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Adobe Photoshop Touch brings the flagship retouching app to the iPad 2
Adobe has finally gone and done it. An iPad version of Photoshop called Adobe Photoshop Touch is out for the iPad via the App Store. It's tremendously impressive and to a lesser degree a bit frustrating. Let's start with the good stuff, because there's plenty of it. Getting a sophisticated photo app running on the iPad is no small task. It requires many controls and a lot of ways to complete tasks that differ from their counterparts on the desktop. Adobe has given this a lot of thought, and while Photoshop Touch isn't as full featured as Photoshop CS5, it brings a boatload of functionality to the tablet which will make every photographer anxious to buy the US$9.99 app without hesitation. Here's a brief run down of the features: Layer Support Image browsing from Facebook and Google Image search Selection tools Filters (including sharpen, gaussian blur, drop shadows, bevels, gradient maps, pencil, scratches and 21 more) Curves, shadow/highlight adjustments, temperature, replace color, black and white, invert, brightness/contrast, and noise reduction Editing features including crop, image size, add text, warp, add gradients and more If you use Photoshop, most of these tools will be familiar to you. New tools include the Scribble Selection Tool (which allows you to select and extract parts of an image) among others. When you are done editing your image, you can save it to your camera roll and share it via email, Facebook or Adobe Creative Cloud (after creating a free account). Adobe Creative Cloud offers 2 GB storage for free. You'll be able to buy more when the service comes out of beta later this year. At that time Creative Cloud will be a $49.99 yearly subscription. Once your image is on the Adobe servers, you can download it on any other device with web access. The app does not support Apple's iCloud. You can print your image via AirPrint if you have supported printers or an OS X app like Printopia. Using the app was fairly intuitive. There are 13 built-in tutorials and a link to online help, though there's no complete help document. The tutorials are not in video form, but rather step-by-step directions that you can move forward and backward through as you choose. I found the instructions effective and easy to understand. If you are already a Photoshop user, you understand the concepts of making adjustments to an image. If you are not already Photoshop-savvy, the basics aren't hard to pick up. I'd like to see many more tutorials, and I hope future updates will add them. You can get an idea of the depth of the features in Photoshop Touch by looking through the screenshots I've posted. There is a lot to this app, and most Photoshop functions are carried over other than masks. There are some negatives, of course. The most glaring issue is that the maximum output size of an image is 1600 x 1600 pixels. This is simply too small, and is much less resolution than output by the iPhone 4 (2592 x 1936) and 4S cameras (3264 x2448). I can assume the resolution was held down to keep performance snappy on the iPad, but I would expect an app with these features to handle higher resolution images. Maybe the rumored iPad 3, with what will likely be better specs, can do more. While the app supports layers, which is a major positive, there are some limitations. For example, if you add a text layer, you can't go back and edit the text. You'll have to delete the layer and start again. Another limitation is that saving an image means losing layers, as files are saved as JPEG images to your iPad camera roll, or when you send them via mail or to Facebook. If, however, you save to the Adobe Creative Cloud, layers are preserved. You can download the image from your Adobe storage but you'll note right away that the image is in PSDX format and Photoshop won't load it. To fix this you must download the Creative Cloud plug-ins from Adobe so Photoshop CS5 can open your file. Note: CS5 or 5.5 is required, so earlier versions of Photoshop won't load the files at all. Photoshop Touch has familiar tools like the lasso tool, but placing boundaries precisely is difficult because your finger covers up the screen. A stylus might be more practical for that kind of work, and of course Photoshop Touch provides some more automated selection tools. My tests of the app were positive. Overall performance was good. It can take a few seconds to render some effects, that's to be expected. Features worked with no issues, and for a first iPad version I saw no bugs, freezes or crashes. In my tests, Photoshop Touch was solid. Overall, Adobe Photoshop Touch is a tremendous achievement. Ever since the iPad came out, it has been criticized as a consumption device, and not a creative tool. Photoshop Touch is yet another app that has made that argument seem nonsensical. Any serious photographer should consider buying this app. No, it's not the full Photoshop experience. I wouldn't expect that in a $10 app. Rather, I think of it a bit more like Adobe's Photoshop Elements. It's scaled down from Photoshop, but contains the most used and wanted features. I am still troubled about the file size limitation. That's what I'd like to see Adobe fix first. There are other photo editing apps for the iPad that preserve the original file size, so it's not impossible. Photogene is just one example of many iPad apps that can output files at original resolution. Adobe Photoshop Touch is a 50 MB download, and must run on an iPad 2. The original iPad just doesn't have the horsepower to make the app viable. Photoshop Touch requires iOS 5, and you'll want to sign up for the Adobe Creative Cloud if you want to work on your images on Photoshop CS5 and keep your layers intact. This is a great first effort from Adobe for the iPad. Photoshop Touch will only get better over time, but as it stands now I think many photographers, both pro and amateur, will want this reasonably priced and powerful photo editor. Check the galleries below for a look at Photoshop Touch being used. %Gallery-148713%
Adobe reveals Creative Cloud, links Touch Apps to Creative Suite with 20GB storage
Dropbox just not doing the trick for your design work load? Perhaps Adobe can help. The company has announced Creative Cloud, a "hub for viewing, sharing and syncing of files created by Adobe Touch Apps and Adobe Creative Suite." Included with the service is 20GB of cloud storage, which will probably get you through that web design project you've been putting off. After the first of the year, Adobe expects its cloud to include access to applications software (apps too), digital publishing / business services and a global creative community for inspiration and feedback. Also unveiled were Touch Apps, a set of six applications designed to make your tablet a design machine -- if you're down to work on that small of a screen, of course. You'll have to wait until November to find out just how much the Creative Cloud will set you back, but in the meantime check out the source link for more details.
Adobe releases trio of Photoshop Touch Applications for the iPad
Adobe announced the immediate availability of its Photoshop Touch applications for the iPad. The three touch-friendly apps use the touchscreen of the iPad and interact with Photoshop CS5 on the desktop. The trio includes Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop, Adobe Eazel for Photoshop and Adobe Nav for Photoshop. Color Lava lets you mix and match color swatches to create new colors on the iPad. Eazel lets you draw using the touchscreen of the iPad and Nav lets you use common Photoshop tools as well as browse open Photoshop documents on the iPad. There are many excellent applications that let you paint on the iPad, but these apps let you create and seamlessly share your projects with the desktop version of Adobe CS5. All three apps were created using the Photoshop Touch Software development kit and showcase what is possible with this touch-centric SDK. The apps are available now from the App Store. Adobe Nav for Photoshop is the cheapest of the bunch with a price tag of US$1.99. Adobe Color Lava comes in second at $2.99 and Adobe Eazel is at the top with a semi-premium price of $4.99.
Adobe Nav for iPad and Photoshop video demo
John Nack, Principal Product Manager at Adobe, posted a video demo of Adobe Nav for iPad on his blog Saturday morning. Adobe Nav is one of the first apps to showcase the new tablet integration features included with the software maker's upcoming Creative Suite version 5.5 (CS5.5). The video demonstrates two of the iPad app's most useful features: the ability to build a custom tool palette and navigation among open Photoshop projects. Adobe introduced the first mid-cycle release to its popular Creative Suite at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference earlier this month. The announcement highlighted CS5.5's new Touch Software Development Kit (SDK) that allows developers to create tablet applications that interact with Adobe software on a personal computer. Adobe Nav for iPad is one of three applications the San Jose company built to demonstrate its forthcoming tablet SDK -- the other two are Adobe Color Lava and Adobe Eazel. According to PCWorld, Adobe Nav allows Photoshop users to more easily manage open projects, activate frequently used tools, adjust a document's zoom percentage, switch between Photoshop's screen modes, and change foreground and background colors from their iPads. The demo video certainly illustrates how the iPad can evolve the creative workflow. I look forward to seeing what else Adobe and app developers cook up to extend CS5.5's usefulness beyond the boundaries of the desktop. To watch the video, please visit John Nack's blog. Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 and Adobe Nav for iPad will ship in early May, 2011. Customers can pre-order CS5.5 from Adobe's website with a variety of options and prices. Adobe Nav for iPad is expected to be sold through the App Store for US$1.99.
Adobe Captivate joins Mac family
Along with the release of the CS5 suite, Adobe is delivering a new product to the Mac platform; Captivate 5 is shipping next month, both in a standalone version and as the anchor of the new eLearning Suite 2 bundle alongside Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop Extended, Soundbooth and Acrobat. Captivate lets educators, trainers and documentation experts create tutorials and simulations that can be deployed to websites or learning management (LMS) infrastructure. Captivate has had a long run as a Windows app, so the interface was completely refreshed for the Mac release. New features in v5 include full roundtrip support with other components of the suite, so you can edit sound clips in Soundbooth or animations in Flash and return to where you left off in the Captivate project. The new version also allows for better video synchronization within a project. The PowerPoint plugin piece of the eLearning suite (Adobe Presenter) remains Win-only. You can learn more about Captivate via Adobe's prerecorded and upcoming live webcasts about the eLearning suite (Adobe account required). New licenses for the suite start at US$1799, with upgrades starting at $599. Captivate alone sells for $799 and can be upgraded starting at $299; cross-grades from the PC version to the Mac version should be allowed. Preorders are active now, and the suite is expected to ship in mid-June. Thanks Rich! [h/t The Mac Observer]
Adobe: We won't spend any more time on Flash to iPhone features
Mike Chambers, Principal Product Manager for developer relations for the Flash Platform at Adobe, has informed Flash developers that Adobe is unlikely to make any further investment in Flash CS5's export to iPhone app functionality. Chambers says that while Flash CS5 will still export to the current iPhone OS 3, developers should be aware that Apple will most likely pull any apps built in CS5 and ported to an iPhone app from the App Store in the near future. He also believes that Apple's enforcement of the infamous clause 3.3.1 of the developer agreement will be capricious/selective enough to permit some other alternative development environments through the gates. Apple and Adobe's cat and mouse game has been going on almost as long at the iPhone has existed. Today's statements from Adobe effectively ring down the curtain on future development of the Flash CS5 iPhone features, barring any change of heart from Apple. But after previously admitting that Apple's no-Flash policy could hurt business, where will Adobe go with mobile Flash from here on out? To Android phones and tablets, apparently. Chambers says that Adobe is taking what they've learned in trying to develop Flash for iPhone and using that experience in applying Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2.0 to other mobile operating systems. Despite the assertions from both the technical and executive branches of Adobe that Flash's relevance to the mobile space is certain and sure, there does not seem to be a significant hitch in Apple's device sales that can be attributed to a lack of Flash player. As GigaOM points out, even while CEO Shantanu Narayen was suggesting to Fox Business News that Flash-free devices were going to miss out on video content like the interview he was giving, it was no trouble at all to watch that clip via HTML5 streaming on an iPad. Update: CNET's Steven Shankland got a comment from Apple (!) responding to Chambers' proposition that Adobe's products are about the openness of build-once, run anywhere: spokeswoman Trudy Miller says "Someone has it backwards--it is HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and H.264 (all supported by the iPhone and iPad) that are open and standard, while Adobe's Flash is closed and proprietary."
Adobe halts investment in iPhone-specific Flash dev tools, has another dig at Apple (update: Apple responds)
Color us unsurprised, but it's still notable to hear that Adobe is stopping investment in its software's capability to port content over to iPhone OS. The company's great hope on this front, Packager for iPhone, will still ship as part of Flash CS5 as planned, but beyond that Adobe is essentially giving up on Apple's mobile OS until further notice. In spite of being repeatedly rebuffed by Jobs and company before, the Flash maker had kept up hope that it could sway (or nag) Apple into validating its wares, but the final straw in this relationship seems to have been Apple's dev tool lockdown. So what will Adobe do now? Principal Product Manager Mike Chambers tells us that Android is doing kind of okay and his company will shift its attentions to it and other mobile platforms. Of course, we're just giving you the cleaned up version -- for the full finger-pointing diatribe against Apple, you'll have to hit the source link. Update: Right on cue, here's Apple's terse response: "Someone has it backwards--it is HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and H.264 (all supported by the iPhone and iPad) that are open and standard, while Adobe's Flash is closed and proprietary."
Adobe CS5 launched, wallets everywhere cry out as one and are silenced
As with earlier versions, CS5 will come in different flavors. For the print media designer, there's Adobe CS5 Design Premium (US$1,899, upgrades from $599), which includes new versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash Catalyst and Professional, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Acrobat 9 Pro, and Bridge and Device Central. If you're primarily working in the Web design world, you'll want to pick up Adobe CS5 Web Premium ($1,799, upgrades from $599). It features Dreamweaver, Contribute, Flash Catalyst, Professional and Builder, Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Acrobat 9 Pro, Fireworks, and Bridge and Design Central. Video professionals will swoon over Adobe CS5 Production Premium ($1,699, upgrades from $599), made up of Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop Extended, Soundbooth, OnLocation, Encore, Flash Catalyst and Professional, Dynamic Link, and Bridge and Design Central. Of course, you can always max out that Visa card and get the whole shootin' match -- AKA Adobe CS5 Master Collection ($2,599, upgrades from $899). This includes everything that you could possibly want or need, except for the octo-core Mac Pro you'll need to run all of this. During the breathless and "Flashy" livestream event this morning (a livestream of something that was obviously pre-recorded), Flash Player 10.1 was also announced. Adobe is still hopeful that they'll be able to let iPhone and iPad users join in on the fun through content developed in Flash Pro CS5 and run through Packager for iPhone, although Apple has other ideas. For creative professionals, today's announcement definitely provides excitement in terms of new features and functionality for the suite, but also creates the dilemma of how to afford the pricey software and upgrade their hardware to run the applications at a decent speed. In the past, many designers have waited to upgrade Adobe's Creative Suite until the inevitable bugs have been quashed. How about you, TUAW readers? If you're in the design world, are you going to pick up CS5 as soon as you can?
Adobe admits Apple's no-Flash policy could hurt business
Adobe has filed its latest quarterly Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) report, just one day after Apple previewed iPhone OS 4.0. In the document, Adobe outlines the risk that Apple's prohibition on Flash brings to the company. In the "Risk Factors" section of the filing, Adobe stated that exclusion of Flash on devices "such as the Apple iPhone or iPad, make it more difficult for our products to perform, and [if] our customers are persuaded to use alternative technologies, our business could be harmed." Apple does not compete with Adobe over technologies like Flash. Apple's decision to leave Flash off its multi-touch devices is based on (according to Apple) the instability of Flash and the power drain Flash causes on portable devices. The lack of Flash on the iPhone has been a realm of contention between Adobe and Apple since the iPhone launched in 2007. Now things have heated up again, since Apple's just-released beta version of the iPhone OS 4 SDK license bans ported Flash, Java, and Mono apps. A primary feature of Adobe's forthcoming Flash Professional CS5 is the ability to export Flash content into the native iPhone format. While Adobe has officially so far remained mum on this, their platform evangelist (who apparently had to be reined in by corporate, after his initial post did not include adequate disclaimers) has told Apple to "Go screw yourself."
Adobe announces CS5 release date, second beta of Lightroom 3
Adobe has put up a counter, and announced a launch event for the release of Adobe Creative Suite 5 on April 12 at 11am EDT. Though little is known about the features of CS5, Adobe had previously announced that it will give Flash CS5 the features to allow devs to build Flash-based applications and then export them to the App Store's .ipa standard. This will effectively allow developers to build iPhone apps in nothing but CS5. If you've registered for an Adobe ID, you'll be able to view a video broadcast of the launch event on Adobe TV. CS5 will also be Intel-only, Cocoa and 64-bit native. Adobe has also announced a second beta of the Lightroom 3 digital darkroom software. Lightroom competes directly with Apple's Aperture software. On February 9th, Apple released Aperture 3. This latest version of the Lightroom beta includes the following features: Improved performance throughout the application for faster importing and loading of images Native tethered shooting support for select Nikon and Canon DSLR cameras Luminance noise reduction has been added to the previous color noise reduction improvements available in the first public beta, for outstanding overall high ISO quality Support for importing and managing video files from DSLR cameras for better overall photographic workflow control Improvements to the import experience in the first beta to reflect public feedback Improved watermarking functionality from the first beta to reflect public feedback You can download the Lightroom 3 beta 2 here (requires an Adobe ID).
T-Mobile rolling out visual voicemail this summer?
Newly-leaked projected training and launch dates on T-Mobile are revealing a treasure trove of goodies for the summer months, not the least of which seems to be a visual voicemail system -- a trend already validated by AT&T's and Verizon's past and future launches -- expected on July 16, though it's not clear what devices are lined up to get it. On the hardware front, we're getting some much-needed validation on dates we've already heard: we've got the Dash 3G (alias Snap, alias S522) in the mix for July 1, the 8 megapixel Sony Ericsson CS8 slider for June 24 (and its kid brother, the CS5, for July 8), and the HTC Rhodium / Touch Pro2 for July 22. We've also got a couple "hero" Samsungs listed in here, though we're fairly certain they're not Android devices -- Houdini, where are you?
Photoshop CS4 64-bit in Windows, only 32-bit in OS X
Right after announcing the release of 64-bit support in the Lightroom 2 beta, Photoshop Senior Project Manager John Nack dropped a little bombshell on his blog, announcing that the next version of Photoshop (CS4) will be available in both 32- and 64-bit versions for Windows, but only a 32-bit version for OS X. The reason: Photoshop on OS X is written with the Carbon API. Last June Apple decided to kill 64-bit Carbon, forcing all future 64-bit application development on the Mac to Cocoa. Adobe had originally planned to ship a 64-bit CS4 as a Carbon app and port to Cocoa for CS5, but now the 64-bit version will have to wait for the CS5 Cocoa build.The (relative) good news is that this will primarily affect users working on "very large files on a suitably equipped machine." The average speed bump "due to running in 64-bit mode is around 8-12%" when not "using a large data set." The bad news is that it is precisely those professional users who buy Mac Pros maxed out on RAM that will likely get penalized. It'll be a sad day when the Photoshop jockeys have to run in Boot Camp to get the most out of their Mac Pros.[via Daring Fireball]
