01-09-2007, 07:34 AM
Just upgraded from 3.x (from a week ago) to the new 4.x version and found a few things to like a bunch not to like.
GOOD:
1. Greatly anhanced sculpting control allows each element to be experimented with differently.
2. overall Brightness/contrast controls bulti-in product might reduce one photoshop step. (note: I still find myself always using PS or Paintshop first because I need unsharp mask for the eyes and crop features.)
3. easy to see affected areas of the photo. Allows me to smooth out an nearby body part to match the face. Also allows easy correction of areas that PP gets "confused" on.
4. can now resize Restore brush. and it has UNDO! Thank you. Was so annoying when I had an image almost perfect then mucked it up with a sloppy restore brush stroke and had to start over.
BAD:
1. Now FAR slower on medium to slow PCs. I could process a 6megapixel image in 5 sec before, now takes closer to 20+). Screen redraws, while more accurate, are also slower.
2. Defaults not as user friendly. You turned on face sculpting by default? I always find myself moving it to zero, then slowly dragging it up again. Also, Are you screwing with the skin tone by default? I seem to get slightly tan/green hues a lot now after the initial processing, and can't easily rid myself of it.
3. Difficult to understand how sliders and subliders interact. If I reduce Eyebrow sculpting to ZERO but raise left eyebrow to 15, and right eyebrow to 15, what should happen? Nothing?
4. Where is the baseline of a value relative to the original photo? Is it Zero, all the way to the left, the middle value, or where you set it by default? Once I change it, how do I get it back to looking like the original if I don't want to adjust that value?
5. I miss simple mode. I could blow through a pic in 90 seconds in the old mode... but now with the confusing defaults, I have to adjust LOTS of sliders and am spending up to 10min on each photo. This is a PAIN for doing multiple shots, though welcome for the final master print.
Is there a way to go back to only having 3.x sliders?
GOOD:
1. Greatly anhanced sculpting control allows each element to be experimented with differently.
2. overall Brightness/contrast controls bulti-in product might reduce one photoshop step. (note: I still find myself always using PS or Paintshop first because I need unsharp mask for the eyes and crop features.)
3. easy to see affected areas of the photo. Allows me to smooth out an nearby body part to match the face. Also allows easy correction of areas that PP gets "confused" on.
4. can now resize Restore brush. and it has UNDO! Thank you. Was so annoying when I had an image almost perfect then mucked it up with a sloppy restore brush stroke and had to start over.
BAD:
1. Now FAR slower on medium to slow PCs. I could process a 6megapixel image in 5 sec before, now takes closer to 20+). Screen redraws, while more accurate, are also slower.
2. Defaults not as user friendly. You turned on face sculpting by default? I always find myself moving it to zero, then slowly dragging it up again. Also, Are you screwing with the skin tone by default? I seem to get slightly tan/green hues a lot now after the initial processing, and can't easily rid myself of it.
3. Difficult to understand how sliders and subliders interact. If I reduce Eyebrow sculpting to ZERO but raise left eyebrow to 15, and right eyebrow to 15, what should happen? Nothing?
4. Where is the baseline of a value relative to the original photo? Is it Zero, all the way to the left, the middle value, or where you set it by default? Once I change it, how do I get it back to looking like the original if I don't want to adjust that value?
5. I miss simple mode. I could blow through a pic in 90 seconds in the old mode... but now with the confusing defaults, I have to adjust LOTS of sliders and am spending up to 10min on each photo. This is a PAIN for doing multiple shots, though welcome for the final master print.
Is there a way to go back to only having 3.x sliders?