Only once in the history of Photoshop has Adobe released a free public beta, until now. Photoshop CS6 Beta is now available for free download from Adobe, for a limited time (the beta will eventually expire, though at the moment there doesn’t seem to be a set date for that to happen).

This is a beta release, and while Adobe says they’ve done thorough testing, there are bound to still be some bugs. To that end, make sure that if you’re working on a critical project, you’re prepared for that (and that you save often!).

During a couple days of testing, I never ran into issues with CS6, but that’s not to say you won’t. That’s just the nature of a beta product. Below, check out my thoughts on what CS6 has to offer.

Amazing performance gains

One of the first things any regular Photoshop user is going to notice is the performance gains. I tested CS6 on a MacBook Pro that’s a few years old; it has a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 8GB of RAM, and the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M. So while it was a powerful enough computer a few years ago, it’s pretty much a base model by today’s standards.

And yet, running filters, saving files, and performing various other tasks—things that had noticeable lag in CS4 and CS5—are almost instantaneous. If you use filters on a regular basis, and especially if you’re on an older machine, upgrading to CS6 is going to save you tons of time and frustration. It’s rare that a new software product comes out that works better on older computers than the older versions, but this is definitely one of those instances.

A more attractive interface

The new default interface for CS6 is significantly more attractive than older versions. It’s got a dark gray background compared to the light gray of older versions.

The good news is that while the interface looks significantly better, the layout is still mostly the same. All of your menus are basically the same, the workspaces are the same (though you’ll notice the addition of a new 3D workspace), and the basic user experience will feel familiar to anyone who’s used older versions of Photoshop.

If you’re not crazy about the new dark interface, you can change it in the Preferences menu. There are four basic color schemes available, including the light gray that previous versions of Photoshop have sported (plus medium gray and black).

Content awareness

The new Content-Aware Move Tool is going to be a lifesaver for a ton of people. While it’s not perfect for every situation, it does make life a lot easier if you need to reposition things within a photo. It seems to work best on images with a fairly random background pattern (I tried it on a photo of a porch floor with regular boards and it was definitely noticeable where the element had been moved from), but even on more uniform or regularly-patterned backgrounds it can do a passable job.

All you have to do to use the Content-Aware Move Tool is trace around what you want to move, and then drag it to its new position. CS6 does the rest, processing and then filling in the background behind the moved element.

Camera Raw for everyone

If you do a lot of photo editing, then the ability to use the Camera Raw interface whether or not an image was shot in Raw format is going to be useful. The controls are easier to use than previous versions, and the new Highlights and Shadows controls (borrowed from Lightroom 4) make it easier to get more detail out of your shots. It’s definitely a huge upgrade for photographers.

Video editing

If you wanted to use Adobe products for video editing, your previous options were limited to Premiere Elements or Premiere Pro. Not anymore. Now you can perform basic video edits right in Photoshop.

While the video editing options are limited, and probably aren’t going to be user-friendly to those used to professional non-linear editing programs (like Premiere or Final Cut Pro), it’s a great option to have for anyone who just wants to cut a basic video. The biggest downside is that while you can apply filters or other effects to your footage, it only does it on a frame-by-frame basis.

Searchable layers

This is possibly one of the most useful features for many designers. How many times have you been working on a design with hundreds of layers? It’s not uncommon. And the biggest issue when working with files that complex is trying to find the layer you need to edit. CS6 brings searchability to your layers, streamlining the process and your workflow.

Typographic enhancements

Setting type in Photoshop is frustrating at times. This is partly due to a lack of typographic controls included in programs like InDesign. CS6 adds Paragraph and Character Styles, which should go a long way toward creating consistent typography in your designs.

A built-in dummy text generator makes things easier for designers, too. Forget about having to turn to the internet for your filler text needs. Just create a text box and then go to the Type menu to find “Paste Lorem Ipsum”. The box will be filled automatically with dummy text. It doesn’t get any easier!

Finally: Auto-Save!

I think every designer out there who’s used Photoshop for any length of time has experienced those horrible crashes and lost minutes (or hours) of work. Finally, in CS6, Photoshop will include an Auto-Save feature.

It also brings Background Save, which means you can keep working in other windows/tabs while your machine saves a file. While save time isn’t really an issue with small files, when working with large photos or other large files, saving files can take a minute or more (which seems like an hour when you’re eager to keep working).

Worth the download

Considering Photoshop CS6 is available as a free limited-time beta, it’s definitely worth the download. In testing, I didn’t run into any bugs, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. To that end, make sure that you save often, and be wary of the newest version if you’re under tight deadlines or otherwise things need to run smoothly.

CS6 is definitely an improvement over CS5, especially for designers. The addition of tools like a Lorem Ipsum generator, basic video editing, and even more awesome photo editing tools, CS6 has really taken Photoshop to an even higher level.

Written exclusively for WDD by Cameron Chapman.

Have you tried the new Photoshop CS6 Beta? What did you think?

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Nowadays it seems that the good video-games era is coming back. Super fancy and graphic elaborated games dominated the early 2000’s , but the simplicity and replayability of games as Plants Vs. Zombies will always be more fun than cinematics and complex plots. Anyway, let’s skip to the tutorial that it’s about this last game.

Well, let’s not enter on a discussion about what are the best good games nowadays, because we have a tutorial to do. I would classify this one as a intermediary tutorial, but even If you’re experienced in Illustrator, you might find some good insights and ideas on it, have fun.

Step 1

So, let’s first open Adobe Illustrator and create a 70 x 15 cm canvas (command + N / ctrl + N).

Step 2

Well, in order to make this less harder I decided to use some fonts as a base to the type, although they’re not the same as the original, so that’s why we should od some adaptations. I used Impact fo the “plants” type and Samdan for the “zombies’ type, i just substituted the “S” for the one on the Impact font.

Let’s dispose them like this.

Step 3

Let’s started with the plants type, first create some outlines (command + shift + O / ctral + shift + O), then ungroup them and resize and posicionate them on a less organized way. Also add some green to yellow linear gradient on them.

So, using the pencil tool (N) I made a few adjustments on it’s corners turning them on round fluffly letters.

After adjusting it, add some bold dark green stroke on it. On the stroke panel, choose to use to align the stroke outside.

Now duplicate the type, select all the letter then go to the pathfinder panel > Unite. Make it one shape.

Select the duplicated type and go to Object > Path > Offset Path and set the panel like the one bellow.

Turn the new outline into black, then send it to the back of the previous type.

Don’t forget to do a few adjustments on this outline like removing some holes.

Now using the pen tool (P), create this leaf shape on the first and last letter, then unite them with the letter later.

Using the previous tool , make a few wrickles n the leaves.

Now finally, let’s add some reflexes. Use the previous to do that, don’t forget to put them only on one direction, in this case, always on the right side.

Ok, now we have a emboss effect properly done, let’s skip to the zombie type.

Step 4

I did the same process on the zombie font, first turned it all into aoutlines, then ungrouped and adjusted it a bit.

I added a linear grey gradient on all letters.

Then using the pencil tool (N) I did a somekind of 3D perspective, nothing fancy, just used the space between the letters “m” and ‘b” as a vanishing point.

And added some gradients following the perspective I used.

Let’s add some thick black stroke.

And here’s the trick part: I decided to add some light on the bottom of the letters using the pencil tool (N), create and place them like the samples bellow. Don’t forget to use a transparent gradient.

I didn’t want to detail it a lot, so I finally ded a couple of random round shapes to look like holes, duplicate it and just posicionate both layer a bit searate in order to give it some depth.

Also added a big gradient on the back of the type to look like fire.

Step 5

Finally, let’s do the last thing: the grave. It’s easy, first using the pencil tool (N) create the stone shape, then duplicate and use a darker color to look like a perpective.

Add some cracks using the previous tool and the “VS.” type on it, use the same font as the one on "zombies".

Use some white lights to enhance the cracks.

And also put white layer of the text above to give depth on it.

Draw the pile of earth using the pencil tool (N).

Use the pen tool (P) to create the texture over it.

As you may have already noted, I’m using the hard gradient technique on the objects here, so it really don’t depends of the tool you’re using, If you got the logic of it, you will know what to do next.

Finally, add a blue background with a radial gradient on it, hoep you guys enjoyed doing this.

Conclusion

Download the Adobe Illustrator File

Download the Adobe Illustrator file used for this tutorial