PSE11 is out!

Well, the organizer is completely redesigned. Totally different from previous versions. I'll leave it to organizer fans as to whether good or bad.

In the editor: actions panel, easy to load styles and stuff (no more worrying about mediadatabase.db3), lens blur filter, ACR7, refine edge deluxe edition, tilt-shift, low key, high key and other new guided edits, new illustration type filters with a different kind of dialog than any of the older filters (comic, graphic novel, pen and ink).

Oh, and a button in the prefs to delete the preferences. It's definitely a lot different from previous versions in many ways.

Organizer changes go much deeper than that. Click the tabs at the top. Now face recognition, map placement, events, all have their own "rooms". Adobe is slowly moving towards a more automated kind of tagging. It's not cosmetic only, not at all, but a different paradigm. I'd strongly encourage anyone who's a heavy user of organizer to give the trial a good hard workout to see how differently it operates.

Trust me. Try face tagging something and see, for instance.

Any 16-bit tool functionality or 64-bit program functionality in PSE11?

16 bit support is the same as in PSE 10. You can open 16 bit files, convert to 16 bit in ACR, do basic edits, but no support for layers, artistic filters, etc.

photodrawken wrote:

 

Barbara B. wrote:

 

Well, the organizer is completely redesigned. Totally different from previous versions. I'll leave it to organizer fans as to whether good or bad.

Yes, the re-design is cosmetic only -- the truly needed feature of searching for items in a specific folder, or a "NOT" clause for items in multiple tags (or albums) are still missing.

 

Switching between what used to be called "Thumbnail View" and "Folder View' is nice, and the new list of folders which contain imported images is welcome.

 

Oh, and did I mention that the new ugly, bright, garish UI is awful?  It also wastes too much screen space.

 

Ken

That bright UI was a huge turn-off for me as well.

And still no kerning/spacing of text like I requested a couple versions back? Really?

Quite agree about the bright garish UI...that was really not called for. Any way of changing shades of grey there?

Nope.

Anyone know whether it is 64bit?  Tired of running out of memory on creating panos when trying to do cleanup.

Hi,

PSE is a 32 bit application. Please confirm what error you are getting.

Paint Shop Pro X5 has added a lot more 16-bit tool functionality than even PSPX4 had.

Barbara B. wrote:

 

Organizer changes go much deeper than that. Click the tabs at the top. Now face recognition, map placement, events, all have their own "rooms". Adobe is slowly moving towards a more automated kind of tagging. It's not cosmetic only, not at all, but a different paradigm. I'd strongly encourage anyone who's a heavy user of organizer to give the trial a good hard workout to see how differently it opera

I agree this is another paradigm. Spectacular cosmetic changes, important changes towards 'automation', a lot of changes in details (too many to cite even with only a couple of hours testing).

I am ready to bet that 'heavy users' won't be satisfied at all. Future 'heavy users' may be...

- the main advantage is the double folder view : that of the Explorer, that of the database. Nice, but with two fundamental limitations. Easy managing of individual subfolders but no possibility to work on one folder and its subfolders at the same time. Then, no coherent way to move the files of a disk to another. What was possible with my PSE6 is no longer possible with PSE10 or PSE11. Heavy users still miss the old folder view.

- no progress in the search methods in the 'Find' menu. No .NOT. and 'XOR' logical operators. No way to 'Find' by drive letter or substring of a path.

- Heavy users necessarily rely on keywords and categories. Selecting and combining multiple keywords and categories must now be done in the 'Find' menu : too many steps and too small display space means that using the 'keyword' panel is a joke.

- I understand that many users will be interested with the automatic features, the face recognition and map view. The 'event' category is already covered by keywords. But I shall never use those 3 new views, they are a waste of display space for me. Just for the fun, try to imagine how much work would be needed to translate my present categories of People, locations and events in the new panel.

- I have already found a lot of 'details'which have been changed. Conversion of old catalogs works well and the thumbnail cache seems to be 'converted', not re-created. I may find many other nice additions.

- There are still important missing features for advanced users, like being able to choose to open jpegs in ACR, and possibly several jpegs at the same time... Suggestion for PSE12

When creating panos and you want it to fill in the missing bits (on the

edges) it will start and then give an out of memory error (this is on a

MBP with 16GB of memory)

graydl, go into the Editor's preferences>performance, and up the memory available to PSE to the max. It may help.

I have already done that.  Still gives out of memory error messages.

Ken, try View>Show People in Tags panel.

How many photos and how large are the files? It's always tended to do this. If you turn on Geometric Distortion that helps sometimes. Also, using the Collage Merge may work, since that often leaves less space needing a fill.

Anywhere from 3 to 8.  The files are 8 bit tiffs converted from Raws in LR.  About 25MB each.  I use LR for most of my post processing and only use PSE for panos and the occastional removal of items from a photos (posts, signs, etc).  Sounds like there is going to be no reason to upgrade for me if it does not improve the Panos.  Maybe I will bite the bullet and go to ps6.

Only I am running on os x.  Still I could run it in Parallels.  I also do

some perspective correction ( I do a lot of architectural photography) and

the tools in CS6 are  somewhat better than PSE anyway.  I keep turning

down the $299 upgrade offers but maybe not the next time.

Is there a Perspective Distortion feature as in Photoshop CSx on the Cropping Tool? I am aware of the other one in PSE10, but it is not as powerful. PSPXxx and DxO also have very handy tools for difficult perspective corrections.

There are a number of pano programs for mac, too: hugin, panorama factory, ptgui, etc. I haven't used any of them in a long time so I can't say which are worth it or which are compatible with 10.8 if that's what you're running. PTGUI does some perspective correction, IIRC.

You can skew and drag points but in PSE (9 at any rate) only in the

corners (so far as I know).  In CS6 I think you can create additional

nodes to give you finer controls on that.

Thanks Ken...much appreciated!

photodrawken wrote:

 

MichelBParis wrote:
But I shall never use those 3 new views, they are a waste of display space for me. Just for the fun, try to imagine how much work would be needed to translate my present categories of People, locations and events in the new panel.

One thing I found that requires a lot more effort and "mousing around" in PSE11:  try switching back and forth between displaying all tags under the "People" category and all tags under another tag category.

 

Ken

I must admit I just had a look at the help links given by Hyadav  in the other post. There are ways to use the keyword panel I had not imagined.

I am waiting also for the links to the pdf help files.

In anyone's opinion so far, is it worth the upgrade from elements 10?

Dave Quail wrote:

 

In anyone's opinion so far, is it worth the upgrade from elements 10?

In my opinion, after the first day of testing PSE11 I agree that it is by far the biggest change in any version, and that is agreeing to most comments on the web.

Indepedent commentators stress the fact that the interface has been drastically changed towards the target audience  which includes a lot of beginners or occasional users. Two or three key changes : the clear interface, the new 'views' and automated processes.

That alone will appeal to that audience and make old advanced users unhappy to have to learn the new interface.

Let's be clear that I am in the minority camp... I don't like the new clear desk, I won't use any of the new 'views' or automated processes and I feel uneasy while trying to learn the new ways and shortcuts to do what I was used to (I am still using PSE6 besides PSE10...)

I am still prudent while testing the trial version because so many changes may imply new glitches. I was one to hope for bug fixes and ease of use rather than new features. By that time, I consider that a lot has been made to correct bugs or glitches : it's even a good surprise.

Are the new features in editor and Organizer worth the change for me ?

- I was already very pleased with the PSE10 editor. I find the changes useful. Enough to upgrade ?

- The key changes I see in the Organizer are different for my own use : a double sided folder view, a 'missing files' search on par with Lightroom, easy catalog upgrading and more confidence in the bug fixing. That's definitely worth the change, even if I am different from the typical target audience.

I would compare the new features I won't use in PSE11 to the addition of video in DSLR features : many photographers were shocked with the addition of 'impure' video in new cameras and asked for 'photo-only' cameras, hoping for a lesser price... but economic laws say that video addition greatly increased the sales volume, which made cameras cheaper! I am not shocked to use the same software as begginers : I am also in the same league as professionals using Lightroom .AND. Elements

So, is it worth the upgrade for YOU ?

I have had a good look around both PSE 11 and PSPX5, and have purchased PSPX5 today. Wow, what a major difference in functionality and ease-of-use. There are way more tools, etc. than PSE has ever had.