Deke McClelland's Photoshop Beta Preview

By now you've heard, Adobe has announced that a public beta version of Photoshop CS3, will be made available starting tomorrow to anyone with a valid CS2 serial number. This unprecedented release gives users (especially Intel-Mac users who will get to benefit from the Universal Binary-ness of CS3) a chance to see what's in store for Photoshop before the official release sometime next Spring. So what's interesting about the next version of Adobe's image editing tool? I figure the quickest way to get up to speed is to ask Deke McClelland, our own resident Photoshop expert and author of the Adobe Photoshop One-on-One books. Deke has been working with online training site lynda.com to release a preview video on the new Photoshop features, which as of early tomorrow PST you'll be able to check out for yourself. Here are some highlights from Deke:

• A reconfigured workspace with a whole new docking mechanism. While Deke admits it takes a bit of getting used to, he's convinced most will agree that it's ultimately better than it used to be.

• One of the much-maligned features of Photoshop, the Brightness/Contrast tool, now works amazingly well. Deke's video even shows you a comparision of how it used to work and how it works now. Per Deke, "It still has the same two sliders, but it used to suck and now it's awesome."

• Smart Filters can be applied to Smart Objects with the result being nondestructive application of Photoshop filters. You can turn the filter effects on and off and modify settings in the Layers palette like you would an adjustment layer.

• Vanishing Point 2.0, the feature that began in CS2 that allows you to manipulate the perspective of images, now allows you to "swing" formerly perpendicular planes to different angles. In the video, Deke demo's this feature by wrapping an image around a DVD box of his popular Photoshop CS2 Channels and Masks video.

• Bridge (a beta version of which you'll also get with the Adobe download) now offers a Loupe feature (which some of you may be familiar with from certain other applications) which allows you zoom in at high magnification to make focus and sharpness evaluations directly from the Bridge Preview window.

You can discover that and much more in Deke's video, Photoshop CS3 Beta One-on-One Preview, which describes these features and many others in detail. For a limited time, the video can be accessed for free on lynda.com.

It's fun listen to Deke, a seasoned Photoshop veteran and author of more than 20 books on the program, wax enthusiastic about the new CS3 features. You'll be able to get more of Deke's popular, accessible brand of One-on-One training in full length video form from lynda.com as well as in his book, Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-on-One, coming from O'Reilly this spring.