I realize this is an old thread and normally, I wouldn't give it a second thought. But after reading some of the comments on this thread and others, I felt compelled to point out a couple of things that you should consider.
First off, the notion that the variations tool was "destructive" really pissed me off because it takes about 2 lines of code, less than 100 characters in javascript, or two shortcut keystrokes to make variations work non-destructively. Duplicate a layer and apply the tool--done. Grab a composite copy, paste and apply variations. If you couldn't figure out how to use the variations tool without it being destructive, you shouldn't be using more advanced features.
Next, I really resent the notion that there is a right way and a wrong way to adjust the appearance of my creative artwork. "What do you want to adjust the white balance"--you can take your white balance and stuff it right up your nose. I have been using this program since version 3 (I am sure, but it might have been earlier than that) and I have worked in digital prepress where color was my strong suit. I have helped printers with stochastic screening formulas and I have developed custom color separation methods that didn't exist when I produced my first full-color magazine in 1989. Those methods are now standard fare for Photoshop (not because of me, but rather because they are common sense and Photoshop was early in development) I may not know as much as some people, but I sure as hell know a lot more than most and yet I have never been so arrogant as to tell someone that the tools they were using sucked because better tools exist.
I can calibrate the hell out of a series of devices to render excellent accuracy in colors across devices and though the color is hyper-realistic, people are still going to want to blow out the saturation, turn down the sharpness, and muddy the colors no matter how skilled you think you are. Color, more than almost anything else, is subjective. You have got to have a lot of nerve to make someone feel like they have to apologize for using a tool because you think you are better than they are--give me a break.
Next, I would like to point out that the cornerstone of the Variations tool was its ability to show you simultaneous...wait for it...VARIATIONS of your image.The ability to view 9 versions of your image and incrementally adjust multiple settings by simply following the path to which image looks the way you want it to look is no longer available and that royally sucks. Nobody is complaining about the quality of the color adjustments because people weren't using it for high-end color correction or precise color accuracy. More often than not, they were using it for creative means where the ability to articulate the kind of adjustment you want simply doesn't exist because you have to see it to know.
For me to get even a small piece of the utility of being able to see what my image would look like with a little more green or red or blue is easy with the adjustment layers. But sometimes, in Variations, you realize---"oh wow, I would have never thought of adding more cyan to this image, but look it's amazing." The variations tool would often surprise me when I would struggle with adjusting one color axis at a time like hue and nothing looked good. Suddenly with 9 versions on the screen, I can see that I needed to try this other path. That is no longer an option and that sucks.
Next, it should be made clear that you didn't have to get rid of the tool completely, in fact for you color-snobs who think that the only thing people are doing with Photoshop is color-correcting photographs, guess what Don't Use It if you don't think it's good enough for your color adjustments. Why make everyone suffer because you prefer a different set of tools?
Photoshop could have left the tool and employed the new methods of color adjustment. In fact, why not make the tool super useful and let users pick the axes by which they want to adjust images? For example, put Vibrance on the vertical axis and levels on the horizontal or maybe gradient map on one axis and hue/saturation on the other. Give me the grid with 9 variations (or maybe you could make the number of variations selectable as well) and a slider that lets me determine what increments I want to use on which axis and then let me click on the image that looks more like what I want until I get one that I like. And then guess what? Output the adjustment layers as adjustment layers so it's not destructive and doesn't screw up you color-gurus when you get a file from someone more creative than technical.
I apologize if I sound angry, but I am just appalled that some people who consider themselves "professionals" in the industry are so shallow that they can't see the actual utility of this tool. Just because there are other paths to the same or similar results doesn't mean that those paths are better or easier to use. They certainly don't show you options you hadn't considered. Rather than an adjustment layer only where you have to understand the analog between yellow and blue and how that affects your other colors, make a plugin tool that lets you pick your adjustments visually while offering you options that you might not have considered.
The variations tool is not just for beginners and ingrates who don't understand color theory and to make that assumption simply underscores your own lack of perspective. Adobe could at lead have recorded user interactions for six months with the Variations Tool active. They would have seen that it was by far the most used tool in so many user's preferred workflows that they wouldn't have dared to change it. But since we are all forced to suffer through Software as a Service model, we don't get any say in what is or isn't in our best interest. Take it or use the competition---oh that's right, we bought out and shut down the competition...take it and/or suffer. But that's another rant.
Adobe, do the responsible thing, the compassionate thing, and the technically advanced thing: Produce a new Variations method that provides multiple previews of your image along with multiple, customizable variations for the axes that allow you to visually choose the image that is closest to how you want it to look by incrementally choosing adjustments. Then when you are done, generate the adjustment layers (making it non-destructive) and make these adjustments saveable as "Adjustment Style Variations" which should also be one of the variations tools settings (previously defined styles).This will quickly become the most used and useful tool that Photoshop has ever created and it shouldn't be difficult to make. Regardless, it's a lot better than just being rude about your lack of understanding of the utility of the Variations tool.
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I guess I can stop being lazy now, right?
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