Adobe today unveiled Creative Suite 4, bringing with it Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended, the latest versions to the photo editing application, optimized to take advantage of GPUs, along with many more features. Photoshop CS4 also simplifies many tasks, with content-aware scaling, auto-align and auto-blend modes on 360 degree panoramas.
Photoshop CS4's new GPU-aware nature allows it to share intensive tasks with the graphics card, speeding up operations significantly. Photoshop will offload panning, zooming, canvas rotation and several other operations to the GPU, allowing users to also experience a more free-flowing workspace.
In addition to the above-mentioned features, Photoshop CS4 Extended allows users to paint directly on 3D objects, as well as texturing them with 2D images. Users can also animate 3D objects, and the software includes a new ray-tracer to create more realistic renderings. Parameters, such as lighting, can also be edited, and can compile DICOM image stacks into three-dimensional models for medical personnel.