Category: Software

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Parallels 6 is Fast!

Parallels 6 above running Windows 7 64bit Ultimate Edition and Windows XP on a Mac Pro/Mac OS X 10.6.4  running Photoshop CS5 Extended – click the image to enlarge

Most of my day to day work is done in the Mac OS. However, there are times when I need to run Windows app/utility here and there. I can remember the days when I used to carry two laptops for work. I had a PowerBook for doing demos to Mac customers and an IBM (now Lenovo) Thinkpad for doing demos to Windows based customers. Once the the MacBook Pro hit the scene I was quick to jump on board because I could now use this one laptop to run both Mac and Windows Apps. Apple allows you to enable a feature called "Boot Camp" right in the Mac OS itself. With Boot Camp you setup a partition (size of your choosing) and natively install a copy of Windows (not included) on it. Then you can choose to boot up the computer in either OS and Windows running under Boot Camp is just as fast as running Windows on any other similarly spec'd PC. While you do get to run Windows as fast as your Mac hardware can, you have the disadvantage in that you can only run one OS at a time. In other words while you're booted in Windows in Boot Camp, you don't have access to your Mac apps. This is where virtualization Apps come in. The two top contenders are Parallels and VMWare's Fusion. I've had experience with both Apps in their latest versions and given the choice I'd go with Parallels.

 

When you have two apps that basically do the same thing, you have to look at "how" they do it?

Both Apps are great and both apps have very similar feature sets. Although I get to use VMWare's Fusion at NO COST TO ME because my company has a site license and offers it to any employee that needs it, I prefer to use Parallels (and buy it out of my own pocket). Both Parallels and Fusion allow you to use Windows on top of the Mac OS. This means that you are running both OSs at the same time and can launch apps in either. Both are going to run a bit slower than running natively in Boot Camp if for no other reason, they are sharing resources with the Mac OS running at the same time. However, being able to run the occasional Windows app without rebooting is worth the small performance hit. Both apps allow you to either run Windows from a "file' on any hard drive (including an external drive) or even use your Boot Camp Windows installation. So if they both seem to do the same thing, what makes one better? SPEED!!! Parallels with version 6 continues to have the advantage over the competition with SPEED! No other way to say it other than it just runs Windows FASTER. According to Parallels, version 6 is up to 80% faster than version 5. It's 64 bit and boots Windows more than two times faster than Fusion 3.1. Parallels 6 scores more than 2 times better on 3D graphics than Fusion 3.1.

 

It's running so fast as a matter of fact that I may never use Boot Camp again

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Adobe Audition for Mac: Technology “Sneak” Preview

To all my Audio loving Mac buddies, Adobe's Worldwide Creative Suite Evangelist – Jason Levine gives us a special Technology "Sneak" Preview of Adobe Audition for Mac. Check out these two videos:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRc49EKb9VY

 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1AblAwOpSA

 

Signup to be notified of the Public Beta here.

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Lightroom 3 Public Beta 2: What’s New?

Today Adobe has released the Lightroom 3 Public Beta 2. You can download your copy right here for free. The Lightroom 3 Public Beta 1 was downloaded by over 350,000 photographers and you guys gave us valuable feedback. Much of that feedback went into making Lightroom 3 even better. This new beta incorporates many new features and tweaks. Rather than list them all (you can get the list on the Adobe Labs site), I'd rather show you!

Check out this video:

 

If you missed my first video going over LR3 Public Beta 1, you can check it out here.

More of my videos are available at CreativeSuitePodcast.com

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We celebrate Photoshop’s 20th Birthday on Thursday!

 

Photoshop 20th Anniversary Celebration


It's not often that a software application celebrates 20 years of existence. However, tomorrow (Thursday, February 18th, 2010) we will celebrateAdobe Photoshop's 20th Anniversary! I'm very excited to be a part of the festivities and looking forward to seeing some of the folks that have helped Photoshop be the success that it is over the years.


My friends over at NAPP are hosting the Live Event

The Live Event takes place at 7:30 PM PST (19:30 GMT-8, 10:30 PM EST) in San Francisco, California. 

I'll be on stage with Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski, Dave Cross, RC Concepcion, Corey Barker, Julieanne Kost, Russell Preston Brown, and Adobe's SVP Johnny L.

There will be a LIVE Webcast and LIVE Blog

If you miss the Live webcast, it will be posted later for viewing.

More details here.

While I'm sure I'll grab some shots from the event and maybe even do a blog post about it, the easiest fastest way to keep up with me at this event is to follow me on Twitter. 

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onOne Plug-In Suite 5 Review

One of my favorite Photoshop Plug-in Suites just got upgraded. The good folks over at onOne Software have shipped onOne Plug-in Suite 5. I first got turned on to this powerful set of plug-ins back when it was version 3 and have been hooked ever since. Now I'll be the first to admit (like most suites) that I don't use every single feature/plug-in in the suite. However, usually the way suites work is that if you're going to use 2 or more of the products you end up saving money by buying the suite as opposed to the individual products. 

onone5

When I upgraded to Plug-in Suite 4 I was using Mask Pro and PhotoFrame quite a bit. I was also using Genuine Fractals on occasion. Now with Plug-in Suite 5 I'm very intrigued by PhotoTune and PhotoTools. That only leaves Focal Point which also interests me. Yep, it looks like I'll be using much more of this version of the Suite than I ever have before.

PhotoTune3

 

What is onOne Plug-In Suite 5?

Good question and I think that most people see the name and have no idea what this product is or whether or not they need it? Plug-in Suite 5 is a set of  6 powerful plug-ins for Photoshop that can be used by photographers of all skill levels. The plug-ins are accessed right inside the "host application", which can be Adobe Photoshop CS2, Cs3 or CS4 as well as Photoshop Elements 6 or 8 on the Mac or Elements 6, 7 or 8 on PC. Some of the plug-ins are also accessible from within Lightroom 2 or Aperture 2.1.

The Plug-Ins are:

  • FocalPoint – a plug-in to allow photographers to create a realistic depth of field effect in their photos. You can control the focal point and even have multiple focal points.
  • Mask Pro (my favorite) – allows you to mask difficult objects such as hair, glass or smoke/fog. This one has saved my butt on many occasions when I needed to extract someone from a background.
  • PhotoTune – this one simply allows you to easily color correct your photo. If Photoshop Channels confuse you, then PhotoTune will be a dream to work with. 
  • Genuine Fractals – If you've ever tried to size a photo up, you know that it can quickly lose detail and sharpness. This plug-in aims to make the image that you res up look as good as possible. I've used this with great results and looking forward to the new version.
  • PhotoTools – allows you to choose from hundreds of effects to add to your photo to make them stand out. Easy to use with drag and drop as well as sliders.
  • PhotoFrame – we see those cool burned looking edges all the time in print. Although you can do this manually in Photoshop, PhotoFrame makes it soooo much easier. There are several frames included from some of the best Photoshop professionals in the industry.

Continue reading “onOne Plug-In Suite 5 Review”