CS5.5 Design Standard or Premium???

[rcr]

Hi,

Does anyone find they use the tools of Photoshop Extended?

I only use Photoshop and In Design from the Adobe suite (I'm an architecture student) so didn't think it was worth getting Premium, then I noticed the one in Design Standard is not Photoshop Extended... I've worked with non-extended since CS4, is Photoshop Extended much better? Is it worth getting Premium just to have it onboard?

Thanks.

 

[design-is]

Unless you need any of the 3D features, you should be fine with the standard edition.

Extended adds the following:

• Adobe Repoussé technology for creating 3D extrusions
• Shadow catcher for easy shadow creation
• 3D materials library and picker
• Overlays for materials and mesh boundaries
• Depth of field for 3D
• Enhanced ray tracer with progressive rendering
• Image-based light source (use 32-bit HDR) to accurately light your scenes
• Animate lights with image-based lights to reflect realistic light transitions
• Context-sensitive widget for easy control of objects, cameras, meshes, and lights
• 3D merging and scene compositing improvements
• 3D workflow improvements
• Preferences that allow for the customization of 3D features

(source)

 

[rcr]

Unless you need any of the 3D features, you should be fine with the standard edition.

Extended adds the following:

• Adobe Repoussé technology for creating 3D extrusions
• Shadow catcher for easy shadow creation
• 3D materials library and picker
• Overlays for materials and mesh boundaries
• Depth of field for 3D
• Enhanced ray tracer with progressive rendering
• Image-based light source (use 32-bit HDR) to accurately light your scenes
• Animate lights with image-based lights to reflect realistic light transitions
• Context-sensitive widget for easy control of objects, cameras, meshes, and lights
• 3D merging and scene compositing improvements
• 3D workflow improvements
• Preferences that allow for the customization of 3D features

(source)

That all sounds pretty useful. I mean it sounds like rendering tools connected to SketchUp, 3ds Max or any BIM suite. I think this could be especially useful for atmospheric sketches and merging photos and drawings of existing buildings to 3d model renders.

Only thing is, I have Design Standard on the way from Amazon, and I need nothing else from Design Premium... is there really no way simply to 'extend' standard photoshop from the Standard package. I'm seriously considering sending Standard back, but it's another 80 pounds for Premium just for these functions. Tough decision... I guess this is why they leave it out of Design Standard.