I have PS 7 but I have not installed it yet. The tips here have emboldened me to try it. I am still using the 1995 version. It may seem like the dark ages to you but I am happy with what it will do. I often render a 3D background and fill in the foreground with hand rendered PS version 3 technology. What could vs 7 do better in the below pic I did today ?

heh.... this definetly does look like an old PS.... PS 7 could do that, but it's designed to be able to make it a LOT less cartoony. i think i'd make it somewhat washed out, and that would make it blend into the pic better. ... it's also 2003 now...

Version 7 is well worth the upgrade cost and hard drive space. Don, you'll find it handles tasks a whole lot better. The new brush "engine" is one reason I'd never go back to ANY earlier versions. I don't use a whole lot of the filters but the "blend" modes for the layers come in real handy...

:)
retrocity

Slicker, faster (I think), and you get to lose the inferiority complex that comes with using old software (people on older apps seem to try and justify it, such as with your "It may seem like the dark ages to you but I am happy with what it will do." for example).

Which reminds me I really need to upgrade from Windows 98!

it freezes on me when I uses multiple rapid clicks when using the brush (such as small paintbrush changes) meaning I have to reboot, it comes up with errors saying I need another drive entirely for a scratch disk. I can't see the gradient editor like portrayed in the book for the life of me so can't make new gradients....need I go on? so I rarely use it preferring to stay with my old trusty ps 5.0 - and change to ps7 if I "have" to in order to do something which 5 can't - which doesn't seem like much to me.

I admire the moody genre of Retocity and respect the advice regarding brushes. The superior layer blending sounds interesting but is not specific enough to seem compelling. Most of the time I make moody ambiguous works that make the viewer work a bit in a dreamy alpha state to create their own meaning. antevark, I could use the gausian blur on my PS6 if I needed it. The book Flatland calls for a stark 3D presentation in my mind. Grimtwist is as humorous as ever. Sean, I read here that one should not choose jpeg as a PS7 default and that the .01 patch has worked for many.

So you actually have PS7 available and yet instead of just installing it you came here first to ask if you should?? If you are in fact still using the 1995 version that puts you at version 3 and by no stretch of the imagination is PS7 not superior to PS3. I can't believe that anyone would even think to ask such a thing. PS3 doesn't "seem" like the dark ages in comparrison to PS7, it actually is. The thing to keep in mind however is that PS7 will not "do" anything for you to improve your artwork. You still have to do that yourself. While PS7 is a vast improvement over PS3 that improvement means nothing if artistically, you are not an improvement over the 1995 version yourself. If you're skill level hasen't improved then the most advanced software in the world will do nothing for you. Keep in mind this is not a critic of YOUR work, this statement applies to anyone who asks what new versions of software will "do better for them". It sounds as though the problems that Sean is experiencing no doubt stem from his own computer and not from PS7. PS7.0.1 is completely stable.

It was a fair and open ended question that allows for all kinds of editorializing including, ahem, yours. Well its time for an install... :)

i don't even mean gaussian blur, the colours would seem more realistic, and had i been fully awake at the time i would've pointed out that some people just use the paintbrush anyway, the artist is what mostly matters..... but the filters for PS7 are pretty kewl :)

Yes, just install the bloody thing.

Lol, you spent $150.00 (upgrade) and then didn't install it yet? Photoshop is pretty much like any piece of software, it only does what you tell it. It's not truly that one version is better than the other, it's what the artist can do that really matters. Actually, It's just about the only thing that matters. Although, I will say the Heal brush in Photoshop 7 is voodoo magic amazing. It makes my producing seamless tiles seem like cheating it's so easy.

To paraphrase JFK: Ask not what your software can do for you but what you can do with your software.

Fear not the weapon, but the artist holding it, lol.

This is getting pretty funny now :) Yeah I have had v7 for almost 6 months now :O Worse than that I have an 18 inch Wacom I haven't taken out of the box yet.

omg, INSTALL INSTALL INSTALL!!!! an 18inch wacom?? I don't care what model, that would be my hardware-of-choice, i'm still stuck with a 4x6....

If you buy a new car do you actually drive it or do you just leave it parked in the garage and ask others if you should drive it? ;-)

I don't know. My wife ALWAYS gets the new car!!!

:)
retrocity

One more item to add to the "reasons to stay single" list. :-)

wacoms, cars, wives...I wish I could afford such things!

psss.... buddy.... wanna buy a slightly used wife for 50 bucks?

Perhaps I should wait for Photoshop 50 when one will be able to control nanobots to construct 3 dimensional self replicating living luminous tissue layers for that realistic look prosumers have come to expect from their Cray PC's.

Along with Illustrator 50.001 one could vector a new wife every week. Does she go mate? know what I mean, know what I mean smudge smudge...

If that US$50.00 antevark? How many miles has she done?

Well my PS7 won't take the upgrade to 7.0.1 of course the upgrade only : fixes a number of problems discovered after Photoshop 7.0 was released. (yeah right) The most significant fixes in the 7.0.1 release include the following: Photoshop now saves alpha transparency data in Targa files in the same way it did in previous versions. If the color settings color management policy is set to "Off," Photoshop no longer asks to save changes unless other edits have been performed. The total ink now defaults to 300% as it did in previous versions of Photoshop. The color of white areas in CMYK files saved as JPEG no longer shifts. TIFF files with LZW compression are now written correctly. Photoshop offers better compatibility with older model G4 and Intel Pentium III computers. When installed on a hard drive whose name contains extended characters, Photoshop no longer reports that certain required files were not found in the Adobe Photoshop required folder. Metadata is better preserved in certain JPEG files. Photoshop now defaults to the last saved directory when saving new files. It no longer defaults to the TWAIN directory if one is present. Changing monitor configurations no longer causes problems while Photoshop or Adobe ImageReady is running. Photoshop no longer produces a program error when resampling certain large 16-bit documents. An issue that prevented Photoshop 6 from opening certain files containing layer effects and edited in Photoshop 7 has been fixed. The Maximize Backwards Compatibility for Photoshop Files preference now correctly sets the state of the Maximize Compatibility checkbox in the Photoshop Format Options dialog box when you save a file as Photoshop (PSD) format. Other people upgrading from 6 have the same lock out as me since I read this in the adobe forum.

It took you 8 years to update from version 3 and suddenly you're hot for the .1 update to 7? What's your rush? ;-)

Lockout, huh? Maybe the update is doing a serial check? lol...

That would be my guess AS. As long as you're upgrading from a licensed copy of 7, installing 7.0.1 is no problem. There is no "lockout". The only reason it would not work is if you are trying to upgrade from a version other than 7. 7.0.1 is a free update for current users of 7. Why would Adobe want to lockout licensed users from a free update? You didn't try to go directly from 3 to 7.0.1 did you??

Actually if you don't have "Administrator" permissions when you run the update, it'll crap-out on you too!

Had it happen at the office and had the "IT" guys scratching their heads (and these guys are ANAL about licensing!) until someone realize the user was still logged in as themself.

:)
retrocity

Great, now none of my picture browsers will display an image !! Well this sucks

Well, if it didn't work out for you, just take 7 off your machine and reinstall version 3 again or contact Adobe support by phone or email and tell them of your problem with 7. I'm sure they know how to install it adn make it work.

I bet retrocity hit it on the head since I went directly to the update download through google and didn't sign in at the adobe site.

Perhaps. Try signing in and downloading it again. Report back with results.

man, i still use the original version by Aldus, lets see someone beat that one!

Attached Link: http://peachpit.com/content/images/0321115643/excerpts/0321115643_pp117-122.pdf

dang, I was caught in my lie...