is CS2 worth it?

[swine]

Hey guys,

I'm still using PS:CS1 and with the amount i'm working these days (as a bar tender sadly) i have a spare bit of cash lying around. I'm still a student so obviously i can use that to get the academic discount on CS2, so my question is; Is CS2 a big upgrade to CS1, and does it justify the price? I mainly use PS and illustator so not much point in getting the whole creative suite as i could better put the money towards Poser 6 etc. I don't really use PS from a photographers point of view, so i'm wondering if many of the new features will be of much (if any) benefit.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[bigcloud]

This from the perspective of one who has NOT upgraded beyond CS1 yet. I feel like the only thing that I'm really missing out on is the Bridge. Since I don't have a need for this all that often (The File Browser in CS1 is working fine for now) I haven't gone so far as to take the leap. I'm working more and more in Illustrator than ever before and I find that I'm curious to its upgrades more than I am Photoshop's. I guess the only other features I look forward to using are those found with Camera Raw. Until the funds allow it, I'll stick to CS1. :D

[lasa]

The only thing that really calls me toward CS2 is the warp tool..I distort alot of pictures to fit my needs.. the rest..ehh? So far it seems I can do what I need to do fine on CS in fact 7 was OK..the day I feel slowed down...then we'll move on up to the east side..Until then CS is fine.
Lasa

[centurion]

Dont forget the exposure tool.

[snickgrr]

Swine, I think in your case, CS is good enough not to update. The Bridge is great, but the file browser like bigcloud suggests should suffice. I personally use the Vanishing Point feature quite abit to extend backgrounds but seeing how your use of Pshop is not photographically weighted then that is not much of a draw for you. Use your money elsewhere until you perceive a real need for the upgrade.

[MrJelly]

Spot heal is one of the biggest differences for me. Nice for speed-retouching. They've improved the colour profile interface (finally!) but that's another learning curve, might be as much a liability as anything. Merge to HDR is IMNSHO verging on the completely useless unless you use HDR environment maps for something, and even then you might as well just use PanoStitch.

Oh yeah, and of course Camera RAW is the best thing since sliced bread. Since you seem to be hitting the photos, I'd think about it just for that.

[Scott W.]

Illustrator is DEFINITELY worth upgrading.

I spend my days in Illustrator and Photoshop. I do have CS and CS2.

Photoshop.... unless you're doing a lot of perspective repairs (vanishing point) and don't need a system wide file browser (Bridge) you can probably do without the Photoshop CS2 update. Although the new layers palette makes some jobs a whole hell of a lot easier to manage.

But with Illustrator.. it's faster and leaner. Much more so in my experience than CS was. If you do any autotracing then Live Trace will be worth the upgrade. And some really love the Live Paint feature. I personally, can do without live paint. The savable workspaces in CS2 is also a great addition as is the control bar similar to Photoshops.

[markzebra]

Its not really a major upgrade to Photoshop - not unless you are in a very specialised situation. Theres really not that much in CS2 that you've not got in CS1 - unless you...

* Are a photographer with an extremely heavy output wanting to use high bit RAW files
* You want to use Smart objects - they are a nice toy but everying is still achievable in CS1
* you would like to do mesh distortions (still available anyway in CS1 using Liquify)
* you do a lot of perspective work and would like to use vanishing point (you could still do these things using perspective distortions in CS1 anyway)

The important point is that theres nothing genuinely new that you can do in CS2 that you couldnt do before. Apart from HDR (high dynamic range) and that probably doesn't apply to you.

98% of the product you need is there in CS1 - and a LOT for you to learn. You could spend 3 years learning Photoshop 5 alone!

[Kevin Connery]

The built-in RAW converter is substantially better in CS2 than in CS. For me, that alone was worth the price of upgrading. But I use PS almost entirely for photography, not graphics.

More support for 16 bit is nice, but not critical.

The bridge is very nice, but could be worked around if you've got another browsing tool. (iView, ACDSee, etc.)

[swine]

hmmm.... i suspect i shall delay the upgrade for awhile. My 'artistic' direction seems to be taking me further away from anything to do with actual photos. Seem to be using my wacom at every given oportunity and like scott seem to be using illustrator a lot. The upgrades in Illustrator seem more inline with the way i'm moving than the PS upgrade. Hell, might even save the money for a decent camera, although then i'll want the CS2 RAW power!!! damn!! lose/lose situation! ;) In a way it's kinda pointless to i suppose as i really don't have that much free time these days between uni and work to persue creative interests, which is a bit saddening really. Ah well... not long left till i finish uni.

Thanks for the 'no BS' advice guys. I really do appriciate it.

p.s. when will adobe ever release the upgrade that contains the 'totally-uber-ultra-1337-killer-gaming clan-one click sig making filter' ? A lot of the kids who post on the CounterStrike (and many other FPS games) forums seem convinced there is one, but i just must not have found it.Maybe I'll add it to the feature request forum, just for the kids' sakes.

[MrJelly]

p.s. when will adobe ever release the upgrade that contains the 'totally-uber-ultra-1337-killer-gaming clan-one click sig making filter' ?

:lol:

I think that one came out a while back, they called it Bryce ;)

[markzebra]

Illustrator CS2 is a really great upgrade because it seems to be faster, and theres not so many of those lags that have annoyed me all the way back to version 9. I know I'm repeating what Scott said but just used it for a full day at work for the first time today and its a smooth as a .. well nearly as smooth as Illustrator 8 on OS 9. Type tool seems to be faster and a lot less clunky too. Im impressed.

[Skunkhuffer]

I love the Shadow/Highlight tool!! It's amazing if you're a photographer looking to do some quick post processing. Also Smart Objects are realllllly nice too.

[Xdax]

p.s. when will adobe ever release the upgrade that contains the 'totally-uber-ultra-1337-killer-gaming clan-one click sig making filter' ? A lot of the kids who post on the CounterStrike (and many other FPS games) forums seem convinced there is one, but i just must not have found it.Maybe I'll add it to the feature request forum, just for the kids' sakes.

ROFL. Sig making is dumb, but I do admit it is fun XD .
I would be lmao if Adobe ever release the uber on click sig making thing.
There already is a : 'totally-uber-ultra-1337-killer-gaming clan-MILLIONS of clicks sig making thingy' and that is called Custom Brushes

Well back on topic XD :
I have both CS and CS2 and there is some differences IMO but its not a major upgrade. If you use PS for gfx then I dont reccomend the upgrade at all. Because the only major additions are Bridge and Vanishing point which are both made for photography.

Id wait for CS3

[Angusdog]

Quite a few of the adjustments (Replace colour, etc) now work on CMYK images. That in itself has paid for the upgrade for me, and often not mentioned in reviews of the upgrade. Also, smart objects copied from Freehand work really well. Bridge is a waste of space for me.

[FireEmblem87]

"when will adobe ever release the upgrade that contains the 'totally-uber-ultra-1337-killer-gaming clan-one click sig making filter' ? A lot of the kids who post on the CounterStrike (and many other FPS games) forums seem convinced there is one, but i just must not have found it.Maybe I'll add it to the feature request forum, just for the kids' sakes."

ROTFL :D

I've always gotten a kick out of seeing threads entitled "How do I make a sig??/??" on those kind of forums. As if it's just that cut and dry. :P

I do enjoy making sigs, though. :)