syntax had posted the PSD (created in the GIMP) of his "ascent" bend, curious whether it would open and what it might look like if it did. well, it didn't. but something else interesting happened. the following is cross-posted from the comments on syntax's blog:
yeah, the file wouldn't open in either PS7 or PSCS2: i got the dread "not compatible with this version of photoshop" error. so i opened in the gimp and onscreen it looked a little different, so i saved as a JPG, but that JPG was identical to yours.
however, then i opted to re-save the PSD in the gimp. normally, re-saving a bent image within an image editor is a bad idea, as it essentially "fixes" the errors: instead of a corrupted file you get a "normal" file of the corrupted image. this eliminates the possibility of application-sensitive "re-bending" because it's no longer a bent file. but it did allow me to open the file in photoshop.
when i make a JPG out of the newly resaved PSD in the gimp, i still get that same result. but here's the surprising part: when i open the PSD in photoshop and make a JPG from that, it looks different (like it did onscreen in gimp):
maybe someday i'll write a thorough analysis comparing photoshop vs the gimp for opening PSD files, as there are definitely some peculiar differences between how the two render. photoshop usually seems to be the idiosyncratic one. the gimp is usually more straightforward, but not entirely so, at least in this case.¶
