With the Beta release of Adobe Photoshop CS6 and seeing some of its new features, I decided to put it to my own personal test. Above is the illustration I created in Photoshop CS6, made up of exactly 100 layers (click the image for detail [3.5 MB]). The image is 48×26 inches at 300dpi in CMYK, and in total it racked up a whopping 6.79 GB in file size. In order to save the illustration, I had over 500 GB of free space allocated for the scratch disks, which it seemed to gobble up by 12 GB with each and every File > Save.
Saving the document, originally from PSD but quickly to PSB (after a few saves), took roughly 15-20 minutes on my Mac Pro. Granted I’m in need of some new hardware, but I didn’t mind it much – especially because of the progress/loader indicator which is made up out of bigger circles and tends to be easier on the eyes and less of a needle in the mind but more importantly(!) the ability to keep working on my documents while the saving continued. This is a huge improvement in my eyes. What took the most time was the recovery procedure Photoshop CS6 went through in order to open the PSB document – this took a chunk of time which was long enough for me to prepare dinner. During the recovery it would open various PSB (or PSD) files and leave them open at the end, confusing me a bit about whether I could close them and work on the original.
Overall Photoshop CS6 performed spectacularly well. It seems that the zooming mechanism has had significant improvements from CS5 to CS6. In Photoshop CS5 I would often have to sit and wait for particular squares to load, and eventually temporarily freeze (with Mac OS X beach balls) while I was zooming in on large print documents. In PS CS6 Beta I had no problem zooming into any aspect of my large PSB files, even with having plenty of layers utilizing alpha channels and gradient mask fades.
The change to the GUI color scheme is the first thing you notice when opening up PS CS6, and it is a real improvement on the eyes. It also makes you value going outside to catch some sun-rays.
The few snags I had while operating PS CS6 Beta started with a hick-up during loading the Text tool. I realize I have quite the selection of fonts but PS CS5 hasn’t complained much, so it seems odd that PS CS6 Beta would be struggling. I also realize it has had major improvements, incorporating functionality that seemingly was only for InDesign prior, but I don’t like waiting for my tools to initialize. Another snag was the inability to turn my fonts to shape layers for modification which is something I do quite regularly in Photoshop CS5. I’m not sure if this functionality has been replaced with smart objects or whether it’s been eliminated. I do hope those bits are addressed before final release.
Consider me an early adaptor of CS6. I would love to hear your thoughts on the new Photoshop – and whether you’ve ran into any issues during stressed operations.
This is the end of my PS CS6 Beta review. If you’re interested in finding out more about the illustration, carry on reading, or see a quick screenshot.
Description of the work: 60° N 95° W — Building for the Future
As we look into the future, the issue of environmental sustainability becomes of ever increasing importance in how we build and how we consume nature’s finite resources. As a society in general we have to realize that if we build with accuracy, sustainability, and durability in mind, we can significantly decrease the damaging potential of our constantly expanding human footprint.
As Canada, and especially Alberta moves forward into the future, with its oil rich past and present, we should increasingly utilize green energy, and take nature and its treasures into account while making plans for infrastructural development of the land and in our cities.
The image elaborates on that theme by including not only man made abstract structures but also the wildlife of Canada, all of which is tied together with organic lines, suggesting codependency and connectedness. What the image brings to attention is that the environment does not exist in separation from our human existence, and that we are all connected, or immersed in nature. We are only as healthy or as happy as the polar bear – and if he is in danger, we are in danger too. So it is the polar bear that is leading the way, because he stands in for any of us, who are pushing to find or build habitats for our children and ourselves.
It is important to keep the well being of animals that we share the planet with, in consideration, when building for the future. Polar bears represent the most well-known threat: global warming, and so it’s on the backs of these animals that we find ourselves moving forward – continuously reaching for the moon and expanding our city buildings to consume more landscape or “airscape”.
“The sky is the limit!” No longer does this phrase hold true as we branch out past our own human origins and search for alternative habitable planets.
Below you’ll find my process shots on building the file. Originally the guiding composition shape was structured in Illustrator (as a blend), and brought into PS CS6 for further treatment. Tools used in this illustration include Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta, Adobe Illustrator CS5.1, Wacom Intuos 4, FlamePainter, Canon DSLR 5D Mark II, and an iPhone with a Telescope for the moon.
Click the last image above for a larger view.
