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AndrewKulin

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CS6 question
« on: May 13, 2012, 03:17:38 pm »

Other than the future upgrade path cost implications for later versions of PS (if I don't upgarde to CS6) are there any compelling reasons to upgrade to CS6 from CS5.1?  I currently run LR3.6 with PS CS5.1 though I have purchased the upgrade to LR 4 so eventually will be running LR4.  Newest camera is a 7D so am covered with ACR 6.7.
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john beardsworth

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2012, 03:40:07 pm »

To be honest, it's the kind of question one can only answer by finding out more about the kinds of things you do with Photoshop. For example, let's say you use a lot of layers - there's a must have feature there. Or let's say you do a lot of cloning away of wires and other junk - they've taken the content aware stuff into more areas. Do you do painting or non-photographic things in Photoshop - one or two things there too. Do you open raw files in Photoshop as smart objects? And so on.

Any one new feature might be a totally-compelling reason for you, for all we know of your needs. For example, a friend upgraded to CS5 purely because he saw Content Aware Scale and has a specific use for it. So why don't you take a good look through CS6's new features and see which appeal to you, or say much more about your needs.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2012, 03:42:53 pm by johnbeardy »
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2012, 05:52:54 pm »

Still early to tell, but:

- The GPU acceleration in CS6 seems to have solved the display sharpness problem in CS5/CS5.1, which results in a much snappier level of responsiveness,
- On OSX, the dark grey background is a welcome enhancement,
- Bridge feels faster on a NAS.

Cheers,
Bernard

Josh-H

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2012, 07:07:11 pm »

One very compelling reason for me to upgrade to CS6 was background saving. Im often working with huge  2gig+ files and it used to be 'go make a coffee' (even on my 8 core xeon 32 gig ram mac pro) while the file saved; where as now its done in the background - nice.

The new UI is greatly improved and far better to work in.

I also like the content aware patch tool and the improved quick selection tool.

There are lots of small improvements in CS6 and without sounding like a commercial for the product I found it a significant and worthwhile upgrade.
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Pete_G

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2012, 07:52:59 pm »

I don't see a single compelling reason to upgrade, but I'm pleased that I did. The UI enhancements and
the Mercury Engine stuff just makes it a smoother and more comfortable experience, and as others have said
there are lots of little things that just work a bit better, the patch tool, the crop tool etc etc...
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2012, 07:13:25 pm »

The background save capability is indeed a godsend!

Cheers,
Bernard

AndrewKulin

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2012, 08:28:08 pm »

Thanks for the personal impressions regarding the improvements to the program.  I was looking for real user experience with CS6 rather than relying simply on Adobe's marketing department-speak on the virtues of the product.  I guess my view was tainted by the glories of content aware fill as seen in the demonstration videos of CS5 when it was released versus the less than stellar results I obtained when trying it out myself.

A number of you have mentioned the real improvement you have see in speed and background saving, and that is reason enough for me to upgrade sooner than later.

Thanks
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pfigen

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #7 on: May 18, 2012, 12:20:21 am »

I've only been using CS6 for three days now and so far they three things that make it worthwhile for me are the new feathering limit on selections, up to 1000 pixels from 250, the gigantic 15,000 pixel brush in Liquefy, and the doubling of brush sizes to 5000 pixels. The new interface is a big step backward being less legible than the previous version, but wtf do I know. I don't care about background saves. In fact, there are often times when I would NOT want something saved automatically. The new filters may or may not prove useful. Too soon to tell, but the crop tool is a complete mess. Too often with Adobe (and many other companies) there is change for the sake of change without a lot of thought to why changes are being made, and while I'm sure they will claim they put a lot of thought into these changes, I'm not that impressed. So for me, it's a mixed bag, some positive, some negative but nothing completely overwhelming at this point.
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BernardLanguillier

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #8 on: May 18, 2012, 01:35:22 am »

I don't care about background saves. In fact, there are often times when I would NOT want something saved automatically.

Background save is not about automatic saves, it is about remaining able to work while data is being saved.

For those working with large files, this is really helpful.

Cheers,
Bernard

stamper

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #9 on: May 18, 2012, 04:14:06 am »

I tried to install the trial of CS6 but the installer kept hanging. Spent a couple of days trying to solve the issue. I ran the cleaner tool which removed some of my CS5 components. Decided to use my Macrium restore to restore an image of my C drive which caused a partition on my C drive - not the one the operating system was in - to lose almost 150 GB of images. I then spent £45 for a data recovery tool to recover the images. I won't be trying again to install it. :-[ :'(

Pete_G

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #10 on: May 18, 2012, 07:47:23 am »

Well I don't know why the installer failed but surely you can't blame the loss of your other partition on Adobe.
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stamper

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #11 on: May 18, 2012, 10:18:53 am »

It started a chain reaction. The installer problem isn't mine alone and there are plenty of complaints in their forum. As to their cleaner tool, then it is a problem if it turns out that CS.5 and CS6 share the same folder on your computer and it cuts a swathe through both programs. When you try to uninstall a partial install of CS6 and it wants to uninstall bits of CS.5 then you don't go ahead...do you? A mine field to say the least. :'(

Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2012, 12:48:13 pm »

Still early to tell, but:

- The GPU acceleration in CS6 seems to have solved the display sharpness problem in CS5/CS5.1, which results in a much snappier level of responsiveness,

Hi Bernard,

This would be great news for me, if this also solves the blurry images in review mode in the bridge of CS5, as well as the blurry full screen view mode in PS - please tell me it does!

I am currently having to work around bridge's limitations by sitting back away from the screen and sort of squint at the blurry review images. Then in PS having worked on an image, I have found if you tap F to the black screen and tab to remove the toolbars etc, then Ctrl+0 to get the maximum (blurry) view and then use Ctrl+minus to take the view back down one, you can actually get a crisp view of your image albeit not in full screen and which definitely seems to be much worse for verticals than horizontals.

I will upgrade anyway, as I intend to keep up with the upgrades, but can anyone tell me why adobe converts USDs straight into GBPs when the exchange rate is $1.55 = £1.00? I know it has been said there are extras costs due to language conversion, but there is no language conversion differences from the US to UK version that I can see.

Dave
« Last Edit: June 14, 2012, 01:52:09 pm by Dave (Isle of Skye) »
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kaelaria

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2012, 03:12:19 pm »

Along with many of the small things mentioned above, what I'm most happy with is them fixing the bug where for certain things such as liquify, photomerge etc. - seems to the the third party stuff they incorporate - 5.x would ignore the swap file settings in the program and simply use the 'largest drive' the OS sees - which is my big DROBO.  Needless to say PS using my DROBO over a USB connection was murder sometimes writing and reading temp files out.  I had to keep remembering to unplug the DROBO when doing lots of that kind of work so PS wouldn't keep stopping for seconds at a time for nothing.
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Lightsmith

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Re: CS6 question
« Reply #14 on: June 22, 2012, 04:15:59 am »

Background save is not about automatic saves, it is about remaining able to work while data is being saved.

For those working with large files, this is really helpful.

Cheers,
Bernard


I have to wonder what people are saving their files to and over what type of connection for this to be a problem. I use two mirrored drives in my Mac for working data so nothing is lost if one drive dies. File saves to these eSATA drives is very quick. At the end of the week I will move the data over a 1GB Ethernet link to a NAS RAID box but I would not do that with files I am working on as it would be very slow.

Adobe has always let people skip one or two versions for upgrades of its products whether it is Photoshop, InDesign, AI, or other apps. I could go from CS3 to CS5 for the same price as going from CS4 to CS5 with any of my Adobe apps.

The benefits of going to the current version of Lightroom does seem worthwhile but there is nothing I have come across with regard to CS6 that compels me to spend the money or the time with the learning curve for this new version. To a large degree with the D800E I expect to be spending a much greater percentage of my time working with Capture NX2.
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