Adobe releases public beta of Photoshop CS6

Let the celebrating—and inevitable complaining—begin: Adobe has announced the public beta of Photoshop CS6, the latest and greatest version of its flagship photo editing program. The first big update of the product in about two years, CS6 has been overhauled with a new interface that now sports a customizable background color and redesigned icons. There will of course be much gnashing of teeth from those who don't like change, but the look does feel more current, in my opinion.

Available as a free download (Mac or Windows) from the Adobe Labs site, the beta requires online registration activation and at least 2GB of free disk space on the Mac, or 1GB in Windows XP or 7. It includes features from both the standard and extended versions of Photoshop that will ship this spring, such as two new tools that take advantage of the very cool content-aware technology Adobe debuted in CS4, Content-Aware Move and Content-Aware Patch. Other cool improvements include a revamped crop tool, the ability to migrate presets (as well as import and export them), improved raw image processing, and a new Blur Gallery that allows you to add Tilt-Shift, Iris, and Field blur effects easily.

For a complete list of new features, check out the installation and feature notes for the Photoshop CS6 beta, and for a great hands-on take, don't miss Lori Grunin's post at our sister site, CNET Crave.

Related links on ZDNet:

• Adobe launches Photoshop Touch for the iPad
• Adobe begins shipping Creative Suite 5, including Photoshop CS5 and Photoshop Extended
• Best new feature for photographers in Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Photoshop plug-in developer onOne acquires Liquid Resize technology

Other related links:

• Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta Launch Center