So, what can you do with general-purpose GPU (GPGPU) acceleration in Photoshop? We saw the presenter playing with a 2 GB, 442 megapixel image like it was a 5 megapixel image on an 8-core Skulltrail system. Changes made through image zoom and through a new rotate canvas tool were applied almost instantly. Another impressive feature was the import of a 3D model into Photoshop, adding text and paint on a 3D surface and having that surface directly rendered with the 3D models' reflection map.According to information we were given, all of these new features are part of the next-gen Photoshop, which should be a part of the “CS Next” suite. The package is expected to be released on October 1.
Nvidia sheds some flash light on Adobe CS4GPUs all over the (Photo)shopBy Sylvie Barak: Thursday, 25 September 2008, 5:52 PMAFTER A SOME five years in the marketing pipeline, Nvidia graphics card users will now be able to noodle about on Adobe's new Creative Suite 4, supported and accelerated natively on a GPU.Adobe had already announced its new CS4 on Tuesday, but at a press briefing by Nvidia yesterday, shed some more light on the partnership between the two firms.Purportedly, by rewriting core imaging kernels - using OpenGL - to ensure they use the GPU instead of the CPU, Nvidia and Adobe claim to have found ways to enhance the system and make images prettier, faster.Of all the programs bundled into Adobe’s CS4, Photoshop and Premier Pro are really the two which benefit most from the GPU integration perspective, with general manager of the Professional Solutions group at Nvidia, Jeff Brown noting the tech would "enable much more output".This is good news for impatient graphics geeks who want to cut down on the amount of time they need to render HD movies, for instance. Nvidia reckons movies which used to take up to 28 hours to render on Premier Pro could now feasibly be rendered in just two or three hours.Nvidia claims that harnessing the power of the GPU would also allow for some more speedy editing. It reckons motion, opacity, colour and even image distortion could be done in real-time rendering.Photoshop buffs will also supposedly feel the benefit of GPU integration, with Nvidia saying users will now be able to rotate images in real-time, not to mention zooming, and panning to their heart’s content. The GPU could also prove quite useful to Photoshoppers for smoothing out the jagged edges in their images, using anti-aliasing.Really getting graphic, Nvidia noted that using the GPU to power programmes like Adobe After Effects could do a fair bit to provide better depth of field, reduce image noise, better bilateral blur effects and even add in all kinds of cartoon imagery.Adobe says it will be shipping its CS4 next month.
