new

Tonight, at 9:01pm California time (that's 1 minute after midnight on the East Coast), Photoshop pulls off something it has attempted just once before: It enters a nearly seven-week period of public beta, during which you can download the program for free. Yes, Photoshop CS6 is available, right this moment, for your immediate click, install, and enjoyment. And it will cost you nothing.

That is to say, you won't have to shell out cash. But you will have to expend some attention. Because, and make no mistake about this, CS6 is one of the biggest upgrades to Photoshop since its inception.

Which is why I've created a total of 29 movies on the topic for lynda.com, including the one above and five more embedded in this post. The full 29-movie course is available, in its entirety, for free to members and non-members alike. Just click on this link, Photoshop CS6 Beta Preview, and start watching.

Meanwhile, here's my take on the product: After many months using the application, I put it in the same rarefied air as Photoshop 1 (a big upgrade from no Photoshop whatsoever), Photoshop 3 (layers!), Photoshop 5 (color management, layer effects, history, editable text), Photoshop 7 (healing, Camera Raw), and Photoshop CS3 (smart filters, 3D). Feature-wise, it's closest to the 1990's-era Photoshop 5. Because the damn thing's dripping with the stank of the spanking new. If this were a car, you'd be driving it for a month just to learn all the gizmos and then sitting in your garage just to smell the upholstery. And honestly, friends, this is one good-smelling application.

In fact, Photoshop CS6 may be the most impressive upgrade to the program since Adobe assigned the CS trademark. My two cents, love to know yours.

For example, there's the infectious tang of the dark interface, feature in the above movie. (Lightroom users will say they already had this, but this is Photoshop, so where's the comparison?) The darkness is calming and it allows you to focus on your image without the distraction of the bright stuff around the edges. On the PC, it looks like the image below. On the Mac, it's topped off by a light gray menu bar, which sucks, but it's a necessity of the light OS. Click the image below to see a full-res view.

Read more » 

And that's just the beginning. What follows is a list of my Top 10 favorite features in the program:

By now, most (if not all) of you know that Adobe is updating its entire line of Creative Suite products. The net result will be Creative Suite 5. And there are the usual bazillion features to look forward to.

Adobe has made it clear that I can't tell you what those features will be. (Oh sure, Adobe itself has leaked many of the minor features, including Content-Aware Fill, which will blow you away once you see it for yourself. But I myself make no mention of Content-Aware Fill. Oh, crap, yes I did. Oops!) However, I can tell you this: I'm hard at work on creating a slew of books and videos for CS5. And that is what I'm here to share with you today.

Here's the skinny: I have not only recorded the entirety of my video series "Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Fundamentals" for lynda.com. I'm also halfway done with my book, Adobe Photoshop CS5 One-on-One for Deke Press in cooperation with O'Reilly Media. And I am well into my video series "Illustrator CS5 One-on-One: Fundamentals," again for lynda.com. In other words, things are well under way.

And to make matters more interesting, virtually all the content is brand-spanking new. New outlines, new projects, new everything. New new new. Read more »