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Adobe ditches the Creative Cloud requirement for Lightroom mobile
Adobe's Lightroom mobile apps were already free to download. However, the software still required a Creative Cloud login or for you to own the desktop version to get any real use out of it. Well, that's not the case anymore. Adobe nixed the membership requirement for Lightroom on iOS this week, and it'll soon to the same for the Android version that debuted earlier this year. Now that the photo-editing app is really free to use on your phone or tablet, you're free to add it to your photo-editing arsenal. There's a smattering of new features as well, including a Dehaze filter to improve photo quality, Targeted Adjustment tool for focused tweaks, an in-app camera for snapshots and more. As we previously reported, you can also select photos for retouching in Photoshop Fix before easily returning to Lightroom thanks to the newfangled Creative Sync technology. New versions of both Lightroom mobile for iPhone and iPad are available in iTunes now.
Adobe teases 'Monument Mode' for better photos of crowded landmarks
During its Max design conference this week, Adobe previewed a number of features that are currently in the works. For example, the company is building a tool called Monument Mode that'll allow you to remove unwanted people, cars and other objects from those vacation photos with a single click. The idea here is that when you visit a popular landmark (or monument), it can be difficult to snap a good photo in a crowd. Monument Mode employs an algorithm that distinguishes between moving and stationary objects, so if someone walks in the frame, you can make the necessary edits quickly. The tool actually captures live footage, nixing those moving objects to create the shot you can actually use.
Adobe's 'core' design apps are now all touch-friendly on Windows
When the Surface Pro 3 was announced last spring, Adobe revealed that it was working on touch-friendly versions of its design apps for Windows. At today's Max event, the company announced that its collection "core" apps are ready to accept your swipes and taps on compatible devices, like Microsoft's slate, with new Touch Workspaces. Photoshop and Illustrator already had some touch-based features, but now there's an expanded software lineup that'll let you get hands-on with your work across audio, video, motion graphics and graphic design projects. This means that Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After Effects and Audition all accept input with your fingers, in addition the regular ol' keyboard, trackpad or stylus. And Photoshop's finger-friendly tools have been revamped to improve performance. Adobe's timing couldn't be better either, as Microsoft is poised to announce some new devices in a matter of hours.
Photoshop Fix brings some of Adobe's powerful editing tools to iOS
Remember that tease Adobe gave us during the recent iPad Pro reveal? It was a brief demo of the so-called Project Rigel, and now the creative software company is ready to make the big reveal just before its annual Max design conference starts. The finished product goes by Photoshop Fix, and it'll reside in Adobe's mobile arsenal alongside Photoshop Mix, Photoshop Draw, Illustrator Sketch and the rest of the company's recent releases. You may have noticed there's more than one mobile app with Photoshop in its name. Well, there's a reason for that: productivity. Photoshop Fix will help you take care of retouching photos on that trusty iOS device, and it really works quite well, partially due to the fact that it doesn't try to do too much.
Adobe Creative Cloud update boosts speed, adds stock photo library
Moving to a subscription-based plan of cloud-run apps allows Adobe to push regular updates, and the company is keen on at least one major update a year for the entire suite. In the 2015 installment, Adobe improved performance with speeds up to 10 times faster than CS6 in some apps. Besides that welcome tweak, the company also announced its own stock photography service: Adobe Stock. As you might expect, Stock is integrated with Creative Cloud apps so you can nab those images easily and CC subscriptions will save you 40 percent on photo purchases. You'll be able to search the Stock library from within apps like Photoshop before placing selections in a mockup. And yes, there is an additional fee required. You'll pay $10 per image or $30 a month for a collection of 10 ($50 if you're not a Creative Cloud user).
Adobe Lightroom quickly makes HDR and panoramas from multiple photos
Since the switch to Creative Cloud, Adobe has been rolling out major updates to its core software regularly. Today, Lightroom is the recipient, gaining a handful of tools that will speed up workflows on the desktop and across mobile devices. First, HDR and Panorama Merge create a single image from multiple RAW shots in a matter of seconds. As you might expect, there are a number of options for fine-tuning what Lightroom builds, but the new tools will save time spent manually creating a wide view or high dynamic range visual. There's also a video slideshow option that can employ a combination of snapshots, video and music to lend a hand with a presentation or scrapbook file. To keep things organized, facial recognition helps find and sort the folks in your photos. Adobe says the software performs better too, claiming that it'll handle edits up to 10 times faster than before.
Use an iPad to start print, web and mobile layouts with Adobe Comp CC
Mobile devices may not be able to handle all of the tasks needed project ready for print, but they are certainly handy for getting work started. Back in the fall, Adobe launched Brush CC, Shape CC, and Color CC that allow you to quickly nab useful bits of smartphone photos for use in full-on desktop applications like Photoshop and Illustrator. Today, the software company announced Comp CC: a new iPad app that pulls items from a user's Creative Cloud Library to get started on print, web and mobile app layouts while on the go.
Adobe Lightroom mobile comes to Android, but it's only for phones
Last spring, Adobe brought a version of its Lightroom photo-editing software to the iPad making for some convenient editing on the go. Months later, a version of the app is ready for Android devices and it brings all of the key features from the iOS version to those handsets running Google's mobile OS. You'll notice that I said "handsets" there, and that's an important caveat. The app is designed for use on phones, and not tablets. Adobe says a version that's optimized for tablets is on the way, but for now, the app is meant to be used on phones. While this new Lightroom mobile equips devices running Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and later with its toolbox of tweaks (more on that in a minute), the creative software company recommends that you have at least 8GB of free space on your device to keep things running smoothly.
New Moleskine sketchbooks beam your scribbles to Adobe's Creative Cloud
As part of its big mobile push, Adobe opened up its SDK to allow third-party apps to tap into Creative Cloud, and Moleskine's latest effort takes full advantage. Similar to its collaborative offering with Evernote, the Moleskine Smart Notebook uses your iPhone's camera to capture sketches. Printed markings on each page help the iOS companion app transform captured JPGs to SVG files for later tweaking. Once you're back at a computer, the images are stored in the cloud for easy access in Photoshop or Illustrator. It looks quite easy to use, so if you're one that still fancies pencil and paper to start a project, the new notebook is available for pre-order in the US and EU for $33 and £25.50, respectively.
Adobe Creative Cloud updates continue to boost mobile productivity
Adobe has offered mobile apps with a variety of tools for quite some time. With the arrival of the new suite that accompanied Ink and Slide earlier this year though, it became clear the creative software outfit wanted to equip those slates and smartphones to do useful work. At Adobe Max 2014, the company's annual conference, new updates are on tap that continue the mobile focus for Creative Cloud.
Photoshop for Chromebooks begins long-awaited beta test
If you've been eyeing a Chromebook to replace that Windows or Mac machine, Google's OS is about to get a massive boost in productivity. Starting today, Photoshop is headed to the machines thanks to a partnership with Adobe -- if you meet certain criteria. A cloud-based streaming version of the creative software will be available for Adobe Creative Cloud education customers in beta form, and for now, there's no word on when regular folk will be able to opt in. This version of Photoshop is designed to run on Chromebooks straight from the cloud and packs in Google Drive integration for easy file management. The rest of Creative Cloud is said to follow, however this trial run only includes the popular photo-editing app. As is usually the case with testing phases, there's no clear indication as to when this version of Photoshop will see its widespread release.
Adobe buys Aviary to bring photo editing to more mobile apps
The world of image editing has changed a lot in the past few years -- you're now about as likely to tweak a photo on your phone or tablet as you are on your PC. Adobe is clearly aware of this shift, as it just bought Aviary and its cloud-savvy image editing platform for an unspecified amount. The two firms will work together on bringing Adobe's editing tools and Creative Cloud services to more mobile apps. That photography app you just downloaded on your phone could create Photoshop-friendly pictures, for example. There's no set timetable for integrating Aviary into Adobe's software platforms, but the quick turnaround from the Behance acquisition suggests that you'll see more powerful mobile editing suites within a matter of months.
Adobe adds cross-platform photo editing for Creative Cloud users
Photographers who use Adobe's Creative Cloud suite of graphics apps are getting some love today. Both Photoshop and Lightroom have been updated to improve synchronization of photo workflows between compatible devices (ie. the Mac and the iPad). You can edit a photo on one platform and watch the changes show up on the other side; while this was already in the iPad app. now there's a feature-equivalent iPhone version of Lightroom for even more portability. To make this power more accessible to pro and enthusiast photographers, there's a new Photography plan for Creative Cloud -- launching today -- that includes Photoshop CC, Lightroom for desktop and iOS, and more for US$9.99 per month. Adobe is presenting the whole shebang in a live webcast today at 1pm Eastern. There are some really important developments here, so let's dive right in. Photoshop CC Photoshop's new features include perspective warps, new motion effects in the blur gallery, improved focusing routines and improvements to the content-aware tools. LightRoom 5 Meanwhile, Adobe has now supplemented the three-month-old iPad version of Lightroom with a build for iPhone. Both versions let you seamlessly edit photos with sync between all your iOS devices. Lightroom now synchronizes star ratings and sort order between the desktop and mobile versions, as long as you're running Lightroom 5.5 or better on the desktop. The iOS Lightroom app is free but requires a Creative Cloud subscription to work. Photoshop Mix Adobe also released a new iPad app called Photoshop Mix, which lets you open images from your camera roll, the Creative Cloud, Lightroom Mobile or even Facebook. It's like a lite version of Photoshop that's been redesigned for the iPad. Most of its operations are carried out on Adobe's cloud servers, which let you open PS documents, individual layers from PSDs and images from Lightroom Mobile. You can perform sophisticated edits on your iPad, including computationally intensive operations like content-aware moves and fills. The resulting changes will be available in Photoshop on your Mac or PC. Likewise, changes made on the desktop will appear in Photoshop Mix. The app has dozens of presets for quick edits, and a host of sophisticated tools that you would not expect to find in an iPad app. Your work can be saved back to the Creative Cloud, or to your local camera roll. Photoshop Mix is a breakthrough for photographers who want to do heavy editing on their iPad. You'll find more details on the app on the Adobe website. Integration Adobe provided me advance versions of Photoshop Mix and the new Adobe Lightroom for the iPhone. Everything worked as expected. I loved performing sophisticated edits on my iPad and then seeing them reflected back in Photoshop on my Macs. Adobe's aim is to let customers work on images no matter where they are or what device they're using. Meanwhile, Apple will make it easy to shuffle data between iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite. When you sit back and consider it all, a lot of little breakthroughs add up to a significant change in how and where we work with photos. Pricing All these new apps and services are available now. The Photoshop and Lightroom updates are handled through the Creative Cloud updater. Photoshop Mix and Lightroom Mobile for iPhone and iPad are in the App Store and do require a Creative Cloud ID/subscription, but there is no additional cost for any of the apps or updates. The Creative Cloud Photography plan is available at US$9.99 per month and includes Photoshop CC, Lightroom desktop and mobile versions, access to Creative Cloud Learn and ongoing feature updates and upgrades. If you are already enrolled in the original Photoshop Photography plan bundle, you are grandfathered in to receive these new apps and features. This new level of features and services from Adobe is going to appeal to professionals and serious photographers. Take a look at what is on offer (or join the webcast today) and see if it fills your needs.
Adonit's latest Jot Touch stylus works with Adobe's cloud software
Adonit, the company known for its artist-oriented iOS styluses (stylii?) has just released a new model: the Jot Touch with Pixelpoint. The "Pixelpoint" term refers to the fine point 3.1mm tip that Adonit claims is more artist friendly than a regular stylus. For further fine control, the pen has a thinner design and 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity (which requires an iOS device with Bluetooth 4), along with 2 shortcut buttons. Finally, the company says the new Jot Touch is the first stylus to work with Adobe Creative Cloud (via Adobe's Line and Sketch apps), allowing users to access their Jot files, copy and paste between devices and use Adobe's Kuler color picker. The Jot Touch with Pixelpoint is now available from Adonit for $120, and you should be able to grab Adobe's Sketch and Line apps soon at the App Store.
Adobe XD's Mighty and Napoleon prepare for retail, Contour and Parallel apps introduced (eyes-on)
As you've likely read today, Adobe XD has announced its plans to officially bring Projects Napoleon and Mighty -- a drafting ruler and cloud-connected stylus for iPads -- to retail in 2014. Rather than make the consumer-facing hardware itself, the company's relying on Adonit's manufacturing prowess. Creative professionals can rest assured that the tools will function with Creative Cloud. The retail versions will be much like the prototypes, except that Adobe ditched Bluetooth in the 'short ruler,' Napoleon. It now uses only capacitive touch and a single button (see above) to act as a selector for options within apps. Mighty will ship with a non-replaceable tip that's just under 2mm, but it's otherwise the same and includes a lipstick-style carrying case / charger. On top of all that, Adobe's introducing Projects Contour and Parallel as its next serious experiments in the area. They will serve as reference apps to highlight the kinds of functionality the tools could afford designers. Contour is Adobe's take on a draft-sketching app, while Parallel is an iPhone app that lets you grab photos of objects in real life and instantly convert them into vectors -- as you'd expect, both intermingle. No word on whether these apps will make it out of Adobe's in-progress lair just yet, but a rep gave us a coy smile and note to stay tuned. You'll find a video of the apps after the break, as well as our early hands-on with Napoleon and Mighty from June.
Adobe Creative Cloud hits 1 million subscribers, Projects Mighty and Napoleon available in 2014
During today's Q3 earnings report, Adobe announced that its Creative Cloud software service had passed one million subscribers since launching in June. In addition to reaching that milestone much faster than expected, the outfit officially removed the "technology exploration" label from both Project Mighty and Project Napoleon, and confirmed plans to release them as full-fledged products in 2014. Experience Design team lead Michael Gough and crew will work with experienced maker outfit Adonit in order to complete the pair and ship it out in the first half of next year. In case you need a brief refresher, our hands-on video with the two cloud-connected peripherals is embedded below.
Adobe to offer $9.99/month Creative Cloud subscription for a limited time
Adobe announced today that, for a limited time, it will offer a $9.99 per month subscription package to Creative Cloud as a part of its Photography Program. Naturally, there are a few caveats involved: the offer is available only to existing Creative Suite customers who own Photoshop CS3 or above and sign-ups close on December 31, 2013. The low price tag won't get you the full Creative Cloud treatment; the Photography Program will grant you access to the diet version, which includes Photoshop CC, Lightroom 5, Behance ProSite access and 20GB of storage space. It's a smart move on Adobe's part, considering that the company has been fielding complaints from disgruntled customers over its subscription pricing model. You'll have to wait until September 17th for the offer to go live, but the good news is that the $9.99 monthly rate isn't an introductory price, therefore it won't increase so long as your account remains active. For more info, check out the source link below.
Adobe releases 15 all-new Creative Cloud apps
Adobe has announced the release of 15 all-new Creative Cloud apps. Adobe's Creative Cloud apps allow files to be stored in the cloud and opened on devices running multiple platforms including desktop, mobile and web. In addition to feature updates to Adobe's apps, they all now feature Behance integration. Behance is the world's largest social network aimed at allowing designers to share their work. Adobe has spotlighted some of the new features available, including: Photoshop CC ships with new sharpening technologies and designer workflow enhancements. Camera Shake Reduction deblurs images that would have otherwise been lost due to camera movement. All-new Smart Sharpen makes texture and detail pop, and Adobe Camera Raw 8 adds even more powerful photographic controls to straighten and perfect images. Photoshop CC and Illustrator CC are the first Adobe desktop applications to include the ability to post files directly to Behance, showcasing work immediately and integrating peer feedback into the creative process. For designers, the Touch Type tool in Illustrator CC offers a new level of creativity with type. Move, scale, and rotate text characters knowing that it remains editable. This feature works with a mouse, stylus or multi-touch device. Illustrator also enables painting with a brush made from a photo. Art, Pattern, and Scatter brushes can contain raster images, so designers can create complex organic designs quickly, with simple brush strokes. And Illustrator CC features integration with Behance, so work can be shared directly to Behance to get feedback and showcase projects. A new, modern architecture for InDesign CC turbocharges performance, and in-browser editing in Adobe MuseTM CC -- a tool for designers to create and publish HTML websites without writing code -- allows clients to make edits to a published website, which can then be reviewed, approved, and updated by the designer. For video customers Adobe Premiere Pro CC includes dramatic new editing features, customisations and improvements to help editors work efficiently. Premiere Pro CC integrates powerful colour workflows, with the addition of the LumetriTM Deep Colour Engine to easily apply rich colour grading looks. A high-impact version of Adobe After Effects® CC brings motion graphics and visual effects artists more creative possibilities and allows them to work more easily in 3D with the new Live 3D Pipeline with Maxon Cinema4D integration. There are also all-new versions of Adobe SpeedGrade CC, Audition® CC, PreludeTM CC and Adobe Story CC Plus. Web designers and developers can look forward to significant advances in Adobe's family of Edge tools and services. The latest Edge Animate CC lets web designers create animated and interactive content with amazing ease and precision, using native HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Dreamweaver users can look forward to the most up-to-date CSS and properties via the intuitive visual editing tool, CSS Designer. And Adobe Flash® Pro CC features a modern, modular 64-bit architecture rebuilt from the ground up to be fast and reliable. Access to the full Creative Cloud suite is only available via subscription. Monthly subscription rates are US$50, with discounts available to current owners of Creative Suite software.
Adobe releases latest Creative Cloud apps, surveys disgruntled customers about pricing
Love it or hate it, Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription-based software is now the only way to get your favorite apps like Photoshop, Premiere Pro and the like. The company has just released the latest versions of most of those programs, now dubbed CC, which can be installed alongside the current apps for those afraid to change mid-project. Meanwhile, Adobe's trying to tempt previous suite or apps owners to transition to the new system for up to 60 percent off for CS6 owners during a 12-month period, or 40 percent off for those on CS3 to CS5.5. According to Photo Rumors, Adobe is also considering a new pricing structure in response to a massive online backlash against the subscription model from existing clients, who feel it's too expensive. The company sent out a survey asking some of them what they thought about paying $10 per month for three years for Photoshop, or $30 for the entire suite, while being able to keep a permanent CS6 copy of either at the end. Considering the level of vehemence we saw earlier, we'll have to wait and see if that'll fly. Meanwhile, check the PR after the break to see what's new in all the apps.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 now available for $149
Adobe teased us with a Photoshop Lightroom 5 beta at the start of the spring, and it's closing out the season by releasing the finished goods. Mac- and Windows-based shutterbugs can download the completed image management app today, either at no extra charge through a Creative Cloud subscription or $149 for a stand-alone version ($79 for an upgrade). Buyers get the same core updates no matter how much they spend, including an Advanced Healing Brush for removing objects and Smart Previews that let travelers leave their original files at home. Behance publishing is also part of the revision. When Lightroom is free to try for a month, it likely won't hurt to grab a copy at the source link -- especially if your photo collection is growing out of hand.
