Still get a little surprised when I open a digital canvas and don't have to wait 5 minutes for the paint bucket tool to finish filling a section.

I started out on a hand-me-down Pentium 2 with MS Paint in 1999, and now I can throw 30 layers of effects at a single character sketch on my tablet without the fan even spinning up has anyone else felt that weird disconnect between how much harder it used to be and how fast everything is now?

2 comments

2 Comments

morgan.charlie1d ago

Yeah that bit about the fan not spinning up really hits home for me. I remember running Photoshop 5.5 on a machine that sounded like a lawnmower every time I tried to do anything with a layer mask. What I don't think anyone talks about enough is how this speed has actually made us worse at planning ahead. Back when every brush stroke cost you time, you really had to think about what you wanted before you clicked. Now I'll just slap down 15 adjustment layers and mess around until something sticks, which is fine for quick stuff but I wonder if it's made my composition instincts a little soft. There's something to be said for the old "commit or wait forever" approach that forced you to make decisions and stick with them. Not saying I want to go back to dial up waiting times, but I do catch myself being lazier than I used to be because the undo button is basically instant now.

nathan1931d ago

That slapping down 15 adjustment layers thing really got me, I do the exact same thing now and never really noticed how much I've leaned on that safety net. Makes you wonder if we're trading real skill for just having more chances to get it right.