Adobe Photoshop CS4 means superior results faster, with new features and enhancements that help you create and manage your images more easily and efficiently. The indispensable new and improved features help graphic web designers, photographers, and video professionals create the highest quality images, with the control, flexibility, and capabilities that you expect from the professional standard in desktop digital imaging. Adobe Photoshop comes in two editions: Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended. The new features list are organized by edition.
If you’re already familiar with Photoshop CS3, you can access and download all the tasks in this book with Adobe Photoshop CS4 New Features to help make your transition to the new version simple and smooth. The Photoshop CS4 New Features as well as other Photoshop CS3 to Photoshop CS4 transition helpers are available on the Web at www.perspection.com.
If you’re searching for what’s new in Photoshop CS4, just look for the icon: New!. The new icon appears in the table of contents and throughout this book so you can quickly and easily identify a new or improved feature in Photoshop CS4. The following is a brief description of each new feature and its location in this book.
CS4 Interface (p. 9, 26, 31, 41, 42-43, 45, 58, 72, 74)One of the big changes is the new Application Frame, just for Mac users. There is also an Application Bar, which puts commonly used tasks close at hand. The biggest difference in the toolbar is the ten new 3D tools and the new Rotate View tool. Workspaces are now readily accessible from the Application bar. Documents can appear with tabbed titles and there are new layout options to choose from when arranging your documents, as well as a new Match Rotation option. And, palettes have been renamed “panels.”
Spring-loaded keys (p. 10, 41)When you’re using a tool and need to switch quickly to a different one, you can hold down the shortcut key for that tool, use the tool, then release the shortcut key and you will be automatically taken back to the tool you were previously using.
Camera Raw (p. 19, 492)Exciting new features include the ability to make local adjustments with the Graduated Filter tool and the Adjustment Brush. The Spot Removal tool has a new Opacity slider that controls the strength of the healing or cloning. And now, you have the ability to retain vignetting choices after cropping the photo.
Smart Objects (p. 20-21)You can now link Smart Objects with their layer mask so they can be moved together. There are also two transforming options that can now be used with Smart Objects: Perspective and Distort.
Help (p. 26)Now there are additional Help resources with Adobe Community Help. You can search Adobe.com by using keywords or phrases. You’ll be shown a list of possible answers, along with comments and ratings from users.
Navigation (p. 38-39)Bird’s Eye View offers a new way to quickly zoom in and out of your images. A new pixel grid appears when you are zoomed in to 500% or more to make pixel-specific changes easier. In the past, when you zoomed in or out of your image at odd percentages (such as 33.3%), the preview would be jagged. Now, you can view your documents at any zoom percentage and not lose any quality in the preview.
New panels (p. 45, 72, 99, 136, 144, 164-165, 233, 514-520)Two new panels in CS4 that will probably become a daily part of your workflow are the Adjustments panel and the Masks panel. There is also a Notes panel, where you can view your notes and export them to a text document. As part of the enhancement of 3D functionality in Photoshop CS4, there is a new 3D panel.
Flash panels (p. 66)There are two new Flash panels that come with Photoshop CS4. Kuler is an online, interactive way to build color schemes. Connections lets you manage all your Adobe accounts and check for new updates and panels.
Color Range (p. 181)There is a new option in the Color Range dialog box called Localized Color Clusters. You can use this to restrict your selection to a color that is contained within a certain physical area instead of grabbing that same color from all through the image.
Content-Aware Scaling (p. 503-505)The Content-aware Scale command automatically seeks out what it thinks are the most important parts of your image and protects them from being squished or stretched as you transform the image. You can also make your own protected selection.
Clone Source Panel (p. 482)You now have the option to use the “Clipped” option if you choose to see a source overlay, which limits the overlay to the brush cursor.
Specific Tool Enhancements (p. 432)The Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools were enhanced in this version of Photoshop. The Dodge and Burn tools have a new option called “Protect Tones.” The Sponge tool now has a Vibrance option for use when using the tool to increase saturation.
Vibrance option (p. 169)A new option has been added to the Adjustments menu and panel. Vibrance limits an increase of saturation to colors that are not already highly saturated. This option is also available for 32-bit images.
Adjustment presets (p. 201)Many of the commonly used adjustments now come with preloaded presets. Adjustments that have presets are Levels, Curves, Exposure, Hue/Saturation, Black & White, Channel Mixer, and Selective Color.
On-image controls (p. 517-520)Now available are on-image controls for use in Black/White adjustments, as well as Curves and Hue/Saturation. Just click in the image and drag left or right to make image adjustments to specific spots in the image.
Brushes (p. 208)There is an improved brush engine, resulting in quicker and more precise responses, especially with a drawing tablet. You can now do on the fly brush resizing by simply dragging with your mouse.
Mask Edge button (p. 236)In the new Masks panel, this button brings up the Refine Mask panel (the same as the Refine Edge panel) where you can feather, choose a radius, and view your mask on different backgrounds.
Printing and Proofing (p. 372)There are new output options in the Print command: Gamut Warning and Show Paper White. There is also a new information display above the preview area that shows your page size.
Photomerge (p. 407, 475)In the place of the Interactive Layout are two new options: the Spherical and the Collage layout. There are also two new features: the opportunity to remove fisheye lens distortion (Geometric Distortion Correction) and to remove vignettes caused by wide angle lenses (Vignette Removal).
Adobe Bridge (p. 488, 497)General improvements include faster asset management and a Quick Search bar, from which you can search keywords, file names, and folder names. You also have a choice of commonly used Workspaces on the Application bar, as well as a “breadcrumb” file path so you can easily link back to the source folder for any file you’re viewing. Bridge allows you to create PDF slideshows, contact sheets, PDF layouts for printing, and web galleries.
Saving for Web & Devices (p. 437, 445)There are new Transparency dither options in the dialog box. You can now choose options such as the ability to automatically convert the file to sRGB mode, the preview method, and the amount of metadata to be included in the saved file.
Compositing (p. 475)The Auto-Align command has been enhanced with automatic fisheye lens correction. It also compensates for lens vignetting in panoramic images so the individual images will fit together more seamlessly. You can use the Auto-Blend command to take a series of images with different focal points and blend them together so that everything is in focus (great for macro shots!).
ConnectNow (p. 499)There’s a new menu command in the File menu called “Share My Screen.” This command opens ConnectNow, a secure web site where you can have others join you in an online meeting and collaborate on projects by sharing computer screens and files.
Version Cue (p. 488)Version Cue is now accessed through Adobe Drive, a program that comes with CS4 that allows you to connect to servers as well as online services.
Adobe Drive (p. 488)Adobe Drive allows you to connect to and use Version Cue servers as if they were a local hard drive or mapped network drive as well as connect to online services.
GeneralIn this version of Photoshop, there is enhanced integration with Lightroom, smoother pans and zooms with GPU acceleration, and improved brush and print engines. If you’re lucky enough to own one of the new MacBook Pro models, you can use “gestures” to navigate, rotate, and scale.
3D Tools (p. 483-484)The biggest changes are in 3D, with ten tools in the toolbox, a separate menu, and a panel dedicated solely to 3D. From the menu, you can generate shapes, create 3D layers from files, and modify render settings. You can now paint directly on 3D objects, merge a 2D layer onto a 3D object, and animate 3D objects. One of the fun new features of 3D in CS4 is the Axis Widget. This object appears when you select a Rotate or Orbit tool and allows you to move the object more intuitively.
AutomationThe Contact Sheet, Picture Package, PDF Presentation, and Web Photo Gallery commands are gone from the Photoshop Automate menu and from the Tools/Photoshop menu in Bridge. However, Bridge has a new Output Workspace, from which you can build PDF slideshows, contact sheets, PDF layouts for printing, and web galleries.