Jon Pepper
The top vendors of image-processing software are unleashing new versions of high-end programs that have plenty of power to alter images. Adobe plans to release new versions of Photoshop for Windows, NT, the Mac, and the Power Mac by the end of September; Micrografx planned to release a new version of its Picture Publisher image-editing program for Windows 3.1 and Windows NT this summer.
Adobe's ((415) 961-4400) Photoshop 3.0 ($895) maintains its extensive set of editing and retouching tools but adds mightily to its performance and productivity. The most significant update is support for multiple layers. With this feature, you can now edit an element of an image on separate layers, a process akin to the manual design method o
f working on individual sheets of acetate. The result is faster and easier editing: You can experiment with ideas, color changes, and techniques on discrete layers and see the results without affecting the original image. When all the image elements are arranged to your satisfaction, you can ``flatten'' the image when saving the data into a file so that the layer information is discarded.
Another welcome new feature is enhanced color correction, which includes the ability to selectively adjust ink amounts on individual color channels (or color plates), a new CMYK quick preview, and the ability to interactively saturate or desaturate colors with a new Sponge tool. Adobe has improved upon Photoshop 3.0's tweaks by adding customizable floating palettes, a new preview feature for filters, and a Commands palette for assigning one-button access to often-used commands or for creating custom palettes for different editing tasks.
Photoshop also has another feature that's sure to please its fans: It is si
gnificantly faster than the current version, both on the Power Mac and under Windows. The new Windows version supports multithreading under Windows NT, allowing it to support dual-processor PCs. On the Mac platform, the program is available in a completely native PowerPC version; Power Mac users will see an overall performance boost over Photoshop 2.5.1, which was written in 680x0 processor code but used a plug-in module written in code for the Power-PC that offered performance enhancements for certain operations.
If you want a powerful image-editing program but also want to spend a bit less money, consider Micrografx's ((214) 234-1769) forthcoming Picture Publisher 5.0 ($595). (The status of Aldus's PhotoStyler program for Windows [see ``PhotoStyler Fights Back,'' February BYTE] is unclear now that Aldus and Adobe have announced plans to merge.) Picture Publisher 4.0 already had layers available, but the new release adds several ease-of-use and productivity enhancements, including customizable toolbox
es and workspaces, new monitor and printer-calibration tools, and extensive use of Chicago-style tabbed dialog boxes.
To save time and system resources, Picture Publisher allows you to work on images in low resolution and then automatically apply the edits to the high-resolution version of the image. And for those who can't make up their minds, the program has an Infinite Undo feature that saves your command list and allows you to undo all or selected commands.
If you are budget-conscious and only want to do occasional editing, you can choose from several less-expensive tools in Windows, including Leadview 3.0 for Windows (Lead Technologies, (704) 549-5532), PhotoFinish 3.0 (Softkey International, (617) 494-1200), and PhotoPaint (Corel, (613) 728-8200).
Illustration: The new version of Picture Publisher's Clip Art Manager lets you drag and drop a clip-art image directly into another image.
Illustration: BYTE technical editor Tom Thompson made heavy use of Photosho
p 3.0's new layering capability in creating this image. The scanned image of the water tower was assigned as the image's background layer. Next, a scanned image of the moon was opened. The moon was isolated from the rest of the scan (using the Marquee tool configured to make a circular selection) and dropped into a second layer, which was named ``Moon.'' Text was added to a third layer, which was duplicated to make the drop-shadow text. The drop-shadow-text layer was edited with a blur filter and then applied as an overlay characteristic to the background image. A scanned image of autumn leaves was copied into the topmost layer, and the text layer's characteristics were modified to protect transparent areas.
Illustration: A prominent new feature in Photoshop is a palette that lets you manage the various layers in an image you're creating.
Photoshop and Picture Publisher Get a Face-Lift
