Node based photoshop.

Ben_B

Ben_B

Veteran
I find myself growing sick of how limiting the linear nature of photoshop's filters, image adjustments, etc, is. You can move one dimensionally in time, forward, and backward. You can't reorganize events that happened in the past, change the way they interact with one another, or change the order of things using an node based editor the way you can in video compositing tools.

What gives?

In final cut or after effects or a node based program your different things are aware of where they exist relative to one another...you can do a color key before you make your footage black and white, and then chance contrast after, and then add a lens flare...or you could reorder everything and watch how it shifts in real time....why can't we do this in photoshop..or do I just seriously not know how to use it?
 
Yeah I guess adjustment layers will do it...still having a node based system or a list based system built in for each layer, and then one for the whole comp, would be amazing....wow I wish Photoshop was more like After Effects and I wish After Effects was more like Photoshop....just can't win :)
 
i know it's probably lame, but i edit almost all my stills in Vegas...i throw it on the timeline like it's a video, do whatever i want with it, and save a frame as a jpeg, png, or whatever.

well it's also because the only Photoshop i have is Elements 2.0. now THAT'S lame. But all i use it for is cropping and resizing after coloring in Vegas.
 
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I propose a Photoshop Pro that would be a proper non-linear editor. Things would be node based, and layers could be referenced from individual files. IE you'd put a file into another file as a layer, and any changes made to the original file would be reflected in the layer. This would allow for things like non-destructive scaling (right now you can't scale down and then scale back up) and would help things out with the workflow. Also there should be nodes for things like effects, transforms, and well...everything. I should be able to desaturate an image, then 2 hours later realize that I missed some of the background I was removing, and be able to disconnect the desat node, select more stuff, delete it, and then reconnect the node. Right now photoshop is totally linear...this needs to change. Photoshop Pro would have the more complex workflow stuff, and Photoshop would just be used by people content with crappy linear photo editing. At this rate I'm going to have to start doing all my photo editing in After Effects....they should get the AE team to build the workflow for PS.
 
Ben_B said:
IE you'd put a file into another file as a layer, and any changes made to the original file would be reflected in the layer. This would allow for things like non-destructive scaling (right now you can't scale down and then scale back up)
Click to expand...
Actually yes you can. It's called smart objects. CS2 added this feature.


Ben_B said:
I should be able to desaturate an image, then 2 hours later realize that I missed some of the background I was removing, and be able to disconnect the desat node, select more stuff, delete it, and then reconnect the node.
Click to expand...
It's called smart filters. CS3 added this feature. Alternatively you could do this with adjustment layers & a clipping mask - as mentioned already in this thread.


I find it odd when people haven't really bothered to learn a program and then they suggest ways to improve it. You know, in order to make it a "pro" application. It's also very narrow minded to suggest that everyone wants to work the way video people work. There are thousands of professional photographers that could care less about using nodes to edit their photo's.
 
milksac said:
Actually yes you can. It's called smart objects. CS2 added this feature.



It's called smart filters. CS3 added this feature. Alternatively you could do this with adjustment layers & a clipping mask - as mentioned already in this thread.


I find it odd when people haven't really bothered to learn a program and then they suggest ways to improve it. You know, in order to make it a "pro" application. It's also very narrow minded to suggest that everyone wants to work the way video people work. There are thousands of professional photographers that could care less about using nodes to edit their photo's.
Click to expand...

Was thinking more for graphic designers than for photographers. Yes I know you can do all that stuff with smart filters and adjustment layers, but it's very inconvenient, and it's not particularly efficient. Nodes are. As for a layer referencing a file, that would be great to have for graphic design work...it really speeds things up in the video, special effects, and audio worlds. Particularly in audio. This would allow making photo samples basically. Then you could go back and edit the sample, and all layers referencing it would update.
 
Ben_B said:
Yeah I guess adjustment layers will do it...still having a node based system or a list based system built in for each layer, and then one for the whole comp, would be amazing....wow I wish Photoshop was more like After Effects and I wish After Effects was more like Photoshop....just can't win :)
Click to expand...
You're not talking about 'Show History Menu' are you? Did they eliminate History view in recent Photoshop???
OldSchool PS here...
 
Many years ago there was a photo editor called Satori FilmFX 64 which was 100% history; you could re-order events in the stack order. The interface wasn't very intuitive (for me anyway, coming at it from a Photoshop point of view) so I never really got into it. Anyone else remember that application?
 
You could maybe try putting a single image on the Blender timeline and then colour correct using connecting sockets to perform and save changeable correction attributes.
 
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