What version of Photoshop do you use?

I have been thinking about getting adobe photoshop for a while and then when I found out about SL I only want it more. So what version would be the best for making clothing and textures? Also what version do you use?

Phtoshop CS2 (version 9) is the latest version. You can find older versions for a lot less money of you search, but of course they won't be as full featured. Generally speaking though, Photoshop hasn't changed a whole lot since version 7, except to add some very nice time-saving bells & whistles. If do you get 7, you'll probably want to upgrade it to 7.01 with the free download from Adobe's website. 7 had a different method for transparency in TGA files than all other versions of Photoshop. The 7.01 patch changes it to match all the others. I'd recommend getting the latest version though, as with all things.

To answer your question about what I use, I use Photoshop CS. I'd love to be using CS2, but I haven't been able to justify spending the money to upgrade. It's got some nice new features I'd like to take advantage of, but pretty much all of these center on time-saving tools, meaning there's nothing it can do that I'm not already able to do with the methods I'm already using. Also, I still have 7 installed, and I find myself using it for certain things out of habit. If you're new to Phtoshop, you won't have any of these version-specific habits, so you might as well start out clean with the most modern tool set.

I use Jasc Paintshop Pro 9

Buy CS2 if you are getting it for the first time. The latest software will retain it's functional value the longest.

I always buy the latest version of any software product at the time and use it for as long as I can possibly stand before I feel I'm losing my professional edge (which is not long sometimes). With PS, I own so many third party plugins for it that are not forewards compatible that I still use version 7.01 about 80% of the time, swithching between that and CS2. As I continue to upgrade the plugins, this will obviously change in favor of CS2.

I'm using CS2, and, Chosen, with all due respect, IMHO some of the new features do much more than simply save time.

Image Warp, for instance, gives you handles, like bezier curve handles, on the corners of a selection; which allows you to use envelopes on your textures. (I believe that PSP has had this for some time, but PS never did before.)

Smart Objects can be resized over and over without losing their detail. I love that. It means that I can experiment with things like the size of a tattoo, the buttons on a garment, and so on without having to save each size on its own layer. Which might be counted as a time or memory saver, since you can certainly resize things with CS, but is worth its weight in RAM for me.

Most of the other really great new additions aren't particularly aplicable to SL, but I like them. For instance, the new ability to take a bunch of bracketed photographs and make them into a single High Dynamic Range (HDR) image is wonderful. I plan to use it quite a bit to make textures using HRDI lighting in LightWave.

I can also (finally) simply save an HDR image from other 3D renderers, and manipulate it directly in Photoshop, without losing any of its range. Or I can make it into a normal image, and import that into SL as a texture, with both highlight detail and open shadows.

I also love the new Optical Lens Correction. It lets me "fix" photographs, so all the lines are straight, without having to try to juggle things in the Liquify filter. For me, it's much more accurate, so does more than save time.

And the Vanishing Point filter is going to make my First Life a lot easier, too. I love that one.

But, yeah, I use CS2, and, personally, found the upgrade worth every penny.

OK great, I am looking into buying it.
I am actually buying it off of a friend and he would give me CS for $50 and CS2 for $70, on the other hand he would give me PS7 for free lol. He used to do a lot with photoshop at his old job but now he has quit and no longer has use of it which means I get a great deal on the stuff

Although, I am just learning how to create stuff with CS, for SL.

I have used it to create stuff for another MMPORG game and love it then. Sold my creations too cuz it works so well and real. Espeically if you know how to clone, with the clone stamp thingy. =D

My favorite tool to use


GoldieFawn Fielding

I agree with those suggesting you purchase the latest version. Photoshop is a tool that will be an asset for years to come, get it now!

I'm still using PS 7 (7.01, to be exact). It does what I need, and I'm comfortable with it. I may look into upgrading to CS2 when I have the spare cash, but right now I'm saving my money for a new system.

I do have Gimp installed on my system, but I haven't really had the opportunity to explore all of it's features. There are some SL'rs who swear by it. And there are plenty of designers using PSP with great results. So, for me at least, the answer is use whatever tools give you the best results.

cs2 ...it RAWKS!

I use PS7 at home and PS CS at work.

If you're just starting out, and it sounds like you are, I'd recommend going cheaper with a copy of PS7 rather than blow money on a version of CS2. The main differences between 7 and CS2 are higher-end, more advanced things like others have mentioned in this thread...chances are by the time you're at the level to utilize them, Adobe will have another PS version out. Go cheap, go older if you're just learning how to use PS, as others have said most of the program will be exactly the same as the newer versions.

My second recommendation is to spend the money you save on a Wacom tablet. Its SO much more intuitive than using a mouse for working on highlights, dodge/burn, details for skins & clothes, etc. Once you get the hang of that, its worth its weight in gold...I also find it helps relieve carpal tunnel stress to switch to a tablet when photoshopping.

On a side note, I think I might look into upgrading to CS2 for my work machine, some of those features sound awesome.

Careful. Photoshop CS & CS2 require acitvation from Adobe. It's not an easy task to transfer ownership. If he got it from work, then chances are the company owns the license, which means you'll never be able to activate it. If it's his personal copy, then he's legally free to sell it to you if he's no longer using it, but convincing Adobe that it's now yours and not his can be a real headache. A single activation is good for up to 3 machines, so you might be able to get away with activating once, maybe even twice, if your friend has only put it on or two computers, but if you ever have to re-install you might run into trouble. I'd highly recommend making sure everything is kosher with Adobe BEFORE you pay him for it, meaning both of you get on the phone with Adobe support, explain the situation, and make sure they understand they need to delete his previous activations from their system.



These new features sound great, and you almost had me sold for a minute, but when I think about it, I still come to the conclusion that they aren't anything I can't do now. The image warp thing is something I've been wondering since day one why Photoshop doesn't have, but I've gotten so used to compensating for its absense in other ways that having it now would be nothing more than a time saver, same with the HDR thing. As for the resizing thing, that's easy enough to do by just making sure you only ever resize copies of layers, never the original, which is the way I always do it anyhow. I was intrigued by the vanishing pint filter when I first saw it, but then I thought, "you know what though, I do that by hand all the time as it is with the distort transformation. Is that really worthwhile?" The lens correction sounds very useful, but again, I straigten out images all the time already without it.

Don't get me wrong; I'd love to have all these things. They sound awesome. I'm just not quite convinced yet that the convenience is worth the extra money. Keep talking though, and you might change my mind.

What Chosen said about Activation. It can be Deactivated, though, so your friend should be able to deactivate it before he sells it to you. But yes, I would highly recommend checking with Adobe before you buy it from him.

Chosen, the real kicker for me was the HDRI stuff. That's the one thing that I really couldn't do any other way. But, if you don't use .hdr images, I can see where it wouldn't be worth the money for you.

All I had to know was that it would open and save Radiance (.hdr) files, and manipulate them to some extent, and I put my money down.

I like being able to tweak the exposure of the individual channels, although you can't make layered images with 32 bits/channel yet. (When they come out with Adjustment Layers in 32 bits, I'm buying that one, too. ) But I can work around that by setting exposures for the highlights, and for the shadows, and saving them out as 16 bits both ways.

Best of all, for me, is being able to make .hdr files from plain old photographs. I use them for radiosity lighting in LightWave, and I'm planning to make a bunch of textures for SL that way.

I really wish that there was Normal Mapping in SL, but that's just dreaming, I know.

Last year I bit the bullet and went from photoshop 5 to CS.