Leslie Gordon
Senior Editor
The new Photoshop CS3 Extended
targets engineering and product
development, letting users make
measurements and work with 3D
objects. For example, designers
can import part data from different
suppliers and place each part
on a separate layer while setting
the scale of each part. This makes
a composite that could be used to
ensure that all the components will
fit inside a particular housing.
Additional new features give
users new ways to manipulate images.
For example, Merge To HDR
combines many images of the same
scene with different exposures into
a single image. And new filter and
color-correction functions can
help repair under and overexposed
images. As in previous versions, selection
tools range from the Lasso,
which lets users select complex
shapes, to the Magic Wand, which
selects areas based on color.
For designers, the software’s
strong point is that it lets users communicate
design intent as well as aesthetics.
For example, Photoshop supports
several 3D formats, including
OBJ, U3D, 3DS, KMZ, and Collada. So an engineer might, for example,
export geometry data from 3D CAD
as an OBJ file for creating a marketing
proposal.
To try out such a scenario, I imported
an OBJ file of a cube
into Photoshop Extended.
Next, I created a new layer
for the background. The
Layers pallet made it easy
to drag the new layer to
place the background “behind”
the object. Changing
the 3D model took selecting
Layer > 3D Layers >
and Transform 3D model.
This selection opens an intuitive
toolbar at the top of
the window with options
for rotating, rolling, sliding,
and resizing the 3D geometry.
It was a simple matter
to select the geometry with
the Magic Wand and paste
the resulting bitmap on the
background layer. Rotating
the model and making it
smaller was also easy. (A 3D-icon next to the thumbnail on the layer lets users
know a layer contains a 3D object.) Next,
clicking on the Create a New Fill or Adjustment
Layer icon on the Layers palette put
a gradient on the image. Last came making
another layer for a solid color to go behind
everything on the final image. Overall,
building the composite was intuitive and
straightforward.
According to the developer, the software
works with MatLab, a program that provides
an easier way to develop algorithms
than working in C++. Working with images
in MatLab is said to be tricky because
users must convert actual images into the
numbers that represent the image. But with
both programs, users can call Photoshop
directly from the MatLab command line,
and MatLab pulls in the image data. Users
can run any algorithms in MatLab and then
send the adjusted pixels to Extended to see
results. The developer says Photoshop can
also read Dicom files for medical imaging.
Apple has switched to Intel-based Macs,
which can run Windows and the Mac OS
simultaneously. Photoshop Extended supports
Intel-based Macs, as well as XP and
Vista. Photoshop Extended costs $999 and comes
from Adobe Systems Inc., 345 Park Ave., San Jose,
CA 95110, (408) 536-6000 (adobe.com). Users can
also upgrade from the standard version for $349.