If you’re using Photoshop CS6, you can grab an update that squashes a handful of bugs. This is for folks using the perpetual license option; if you’re using Creative Cloud, you can of course upgrade to Photoshop CC.

Russell demonstrates options of the new CS6 technology:

[Via Gaetano Giordano]

The team celebrates reaching 5 million Facebook fans via this little 1-minute video. (The 601 cases of beer sounds about right, but I can’t believe they omitted a stat about all the Don Julio consumption.)

Did you know you can put multiple strokes on a layer in CS6? Julieanne Kost provides a quick tour of the neat things you can do with layer groups these days.

Remember that Super Bowl ad I mentioned having been edited in Premiere Pro? Over on Studio Daily editor Adam Pertofsky talks about working with ProRes in CS6:

“I had tried it out on two other jobs and decided to just jump in and go for it,” he says. “When Final Cut X came out, I tried working with it for a while, but it just doesn’t do what I need it to do. After my engineering guys here suggested I try Premiere, I started to play with it and it seemed very familiar to me, right from the get-go.”

“It’s probably the most responsive of all the nonlinear editing software that I’ve used… The trimming tool alone made this particular job a breeze because I could instantly see where all my ins and outs were. I also love not having to render any more.”

The piece talks about other aspects of the shoot & edit, too—not just about software.

Psdtuts has put together a brief tutorial & write-up of the CSS export features recently added to Photoshop CS6:

This is just a first step in making PS more conversant in modern Web graphics standards, so please let the team know what else you’d like to see. I’m excited about what’s cooking.

Showing off Adobe Anywhere & Premiere Pro, PMs Al Mooney & Michael Coleman showcase their witty banterousness & the future of collaborative editing:

And that shirt of Al’s. Man, that shirt… Wow. Can’t unsee. It has occasioned *way* too much internal discussion, with promises/threats to buy him the Mountain Men’s 10 Kittens Tee. (Review: “When I wear clothes with kittens, I require a much higher kitten-per-inch-of-shirt count than you’ve offered here. Can not recommend.”)

PM Jeff Tranberry writes,

Today we released Photoshop update version 13.0.4 (for Mac perpetual customers) and version 13.1.2 (for Creative Cloud members, Mac and Windows), resolving this licensing issue:

• Trial screen displays when you open Photoshop CS6 – When you open a copy of Photoshop CS6 that you purchased, a notice displays that you can try this product for 30 days.

How to get the Update

1. In Photoshop, choose Help > Updates.
2. The Adobe Application Manager will launch. Select Adobe Photoshop CS6 and choose Update.

How to confirm that the Update worked

1. In Photoshop, choose Help > About Photoshop (Win), or Photoshop > About Photoshop (Mac)
2. For Mac perpetual customers, the version at the top should be Version: 13.0.4
3. For Win/Mac Creative Cloud members, the version at the top should be Version: 13.1.2.

Noon Pacific time with Adobe evangelist Paul Trani:

Here’s a how-to on mastering Photoshop from a web design perspective. From creating layouts for desktop and mobile, using color, text and exporting images and color palettes when needed, join us to see the power of Photoshop for web designers. And with the new update to Photoshop CS6 for Creative Cloud, members even have the ability to export CSS!

Years ago, Jeff Schewe promised to buy me dinner if I could get support for conditional actions (i.e. simple automation that can feature if/then-type support) into Photoshop. We snuck it into ImageReady, but it took until now (the recent CS6 update for Creative Cloud members) for Photoshop to get this welcome feature. Here’s a quick demo:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmLFZRYOr5U&w=425&h=239]

Jeff Tranberry writes,

Today we released Photoshop update version 13.0.3 (for Mac Perpetual customers) and version 13.1.1 (for Creative Cloud Members, Mac and Windows), resolving the following bugs:

• Certain PSD files fail to open when they have layer FX applied to layers
• The application crashes when opening certain EPS files
• On Retina machines, the application crashes when the Navigator panel is displayed in some workspaces

To get the update, from within Photoshop choose Help > Updates, causing the Adobe Application Manager to launch. Select Adobe Photoshop CS6 and choose Update.

Photoshop PM Stephen Nielson shows you how you can quickly export CSS code for text and shape styling, and also import color swatches from HTML, CSS, and SVG files.

These features are available now (check Help->Updates from within Photoshop), exclusively to Creative Cloud members.

Julieanne Kost shows off her favorites (cropping improvements, support for Liquify on Smart Objects, improved type styles, and more):

After an amazingly successful run, today’s the last day to get in on a great offer:

With Creative Cloud, you can download every Adobe post-production tool — including Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Photoshop, along with Adobe Prelude™ for logging, SpeedGrade™ for color grading, and Story Plus for scriptwriting — for just US$29.99 a month.

Use Production Premium promo code: SWITCH. Creative Cloud discount applied automatically. Hurry, offer ends November 30, 2012. See details.

Remember to sign up for the event coming Dec. 11th:

[Via Pierre-Etienne Courtejoie]

Bryan O’Neil Hughes uses presets in the new Color Lookup adjustment layer to add automatic toning to photos and video, then customizes the adjustments with blend modes and opacity.

Photoshop PM Bryan O’Neil Hughes discusses techniques to achieve opposite effects.
Simulating shallow depth of field [Note: this is a talk, not a tutorial]:

Flexible sharpening via Smart Objects:

 At Create Now Live, you’ll:

• Be one of the first to hear what’s next in Adobe® Creative Cloud™.
• See what’s next in Adobe Photoshop®.
• Explore ways to take your design skills from print to online and mobile.
• Learn how teams can work better together with Creative Cloud.
• Learn from creative innovators.
• Iconic design agency Karlssonwilker talks about taking their unique design sensibility to the web.
• Go behind the scenes of “A Liars Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman” with Animation Director Justin Weyers.
• Scott Kelby shows off hidden gems in Photoshop CS6.

From PM Jeff Tranberry:

We’re happy to announce that Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4 and Elements 11 are compatible with Microsoft Windows 8.

The only issue customers might see is with document window transparency/flickering in Photoshop CS6 caused by video drivers. The drivers that ship with Windows 8 may not be the most recent available from the card vendors. See here to resolve this issue.

See the rest of Jeff’s post for a few additional details & links.

Photoshop PM Jeff Tranberry has posted a heads-up regarding Photoshop System Requirement Changes:

Back in September, the Photoshop team provided advanced notice that Photoshop CS6 (13.0) will be the last major version of Photoshop to support Windows XP.

In addition, all subsequent Photoshop feature updates specifically for Creative Cloud members will also require 512 MB of vRAM in order to use the 3D features found in Photoshop CS6 Extended.

See the whole post for more details.

Photoshop performance expert Adam Jerugim has posted a detailed guide to optimizing Photoshop for peak performance. No single configuration is ideal for all types of work:

What type of Photoshop user are you?
[…] The photographer who regularly processes high-resolution images will greatly benefit from increasing the amount of system RAM available to Photoshop, whereas the designer who works with 3D models will obtain far better performance by installing a faster video card containing more video RAM. So, itemize the tasks that you regularly perform in Photoshop and then use the recommended setup details contained in this paper as the basis for optimizing your system.

Check out the guide for a discussion of how 64-bit, RAM, scratch disks, and more affect various operations. [Via]

Over at Macworld, Jay J. Nelson has a useful summary of ways to get your scanner to work with Photoshop CS6. He describes various architectural changes that have complicated the process over the years, and he lists workarounds for problems like scanning not working on OS X 10.8. [Via Bryan O’Neil Hughes]

Newly available via Adobe Labs:

Smoothly blend between colors in Photoshop CS6.

The Interpolate extension for Adobe® Photoshop® CS6 (currently for Mac only) provides two new filters based on smoothly blending between colors.

The first filter, “Interpolate,” fills the transparent areas of the current layer with a smooth mix of the colors in the opaque areas.

The second filter, “Match Edges,” changes the colors at the edges of the current layer to match those of the layer below it, and smoothly distributes this change through the layer.

PM Tom Hogarty writes,

The Photoshop team would like to provide advanced notice that Photoshop CS6 (13.0) will be the last major version of Photoshop to support Windows XP. (Photoshop CS6 does not support Windows Vista.) In addition, all subsequent Photoshop feature updates specifically for Creative Cloud members will no longer support Windows XP.

As Tom notes, a number of new features in CS6 (those relying on modern graphics hardware, such as 3D and the new Lighting Effects engine) already weren’t supported on XP.

We encourage all customers who are currently using Windows XP to begin making their migration plans now so they can fully take advantage of future Photoshop innovations as soon as they are available.

Here’s a ridiculously good deal: Switch from FCP or Avid to Adobe Creative Cloud (which includes Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Illustrator, and much more) for just $29.99/mo. for 12 months

Step up to Premiere Pro CS6, including more than 50 new features designed to make switching easier. Final Cut and Avid keyboard shortcuts, tight integration with After Effects and Photoshop, unmatched performance, and more help you conquer even your most demanding projects.

“The first transport is away!” Check out Todd Kopriva’s post that details other improvements (new GPU support, bug fixes, and more).

I had no idea about this sort of visual multi-clipboard. It’s very cool—the kind of thing we were trying to enable many years ago with the mini/floating mode of Bridge.

[Via]

The Photoshop team has updated CS6 to version 13.0.1, addressing a number of functional, crashing, and performance problems discovered in the app. To get the update, choose Help->Updates within Photoshop. For more details on what’s been changed, check out this post.

Updating Photoshop to offer native support of Mac Retina displays is a big task & remains a work in progress. Maria Yap provides some info:

To enable HiDPI display support in Photoshop requires the replacement of 2500 icons and cursors and other engineering work which will be complete and ready for customers this fall.

It’s important to distinguish bug fixes (like the 13.0.1 update) and compatibility changes (like the Retina update & regular Camera Raw releases*) from new feature releases (like yesterday’s Illustrator update). Maria notes:

We will continue to release security patches, bug fixes and support new hardware changes, like HiDPI display support, to all of our customers outside of our regular development cycles just as we have always done.

So, at risk of over-explaining: The arrival of the subscription-licensing option doesn’t take anything away from what’s always been available, and it doesn’t force you to subscribe just to get fixes & compatibility updates. Instead, it’s just a new option providing a benefit (periodic new features) that wasn’t available previously.

*Like Retina support, these updates provide the same features with new hardware.

“When we launched Creative Cloud,” said my boss Jeff Veen, “we said that one of biggest benefits was early access to Adobe innovation. As soon as our engineering teams can finalize new features, like the ones we’re seeing for Illustrator today, we will release special Creative Cloud editions of our desktop software, only available to Adobe Creative Cloud members.”

New features in this Adobe Illustrator release:

Package Files – a long-requested feature that allows designers to automatically collect all the files used in an Illustrator project, including linked graphics and fonts, into a single folder helping make handoffs and sharing of projects more efficient and error-free.

Unembed Images – a new capability that enables production artists to quickly unembed images that have been embedded into an Illustrator file by other designers or customers, eliminating much wasted time in day-to-day production work.

Links Panel Enhancements – a new feature enhancement that allows users to access and track information on any artwork placed in an Illustrator file much quicker. What used to require multiple clicks to ensure all placed graphics meet necessary requirements for output is now surfaced up front.”

Important: Files remain fully compatible between copies of Illustrator CS6, whether those copies are acquired through subscription (and thus able to take this update) or through traditional licensing.

For more info on what these updates mean, please check out my recent post (which includes lots of back-and-forth in the comments).

[Via]

Creative Cloud subscriptions carry a key advantage: Apps will get periodic feature enhancements (i.e. early access to functionality that would otherwise have had to wait until the next major product release).  Here’s a peek at what’s coming soon to Illustrator subscribers: 

I suppose someone will make a comment like “You are telling me that you are punishing customers who have purchased a license the way it has always worked.” No, actually: no one is getting punished. You now have a way to get early access to new features, but that’s up to you.

If you want to buy a license the traditional way, that’s perfectly fine, and you can wait until the next major version release (CS7) to get these & other improvements. If you subscribe, however, you get an additional advantage.

We should also differentiate these periodic feature enhancements (which are a subscriber benefit) from bug fixes & compatibility updates (which will go to all customers, same as always). We’ll work on being clearer on the latter (believe me, I share your frustration at the pace of info-sharing). The key point, though: nothing is being lost, and something cool is being gained. 

Scott Kelby shares his perspective, making the journey from skeptic to believer.

If you own a CS3 or later Adobe app, you can subscribe to Creative Cloud & get all the CS6 apps, 20GB of storage, and more at a huge discount ($29.99/month instead of $49/month in the US)–but note that the offer ends August 31st.  Shake a leg!

From the CS6 FAQ:

Adobe and Apple have worked closely together to test Adobe® Creative Suite® 5, 5.5 and CS6 editions and individual products for reliability, performance and user experience when installed on Intel® based systems running Mac OS X Mountain Lion (v10.8). Earlier versions of Adobe Photoshop® (CS3 and CS4) software were also tested with Mountain Lion and there are currently no known issues.

As with any new release of an operating system, there may be unexpected issues that arise that were not discovered during testing. If you encounter any issues, please report them on our bug reporting form.

Video team member Todd Kopriva notes,

Mountain Lion (Mac OS v10.8) upgrade improves performance and stability with Premiere Pro. Be sure to check for drivers for third-party I/O hardware and such, which may not yet be available for your accessories.”