Brave new world: Adobe drives Photoshop into new markets.(Adobe Systems Inc.)

It won't come as news to hear that Adobe's Photoshop is used in just about every application that makes use of the pixel. Photoshop is a constant across digital content creation disciplines--filmmaking, game development, DVD creation, print production, Web development, and, of course, photography and commercial art. And, don't forget architectural rendering and video. In fact, any time there was a need to create a 2D image, Photoshop (or a Photoshop-like product) came into play. What is news, however, is the way Adobe started thinking about taking advantage of its ubiquity coupled with the new features in Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended. Adobe reckoned that it needed to improve workflow between its products and, thus, keep people happy within the warm embrace of Adobe products forever. And, the company needed to find more people to embrace.

On March 8, Adobe unveiled its plans for the new Photoshop CS3 Extended. As the name implies, with this version, Photoshop has extended the usefulness of Photoshop into new fields with features for professionals working in film and television, manufacturing, architecture and engineering, medicine, and science. Among the new features are support for 3D models, motion support with time-based cloning and healing on video layers, and support for scientific formats.

Adobe shocked a lot of people at Macworld this year when it demonstrated new 3D capabilities within Photoshop--not just importing 3D models, but also actually working with them. (It appeared that worlds were beginning to collide.) That capability was, in fact, an advance on Adobe's Vanishing Point feature introduced in Photoshop CS2. Now, it's possible to pull in 3D models in a variety of formats, including 3DS, OBJ, Collada, KMZ (Google Earth), and U3D (the format developed by Intel, Adobe, and others to enable 3D file exchange across platforms).

Once those models are in Photoshop, it's possible to work with them and add a texture map. Professionals working with Autodesk's 3ds Max or Maya, Softimage's XSI, Luxology's Modo, and more have been able to unwrap their texture maps and take them into Photoshop for additional painting and refinement. Now, they can work with the model directly in Photoshop. Models can be incorporated into 2D Photoshop files and placed by taking advantage of Vanishing Point. In CS3, Vanishing Point has been expanded to allow users to add multiple planes. As a result, says Adobe, it's possible to create 3D models from 2D images by defining perspective planes with Vanishing Point and then exporting it to a 3D format.

To illustrate this capability, Adobe offers the example of a CD case. Adobe has been adding to its 3D literacy for a while, and the firm's work in U3D enables 3D models to be output to Acrobat for the creation of interactive documents, including technical manuals. Now that ability extends to Photoshop. Models modified in Photoshop can also be output for use in other programs, including Flash and AJAX applications.

CAD Connection

The addition of another little dimension takes Adobe a giant step further into new application areas. Photoshop has all the information contained within the 3D model, so it's possible to make cross sections. Add measuring tools, which Adobe has done, and you have a product that starts becoming useful to CAD users, many of whom may already use Photoshop to create renderings of their designs.