photoshop 6!
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