Adobe releases Photoshop 7.0 digital imaging upgrade

Adobe Systems have released Adobe Photoshop 7.0, a major upgrade to the world's professional image editing standard.
Photoshop 7.0 boasts an extensive set of new features that allow photographers, web and graphic designers to work more efficiently, explore new creative options and produce the highest quality images for print, web and other media. Photoshop 7.0 provides enhanced multi-processor support and inter-operability with other native Adobe applications such as Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows XP.
Photoshop 7.0 software delivers a comprehensive toolset that helps users meet any creative or production challenge. The new healing brush revolutionises the process of retouching images, effortlessly removing dust, scratches, blemishes and wrinkles, while automatically preserving shading, lighting, texture and other attributes. The new file browser allows users to quickly locate, organise and visually manage images, as well as view EXIF information from digital cameras, including date captured, exposure settings, and associated metadata.
The creative tools in Photoshop 7.0 help design professionals to generate compelling visual effects and stay ahead of the competition. A new painting engine lets users create custom brush presets, simulate techniques like pastels and charcoal, and add special effects such as grass and leaves, while the new Pattern Maker plug-in can create patterns such as rocks and sand. An enhanced Liquify plug-in provides even greater control over image warping with zoom, pan and multiple undo capabilities.
"Photoshop 7.0 does a beautiful job of building on the advances of previous versions to make 7.0 the most powerful, most amazing, and most useful release of Photoshop ever," said Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals.
"The new healing brush may be the single coolest tool in Photoshop ever, and when you use it, all you can do is shake your head and say: 'How in the world does it do that?' It's that cool."
Photoshop 7.0 includes ImageReady 7.0, the advanced web component providing new output enhancements so web designers can apply extra compression to images while maintaining the quality of text and vector shape layers, as well as exercise greater control over how transparency is maintained online.
Adobe Systems, www.adobe.co.uk
(GMcG)