The launch of Photoshop CS5 (Version 12) marked the 20th anniversary of the package. This article aims at exploring some of the most exciting features of arguably the best photography software in the market! Below is an overview aof some handy Photoshop CS5 features, along with video demonstrations regarding their usage.
Content Aware Fill
The Content Aware Fill feature is perhaps the most sensational part of the latest version. It allows the user to examine the area around a selection and substitutes it with what it chooses to be a worthy match. For instance, in the previous versions if a user wanted to get rid of an object from a photo, he would have accomplished the task while manually using Clone Tool, the Patch Tool, or the Spot Healing Brush tool. These tools are more than useful in case the object has similar surfaces in the surrounding. However, Content Aware Fill comes in handy even if there is a lot of overlapping in the image and above all, it functions automatically.
This feature is extremely easy to work with. The user needs to create a selection with any one of the selection methods and hit the Delete key. Once done, a dialogue box will appear and the operator is enabled to select Content Aware Fill and requires hitting the OK option. Photoshop then automatically produces a fill based on the selection.
It is worth mentioning here that the new feature has its limitations as well and at times it produces fills that are not up to the mark and might require a certain amount of clean up after its use. To see a demonstration of this feature, check out the below video.
Edge Detection
This feature is particularly useful when it comes to selection of complex edges. The Edge Detection setting is the part of the Refine Edge and Refine Mask dialogs. To use the feature one has to make a selection or a layer mask in the first step. In the next step select Refine Edge and use the Refine Radius tool to brush over the desired region. Moreover, Smart Radius checkbox with a Radius adjustment slider makes the selections even simpler. In addition to the aforementioned there’s an Erase Refinements tool through which the user can try again if the results were not as desired. Let’s take a look at the Edge Detection feature of Photoshop CS5.
Enhanced 3D
The 3D features have improved once again in order to allow the everyday designer with more options. Repoussé is one such new feature that helps in extruding flat selections into 3D objects. Moreover, a number of built-in textures are also available for the texturing of 3D meshes.
Painting and Brush Enhancements
Mixer Brush and Bristle Tip brushes also happen to be among the new features of the latest version. The Mixer Brush provides with the option to pick up a color from the image or the foreground and mix it with the image’s underlying colors.
On the other hand The Bristle Tip brushes help in the creation of natural media paint effects. The Brushes panel contains a new section for generating custom Bristle Tip brush presets. If the new brush tips are combined with a tablet, the brush rotate based on the tablet’s pen position in the Bristle Brush preview is visible. The below video shows a bit about the magic of the Photshop CS5 paint brush. Check out the Paint Stroke Morph video below.
[Video Credit: AdobePhotoshopFB And TV.Adobe]
