Photoshop 7.0: an update for Adobe's venerable image processor.(Product/Service Evaluation)

Photoshop has been around "forever" in computer graphics years. The software long ago became the de facto standard for cutting-edge image processing and manipulation. With Version 7.0, Adobe Systems continues to keep Photoshop at the forefront with a wealth of new features and enhancements.

Photoshop runs on both Mac and Windows platforms. The Macintosh version is now fully OS X compliant, but it still supports OS 9. Once loaded, the software looks similar to previous versions, but with a few interface tweaks. The first new feature you'll notice is the browser, which allows you to graphically view your hard disks. The browser also offers a couple of other useful features, such as the ability to rename files en masse (great for digital camera users) as well as rank them. You can also rotate images within the browser. In a similar vein, the Enhanced Picture Package allows you to manage images on the output side by printing multiple images on one page, as well as adding custom labels, such as copyright notices or captions.

Another nice interface tweak is the palette well. Keeping a large number of palettes open at any given time takes up valuable screen space. The palette well allows you to `dock' any palette so it is partially visible, and only a click away. In addition, Photoshop now lets you save your workspace, so that favorite arrangements of palettes and tools can be recalled at a moment's notice. Presets for tools can be saved as well.

In Version 7.0, Adobe has revamped the brushes palette to reflect a whole new painting engine similar to that of Corel's Painter. Adobe has included a number of presets that cover most standard brushes as well as many popular artistic brushes, such as airbrush, watercolor, splatters, and sponges. For even more control, Adobe provides myriad tools that allow you to further manipulate the shape, opacity, and edge behavior of brushes to create just about any type of brush. When combined with such functions as the clone tool and dodge/burn, among others, the possibilities are enormous.

New to Photoshop 7.0 is a tool called Healing Brush. Working much like the clone tool, the Healing Brush goes one step further. Instead of cloning both color and texture from one part of an image to another, fire Healing Brush clones only the texture, preserving the original's color and lighting. This tool works great for retouching photos, ...