Whose tried it? what new features are there/did you like? dislike? I'm downloading the trial now, thought i could use some reviews

check this thread out

http://photoshopcontest.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=13861&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

for cryin' out loud! PUPPET WARP!!!???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG8g3RYIFAU

Puppet warp will be great, far more control than regular warp. There are so many quantum leaps in this new version that blows me away. It's almost magic. This version will give people a jump start on their contest entries over people who have to spend 50 times the time spent doing cleanup and cut outs. It's almost too fantastic of a program. It may actually become an issue in the future at this site against the haves and have-nots.

there was no PS 7 button

In general I am disappointed by PS CS5.
I mainly do photo retouching so I maybe am looking at it in a different way than many of you who use PS to create completely new images.

First, when upgrading (from CS4) it did not copy any of the old settings, like preferences, presets, 3rd party filters and work spaces to the new version.
Second, for some reason it does not support Open GL for my graphics card when using the rotate tool, but it did in CS4 ... I wrote Adobe about it 2 weeks ago, but no answer yet. So now I often return to CS4 when I need to be able to rotate images during editing.

The content aware fill is disappointing. It is only useful when the background of the cut-out object is not too complex. In most cases it is just not content aware enough or it clearly just copies patterns and objects that thus become repetitive and need retouching again.
The same goes for the content aware setting of the healing brush.

The puppet warp is indeed cool, although I don't have a lot of use for it.

The "refine edges" options in masks and selections is a big improvement. No need for additional masking plug-ins anymore. This is a new feature that you will use in almost every editing session.

Problems with CS4 and the combined tilt and pressure options of Intuos4 (in CS4 you can use only one option): I think it still does not work as it should, but need some time to test it better.

I noticed that tool tips appear very slowly. It takes about 3 seconds. After that it appears immediately for a while. Seems that the initial loading of it is not designed very well. (I have a pretty fast computer, so I exclude my config as a cause).

Automated lens correction: at the moment definitions of just a few cameras and lenses are available. This is just a matter of time and then it will become quite useful.

Camera RAW has much improved noise reduction features. I did not test it as my workflow starts in Lightroom and I can wait until LR3.

In short (so far), the "refine edges" feature is fantastic, but for all the other new stuff I could have done just as well with CS4.

Indeed! probably the best back in the day..

thanks, pictorescue for that first-hand review.

i wasctually going to include ps7 as it's what ilearned on, but i figured i'd go with the newer versions only. i actually have thought about goin back to 7, because the newer features, while useful, aren't worth losing ps7's speed...oh well...viva la revolution right?

so i tried it. i love it. the puppet warp is a very cool, and useful tool. alos the content-aware fill is amazing when it can be used. the new content-aware healing tool also is very useful. Content-Aware is my new favorite hyphenated word! Also this is the first version of PS i have ever worked on animated GIF's with, which is very cool.

It does support Open GL
The rotate tool is behind the hand tool.
If it isn't turned on go to preferences and check the Open GL box.

i've just got it today and had no time to test it properly...but it sure looks cool

let us know once you've used it!

I got it a few days ago, and love it so far, haven't had the chance to use the content-aware fill stuff... The puppet warp looks cool, haven't actually used it much though. BUT, I upgraded from CS3 and I'm in LOVE with the rotatable canvas and the blender tool, mixing brush, whatever it's called. I love it overall