The next version of Adobe Photoshop, CS6, should have a new look and a significant array of new tools, early betas are said to show. Builds compiled earlier this month are described by AppleInsider as having a darker-toned, more Aperture-like aesthetic, although Adobe is at least temporarily providing users with the option of reverting back to the style of Photoshop CS5. The CS6 software is also said to include new palette icons, although these should be still recognizable enough to avoid confusion.
The focus of new tool additions is believed to be on 3D. "3D Material Drop" and "3D Material Eyedropper" options have been added, along with a new "3D Text" command. Similarly, the Preferences pane now has "Allow Direct to Screen" and "Auto-Hide Layers" options for "Interactive Rendering."
Also added are new "Rich Cursor" toggles, "Show on Hover" and "Show on Interaction." Some other potential adjustments include "Invert Camera Axis" and "Separate Axis Controls" under "Axis Control," plus an "Interactive Shadows Quality" drop-down that determines shadow rendering. The Healing Brush palette has been given a "Remix Tool," while the Crop Tool palette has been given a "Perspective Crop" variant.
General Preferences options let users snap vector tools and transforms to the pixel grid, or vary round brush hardness with vertical HUD movement. Under the Interface tab, people can opt to enable drop shadows for text, or show transformation values. Under File Handling, "Save in Background" and "Automatically Save Recovery Information Every..." options have been added. For File Compatibility, people can choose to ignore rotation metadata, or disable compression of PSD and PSB files. The Type tab, oddly, has had two options removed, those being "Show Asian Text Options" and "Font Preview Size."
Sources claim that Creative Suite 6 could ship sometime around May of 2012.
Adobe Photoshop CS6 – New Features: Crop Perspective Tool [Pre-release]
