5 ms·

Anybody in graphics design for more than 5 minutes any time in the last 25 years knows what a PSD file is. Because you are not familiar with a (defacto) industr

by yborg 9y ago

Anybody in graphics design for more than 5 minutes any time in the last 25 years knows what a PSD file is. Because you are not familiar with a (defacto) industry standard doesn't make it non-standard. The Adobe PSD file format is documented in painful detail here https://www.adobe.com/devnet-apps/photoshop/fileformatashtml/ https://www.adobe.com/devnet-apps/photoshop/fileformatashtml... The format is binary and extremely convoluted, in part because it attempts to maintain compatibility with 20 years of versions of Photoshop. Because of this complexity, I am unaware of any program that can read or write a PSD file that supports all features of Photoshop. I am in fact aware of no non-Adobe program that will read and write a Photoshop file with editable text layers (including Gimp).

kazinator 9y ago
> Anybody in graphics design for more than 5 minutes any time in the last 25 years knows what a PSD file is. Because you are not familiar with a (defacto) industry standard doesn't make it non-standard. True. I haven't used any program for image editing other than GIMP since 1996 (which I first installed on a GNU/Linux system running on a Sun Sparcstation 20!) > I am in fact aware of no non-Adobe program that will read and write a Photoshop file with editable text layers (including Gimp). That's just a consequence of being so incredibly standard.
- na85 9y ago
  PSD is an industry standard.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - kazinator 9y ago
    Sure; if you can say "industry" in reference to a bunch of people whose employability is hinged to a single PC/Mac application.
    - krapp 9y ago
      Not merely a single application, the entire network of Adobe applications, and the interoperability between them, which doesn't just mean still images, but audio and visual effects in commercials, film, video games, physical print, professional photography. Almost any visual media outside of the browser at some point interacts with Adobe and PSD files. And someone whose employability is probably tied to a specific OS, toolchain or software stack really shouldn't throw stones.
    - na85 9y ago
      What percentage of professional graphic artists do you think were using non-Adobe products through the early 2000s? I don't know for sure but I'd wager upwards of 80%.
  - fractallyte 9y ago
    Just like Word's doc format? It's only a 'standard' for those closed-minded industrial drones who won't ever contemplate using something different. This is the attitude that causes awesome, innovative software to disappear beneath a morass of "But it's not industry standard!". I create graphics. I don't use any Adobe software. Adobe isn't the only graphics software company out there.

by yborg 9y ago

kazinator 9y ago

> Anybody in graphics design for more than 5 minutes any time in the last 25 years knows what a PSD file is. Because you are not familiar with a (defacto) industry standard doesn't make it non-standard. True. I haven't used any program for image editing other than GIMP since 1996 (which I first installed on a GNU/Linux system running on a Sun Sparcstation 20!) > I am in fact aware of no non-Adobe program that will read and write a Photoshop file with editable text layers (including Gimp). That's just a consequence of being so incredibly standard.

na85 9y ago
PSD is an industry standard.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- kazinator 9y ago
  Sure; if you can say "industry" in reference to a bunch of people whose employability is hinged to a single PC/Mac application.
  - krapp 9y ago
    Not merely a single application, the entire network of Adobe applications, and the interoperability between them, which doesn't just mean still images, but audio and visual effects in commercials, film, video games, physical print, professional photography. Almost any visual media outside of the browser at some point interacts with Adobe and PSD files. And someone whose employability is probably tied to a specific OS, toolchain or software stack really shouldn't throw stones.
  - na85 9y ago
    What percentage of professional graphic artists do you think were using non-Adobe products through the early 2000s? I don't know for sure but I'd wager upwards of 80%.
- fractallyte 9y ago
  Just like Word's doc format? It's only a 'standard' for those closed-minded industrial drones who won't ever contemplate using something different. This is the attitude that causes awesome, innovative software to disappear beneath a morass of "But it's not industry standard!". I create graphics. I don't use any Adobe software. Adobe isn't the only graphics software company out there.