PS7 versus PSCS- should I upgrade?

[sandra]

I have an opportunity to upgrade to PSCS (BTW, what does CS stand for?) I have been doing perfectly fine with 7.0, so I am not sure I need to move up. Does CS do anything that 7.0 can't do? Does CS have any stuff you just LOVE? Is the interface the same?

[Emma]

Why CS and not CS 2? If you're going to pay to upgrade, unless the CS is far cheaper

CS stands for Creative Suite. You can have two programs from the CS open (or 3 or more) and just drag the image out of PS into Illustrator or InDesign and work on it in any one of those! Very cool.

I don't recall what CS has over 7. The interface is nearly identical. CS 2 has a few interface changes, namely the layers palette, but overall the few tools and upgrades, I'm not seeing much difference between the 3 versions, LOL! I know for digital photography retouching, there's more new stuff than for graphic design.

How much are you going to pay to upgrade? That will factor into the decison.

[raynebair]

I know CS does text on a path. I didn't think 7 did that. CS also has layer comps, which can come in handy if you are doing a mini album using a standard template and you want to keep all the pages in the same psd file.

I don't have CS2, so I haven't seen it, but I've heard that the file browser has been restructured. It is also a memory hog! So if you do upgrade, make sure your computer can handle it.

[sandra]

LOL... Rayne, maybe that's why I haven't been able to get text to go on a path! *slaps own forehead* Couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work... 7.0 can't?

[Emma]

CS 2 has been called the patch to CS, so I know that CS had some issues with hardcore PS users

I feel so handicapped with 7, so I'm sure that means CS is better, LOL! Can't think of anythin goffhand though

[raynebair]

My copy of CS was a gift, so I'm not sure I'm willing to shell out for the upgrade. I haven't really had any problems with it, except for it being slow, but I think it's an issue because I'm on a Mac. On WinXP, I don't have speed issues. So for now, I'm sticking to CS.

[Amanda]

I used 7 before and I haven't seen too many things that would have warrented the upgrade to CS if I hadn't been given it by Adobe. I think CS2 has some cool new features though - so maybe it is. I dont' have it yet.

[raynebair]

One thing that might be worth the upgrade is the image resize. CS2 does lossless resizing...so if you resize an image down, if you need to resize back up or if you just want to size it up from the start, you don't lose any of the quality of the original.

Something that was mentioned in another thread...CS2 has a WYSIWYG font menu. So you see the list of fonts with the name displayed in the actual font (similar to Word).

[Lisa Carter]

There are MANY differences between PS7 and CS2
TEXT ON A PATH
Bridge
Ability to open and save multi-layer PDF files
Smart Objects
SMART GUIDES!!
for designers...LAYER COMPS IS AWESOME!!
Filter Gallery
Vanishing Point
Warp

oh and yes...being able to see a preview of the font is GREAT

filters added:
Lens Blur, Shape Blur, Surface Blur, Box Blur and Average
under Distort filter you have Lens Correction
under Noise you have REDUCE NOISE
under Render you have Fibers and texture fill
under Sharpen you have Smart Sharpen

Select: you have the option to select ALL layers or Similar layers
IMAGE: you can choose your pixel aspect ratio
you can run Scripts


TOOLS:
spot healing brush
and AWESOME RED EYE TOOL

These may not sound like much...but believe me
if you have used both programs you will wonder HOW you ever liked PS7...LOL

but, if you have never used CS2 you won't miss what you never had...know what I mean

you can make do until you are financialy able to get it.

I am ready to see what comes is CS3

but that won't be for another year...so I will just have to wait

[Lauren]

One thing to be wary of if you dont have a powerful computer is that cs and cs2 use a lot more ram than ps7 - I noticed a huge difference in how much slower everything is since i got cs ( but then my puter is not as powerful as I would like- in fact its pretty lightweight!!!)

[raynebair]

I second Lauren's comment. I'm actually about to install more memory in my computer this afternoon because when I have Photoshop CS open the whole computer SLOWS down horribly. I'm hoping that doubling the RAM to 1GB will help out.

[Amanda]

What are layer comps?

[Emma]

great list, Lisa! I haven't even used 7 since CS came out. Uninstalled it and never looked back (that was fall of '03)

[Meryl]

What are layer comps?

The layer comps palette is top right with brushes and tools - it lets you save various versions of a layout, there are things it can save - opacity, blend modes and positions of layers, but can't track any "pixel changes" gradients, painting colour changes............ Its easy to use, and can be a great help when indecisive - as I so often can be about a page :) :) :)

[Lisa Carter]

say you are making papers, you set up your layer comps and run the layer comp to files Script, it saves each comp as a file for you...no more save as....then save as... then save as...
BIG time saver!!!