Photoshop CS3 UI Color Scheme

[frog]

You can use the paintbucket, if you shift-click it on the background it will change it to whatever colour is set as your foreground colour.

[loocas]

You can use the paintbucket, if you shift-click it on the background it will change it to whatever colour is set as your foreground colour.

Nope, you don't understand. I don't need the surrounds of a canvas to be changed (I know of this feature) I need the actual GUI color scheme to be much darker!

See this pic:

[Xdreamer79]

I don't think that is possible. I couldn't find that feature in CS3 :(

[loocas]

I don't think that is possible. I couldn't find that feature in CS3 :(

Neither could I :cry:

You see, such a "minor" thing (by Adobe) actually decided for me whether to upgrade to CS3 or not.

This time, it's a big NO for me as I really cannot work in such a bright envrionment.

I hope Adobe will release a patch soon that will add at least another optional, dark, UI color scheme as we have in Premiere and/or After FX.

If not, I don't have any reasons to upgrade to CS3 at all. :banghead: I'll ask Adobe about that at Siggraph.

[evanfotis]

Does PS CS3 not adopt the colour scheme of Windows UI?
In previous Adobe versions under Windows Xp or 2K if I have a dark UI with light text, the Adobe menus & dialogues will adjust accordingly.
That is before AE and PP inluded the brightnes slider.

[loocas]

Does PS CS3 not adopt the colour scheme of Windows UI?
In previous Adobe versions under Windows Xp or 2K if I have a dark UI with light text, the Adobe menus & dialogues will adjust accordingly.
That is before AE and PP inluded the brightnes slider.

No, it does not. I wouldn't be complaining about it if I had that standard UI feature from previous PS versions. Have no idea why Adobe changed it this way?! Possibly because of the Mac support? Don't know...

Ah well... Adobe probably thinks that you may never want to use a dark UI when tweaking and fine tuning colors on your textures/photos/renders, well, at least not in a piece of software worth $999 USD (in the US) or $1,754.65 (in the EU) :banghead: :rolleyes:

[evanfotis]

this is sooo dumb!
How come they implement these features in some apps and ommit them in others- especially when they sell the uniformity of their ui and integration between adobe apps. as a feature?...

could u at least use the vga driver software option to keep menus and palettes semi transparent for PS cs3 so they are not smack white, and distract less?

[Cartesius]

Is it possible to change GUI color in CS2, me wonders?

/Anders

[frog]

Alternatively you can just tab the GUI out of the way, if it's really that distracting.

[loocas]

this is sooo dumb!
How come they implement these features in some apps and ommit them in others- especially when they sell the uniformity of their ui and integration between adobe apps. as a feature?...

could u at least use the vga driver software option to keep menus and palettes semi transparent for PS cs3 so they are not smack white, and distract less?

- Well, I'm not sure if you can actually tweak it this way in Windows without disturbing the actual canvas display :(

Is it possible to change GUI color in CS2, me wonders?

- Well, pre-10.0 versions of Photoshop preserve Windows GUI colors, which means, that while you can use XP skin or any other skins you like (i.e. windows blinds etc...), whatever color you setup in the advanced color palette in Windows will be the color of Photoshop's GUI. Which is absolutely perfect, since I use a very dark, Win98 style, gui in win XP. But this has no effect on CS3 :banghead:

Alternatively you can just tab the GUI out of the way, if it's really that distracting.

- I'm afraid that's not really a solution here, unfortunately :(

[loocas]

Oks, here's a comparison of my Photoshop CS2 and Photoshop CS3 GUI configuration.

CS2 preserves Window's color theme settings, CS3 ignores it!

[BlueFlare]

Some fools decided to design Bridge (worst software Adobe ever made, uses even more memory than Photoshop) and Lightroom in a dark gray color scheme, but left Photoshop CS3 with the old light gray...

Let's face it.. Adobe often doesn't make any sense.

Take for example Illustrator CS3; after all these years you still can't cycle through its blending modes with cursor up/down and shift - or + like you can in Photoshop.

I should write a book about these inconsistencies and send a copy to Adobe. :deal:

[loocas]

Some fools decided to design Bridge (worst software Adobe ever made, uses even more memory than Photoshop) and Lightroom in a dark gray color scheme, but left Photoshop CS3 with the old light gray...

Let's face it.. Adobe often doesn't make any sense.

Take for example Illustrator CS3; after all these years you still can't cycle through its blending modes with cursor up/down and shift - or + like you can in Photoshop.

I should write a book about these inconsistencies and send a copy to Adobe. :deal:

They won't listen, just as they don't when people complain about their pricing policy! :banghead:

They don't care, they have a monopoly and that's it.

Take a look at how "fast" they're progressing with "revolutionary" features such as the non-destructive filters, adjustment layers etc... It took 9 versions of PS to finally get here!

Besides, the layer stack is also quite outdated, a brand new, fresh and non-linear node-based flow system (like Digital Fusion has, for example) would be much more powerful and flexible.

Ahh, well... no upgrade to CS3 for me. I won't even use the Extended features even thou I'm a 3d dude most of the time, since I don't know if you can actually paint on the surface of the model, like in Body Paint for example, to make texture painting much easier.

For this price, the GUI and the added features, there isn't anything that'd make me upgrade.

[Buzzoff]

I should write a book about these inconsistencies and send a copy to Adobe. :deal:

That is a good point since there is only one person that programs all the Adobe products and not product teams that have nothing to do with each other.

[loocas]

That is a good point since there is only one person that programs all the Adobe products and not product teams that have nothing to do with each other.

I wouldn't be so sure about that, since all the programs are so unbelieveably inconsistent with each other.

Like PS and Illustrator. You can open files in PS by double clicking the empty work area, while in Illustrator, nothing happens... It's really strange! :rolleyes:

[workbench]

Oks, here's a comparison of my Photoshop CS2 and Photoshop CS3 GUI configuration.

CS2 preserves Window's color theme settings, CS3 ignores it!


That skin/theme looks exactly what I've been looking! I've spend the whole afternoon trying different dark skins but they were all too fancy and not very workable in Photoshop, could you tell me the name of that theme you're using?

[loocas]

That skin/theme looks exactly what I've been looking! I've spend the whole afternoon trying different dark skins but they were all too fancy and not very workable in Photoshop, could you tell me the name of that theme you're using?

Theme? :D It's standard Win98 customized dark grey ;)

Will post a .theme tomorrow here for you, gotta go to sleep now... ;)

[evanfotis]

The only downside of all current & old PS, Illy etc Adobe apps UI is that if one has a dark scheme with bright text, their various palette+menus text do not become bright, but remain black on a dark bg, making it hard to read.
Only AE+PP with their UI brightness slider sort of fixed that recently..

[frog]

The 3D stuff in Photoshop Extended isn't that useful - you most certainly can't paint directly on the model, you can however edit the textures in 2D.

[loocas]

The 3D stuff in Photoshop Extended isn't that useful - you most certainly can't paint directly on the model, you can however edit the textures in 2D.

Which you pretty much could even with Photoshop 1.0 back in the days, since PS has never been aimed at 3D direct-painting :rolleyes:

It's sad that Adobe 1) shows such no respect to EU users, I even dare to say RIPPING EU USERS OFF! 2) makes such stupid decisions as to freeze a completely non-sense GUI settings (mainly color-wise) and not let us, the users, to choose whatever we want. Or at least give us two options bright - dark and I'd shut my mouth in a sec! 3) Lack of innovation and progress is striking! I really can't believe it! "Nondestructive layers! YAY!" yeah... in 2007 in PS 10.0, WTF?!

I really, REALLY, wish there was a real competitor to PS on the market. True, we have Gimp, we have Pixel (very WIP atm) or Corel (terrible), but PS is like Windows. Everybody bitches about it, everybody hates it, yet everybody has to use it... :cry:

[loocas]

That skin/theme looks exactly what I've been looking! I've spend the whole afternoon trying different dark skins but they were all too fancy and not very workable in Photoshop, could you tell me the name of that theme you're using?

Here's the promised .theme I use.

Just double click it, it's nothing else than a modified Win98 color theme I setup and I love. If I had Vista, I'd immediatelly switch Aero b/s off and use this one in a heartbeat!

.theme - direct download - right click > save as (http://www.duber.cz/dump/duber.theme)

[workbench]

Awesome thanks a million mate :) Just tested on Photoshop looks great!

[loocas]

Awesome thanks a million mate :) Just tested on Photoshop looks great!

Not at all mate :thumbsup:

[frog]

To an extent I agree, this release of Photoshop is pretty disappointing. The video capability is the only new feature I actually use, although I do also like the new palette docking, despite using two monitors it is useful to me for a couple of palettes.

My biggest gripe is actually with Bridge, it's unbelievable how buggy it is.

[loocas]

I prefer XnView for my raster assets. I konw it cannot read Illustrator etc... files, but still, way better and less resources hungy than Bridge.

PS CS3 is a big dissappointment and I'm really hoping Adobe will do something about their, un-innovative product line. This can't go forever, releasing the same dusted-off software for ridiculously high prices! :banghead:

[evanfotis]

I know this is OT, but I grabbed the opportunity since you mentioned about various viewers apart from Bridge.
I'm looking for a viewer that will accurately display cmyk files.
Neither ACDSEE nor Directory Opus or any other viewer I've used will display CMYK files correctly, except from Adobe Bridge. They do not understand that colourspace, which is dissapointing, cause it forces me to have Bridge open all the time... Any suggestions?

[loocas]

I know this is OT, but I grabbed the opportunity since you mentioned about various viewers apart from Bridge.
I'm looking for a viewer that will accurately display cmyk files.
Neither ACDSEE nor Directory Opus or any other viewer I've used will display CMYK files correctly, except from Adobe Bridge. They do not understand that colourspace, which is dissapointing, cause it forces me to have Bridge open all the time... Any suggestions?

I don't work with CMYK files, but a quick search on Google revealed something called Artweaver regarding XnView, check it out here: http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?p=48831, might be helpful ;)

[evanfotis]

Thanx for the link, but artweaver seems like lookalike of Painter or project dogwaffle.
Is it an image viewer or a painting application?
In the second case, I still like ArtRage V1 and not V2, simple, light, imediate. Than OC (OpenCanvas) and of course Painter..

[loocas]

Thanx for the link, but artweaver seems like lookalike of Painter or project dogwaffle.
Is it an image viewer or a painting application?
In the second case, I still like ArtRage V1 and not V2, simple, light, imediate. Than OC (OpenCanvas) and of course Painter..

I have no idea :sad: As I said, I don't work in CMYK space, so I don't need those tools in my pipeline.

[BlueFlare]

this release of Photoshop is pretty disappointing.

Ive heard that people saying pretty much with every new realese of Photoshop. :D

[loocas]

Ive heard that people saying pretty much with every new realese of Photoshop. :D

:D yeah... that's pretty much with any new software release. Take 3ds Max, Maya, XSI, LW or whatever for instance ;)

The truth is, that the new 3D features in PS Ex are pretty much useless. The animation support as well (why the hell would I want to animate anything in PS?!). So, what's left is just reorganized pallettes, which is cool, I like that, and the terrible bright white UI, which is awful and I can't use PS CS3 because of that :cry: and I doubt I'm the only one.

For a freelancer, the pricing in EU is also pretty damn BAD! and that makes the upgrade even more worthless!

[evanfotis]

y(why the hell would I want to animate anything in PS?!)
IMHO roto artists will probably benefit from PS animation tools.
Since PS has a wealth of selection/masking options, being able to view frames sequentially directly within PS, instead of having to export,re-import & continue fine tuning any jitterings or misses, is a timesaver.

[loocas]

IMHO roto artists will probably benefit from PS animation tools.
Since PS has a wealth of selection/masking options, being able to view frames sequentially directly within PS, instead of having to export,re-import & continue fine tuning any jitterings or misses, is a timesaver.

Well, exactly for that we have Combustion, After Effects, Fusion or Shake, I don't need/want to use Photoshop for roto/matte work at all.

[loocas]

Oks, so, back on the topic again.

Anyone found any kind of solution to this bugger?! I mean, can you tweak it somehow? Or are there any plugins for that or whatever that will rid me of the freakin' overbrightened color scheme in CS3 will do! :cry:

I'm pretty desperate here, guys, so, any help will be very much appretiated! :thumbsup:

[BlueFlare]

Put your palettes on a different monitor, turn down brightness or wear sunglasses.

[loocas]

Put your palettes on a different monitor, turn down brightness or wear sunglasses.

:D Great solution pal! :thumbsup:

If anyone has any other solution for normal users, I'll appretiate your response here.

[BlueFlare]

If anyone has any other solution for normal users, I'll appretiate your response here.

Not that I want to spoil your hopes, but I doubt you'll find a third party solution, the only one you could hope for is Adobe. Most theme based solutions are based on standard Microsoft GUI specifications, but with CS2 Adobe seems to have developed their own rules. One example is making screenshots.

In most applications you can make a screenshot of a single window with alt + prtscn (the copy will end up on the clipboard). Try to do that in CS2/CS3; you'll always get the whole screen, but not the window.

An advanced screen grabber does allow you to grab a window, but then CS3 arrived and things got worse; when you now grab a window in CS3, you also get a border (see attachment, in which I pasted the screenshot on a white background). And that's no fun when you often make Photoshop screenshots for tutorials or forums like I do.

Like I said, they seem to be moving away from standard Microsoft Windows GUI specifications and that's not a good thing if you ask me. I do think that they will go for darker themes, since many Adobe applications already have one and they do have the urge to make all applications follow the same design standards. You already see the signs of that in Illustrator, which does offer a darker theme, yet it's very poorly implemented and because of this rather useless.

[evanfotis]

The funny thing is, that even Bridge and Illy CS3 have a slider for bright-dark UI, although the paste board in Illy & ID is still bright white.
Have you noticed Flash CS3 and Acrobat reader 8? they have the same Mac OSX white that PSCS3 shares...
While the other CS3 suite apps (AE,Ai,EN,PR, ID, DW, SB) let the user customize UI brightnes.
I thought they opted for a consistent look..

[BlueFlare]

I thought they opted for a consistent look..

I wonder if their different departments actually know how to communicate. Take for example Photoshop and Illustrator; you would expect a lot more consistency between those two. There are still a lot of issues that make the experience frustrating. I blame it a lot on their way of updating software. Each product in the suite has to be ready for prime almost at the same time. That’s never a good breeding ground for excellence.

[loocas]

Absolutely agree.

Not only the color schemes are totally different in each of the packages, which is totally unbelieveable coming from the same manufacturer! But also some working phylosophy. Like, in Photoshop, if you double click the blank working area, the OPEN FILE window pops up and allows you to load up another bunch of pictures/files. Illustrator? No way, there's not such a functionality!

It's these tiny little things that really bother me with Adobe products :banghead:

[I-NetGraFX]

You see, such a "minor" thing (by Adobe) actually decided for me whether to upgrade to CS3 or not.

This time, it's a big NO for me as I really cannot work in such a bright envrionment.

I hope Adobe will release a patch soon that will add at least another optional, dark, UI color scheme as we have in Premiere and/or After FX.

My eyes were bleeding at the first start-up of Photoshop ...

In fact I had to evaluate for our company, if an upgrade from CS2 to CS3 would be an advantage. After a desperate search to change this irritating UI color ... :banghead: ... I already had an answer right there: NO!! Plus the fact, that Adobe Photoshop has one of the crappiest 64bit supports I encountered in a program so far ... made my choice pretty easy finally.

For the UI color issue, would be fun to know if there's a registry hack or something similar to modify this property.

[evanfotis]

Talking about registry hacks, there was a dll for making Adobe file icons visible from withing windows explorer and other image browsers. After CS and the arrival of Bridge, Adobe disabled viewing thumbnails of psd and ai files. The same applies in Cs3, although the old hack seems to work:
Adobe CS2 and the Case of the Disappearing Thumbnails (http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2005/12/13/adobe-cs2-and-the-case-of-the-disappearing-thumbnails/)

[loocas]

My eyes were bleeding at the first start-up of Photoshop ...

In fact I had to evaluate for our company, if an upgrade from CS2 to CS3 would be an advantage. After a desperate search to change this irritating UI color ... :banghead: ... I already had an answer right there: NO!! Plus the fact, that Adobe Photoshop has one of the crappiest 64bit supports I encountered in a program so far ... made my choice pretty easy finally.

For the UI color issue, would be fun to know if there's a registry hack or something similar to modify this property.

I feel you man! :cry: :banghead: I hate it so much! I've submitted several bug reports to adobe regarding this issue already! And I'll continue submitting them as long as they keep this shitty UI unchangable! :sad:

[kitsu]

I also hate the gui as much as the next guy. There's a simple work around that works for me. Instead of waiting around for adobe. What i did was use the program 'AUTOHOTKEY' at 'autohotkey dot com'. Basically, i made 3 transparent black boxes and masking the dialogs that's making my eyes bleed. This is not my script. Just modified a screen dimmer script i found in their forums.

This is what the autohotkey script looks like. Since my screen resolution is 1920x1200 it's adjusted accordingly.

;start script

Gui Color, 0,0 ; Black
Gui -Caption +ToolWindow +E0x20 ; No title bar, No taskbar button, Transparent for clicks
Gui Show, X1675 Y73 W250 H1100 ;adjust size and position of transparent black boxes

WinGet ID, ID, A ; ...with HWND/handle ID

Winset AlwaysOnTop,ON,ahk_id %ID% ; Keep it always on the top
WinSet Transparent,125,ahk_id %ID%

Gui 2:Color, 0,0 ; Black
Gui 2:-Caption +ToolWindow +E0x20 ; No title bar, No taskbar button, Transparent for clicks
Gui 2:Show, X0 Y73 W45 H1100 ;adjust size and position of transparent black boxes

WinGet ID, ID, A ; ...with HWND/handle ID

Winset AlwaysOnTop,ON,ahk_id %ID% ; Keep it always on the top
WinSet Transparent,125,ahk_id %ID%

Gui 3:Color, 0,0 ; Black
Gui 3:-Caption +ToolWindow +E0x20 ; No title bar, No taskbar button, Transparent for clicks
Gui 3:Show, X0 Y0 W1920 H73 ;adjust size and position of transparent black boxes

WinGet ID, ID, A ; ...with HWND/handle ID

Winset AlwaysOnTop,ON,ahk_id %ID% ; Keep it always on the top
WinSet Transparent,125,ahk_id %ID%

;end script

So basically this script makes 3 transparent boxes covering up the gui regions. You can make more boxes if you like. You can experiment. Copy and paste this in to your autohotkey start script (located in the default my documents/autohotkey.ahk) or download the one below and modify to your screen resolution and paste over the default one. I hope this helps.


Have a better one,
Kit Su

winxp sp2
amd +3800
2gig ram
nvidia quadro fx3000

[Bmoner]

I find this really weird as how yo can change the GUI colors in AF CS3 and Premiere CS3. They should offer this for every program they create in the professional feild.

[evanfotis]

Just to revive this thread, has anyone seen what UI customizations are available on CS4?
Anything changed?

[loocas]

Well, since they've updated the GUI colors in CS3.3 to a bit darker white :D I sure hope at least this got propagated to CS4, but a fully customizable color UI would be awesome! Unfortunately I doubt it'll be that case :sad:

[evanfotis]

Went through some of the videos @ adobe tv and from what I could see, there was a light gray colour scheme which probably means that at last PS followed the other Adobe apps UI lightness slider.
http://tv.adobe.com/#vi+f1556v1686
http://tv.adobe.com/#vi+f1556v1684

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