This is the third part in an ongoing series (part 1 & part 2) reviewing Adobe CS3 Production Premium for Mac.
Adobe has become a household name for much of its software, and photoshop is widely used throughout the design industry, for both web and print.
Don’t take our word for it, learn more about Adobe Photoshop and even try it for yourself.
Photoshop vs Photoshop Extended
Both a good product, but CS3 Production Premium comes with Photoshop Extended, which was developed for the film, video and multimedia professionals, 3D and motion graphics designers, manufacturing professionals, architects and engineers. This software is also useful for science and medical based applications.
Photoshop is more focused towards amateur and professional photographers, graphic designers and web designers. Both are available to download as a free trial or as a part of their respective creative suites.
What Can Photoshop CS3 Extended Do?
Street Art by Uri
Image editing, animated gifs and a whole lot more (think video, 3D, scientific and engineering applications).
CS3 New Features
- Docked Windows- increases work speed, reduces clutter
- Non destructive Smart filters
- UI Improvements
- Animation and 3D support
- Edit video
- Faster Startup
User Interface Improvements
You can see the new UI changes in the video.
According to Adobe Expect CS4 to head into further UI integration between the different applications.
What Did We Do With Photoshop CS3 Extended?
Street Art by Bue the Warrior + Uri
Well we edited over 400 images in total including The mighty Uri’s gallery of over 25 canvases, a growing portfolio of street art pieces, colorful sculptures, collaborations and even some clothes.
Downsides
A couple of key annoyances (for those working on the web at least) include:- The save to web color shift issue.
- Updaters – Most of the CS3 apps regularly call home to see if an update is required. Some of these updates are hundreds of Mbs.
- Consumes a lot of resources – Graphics intensive applications are always big resource eaters, Photoshop CS3 is no exception.
What do we think of Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended
Well, the name is too long for a start.
On a serious note, this is the best version of Photoshop ever, it has more features, runs faster and is easier to use than previous versions.
The Flash style interface has always been the most intuitive and the UI of Photoshop is catching up fast.
Next
Stay tuned for the next article where we will take a look at the rest of the Production Premium Package focusing on Adobe Illustrator
About the Author
This is a guest post by Dan Cushley – a web designer who focuses on usable and competitive websites. This is part 3 in a series reviewing Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium for Mac.