Adobe plans to demonstrate a handful of new programs that allow the tablet to act as an added input device when used in conjunction with a Mac or PC running Photoshop. In one, Nav, the iPad is used to quickly shift between tools or open photos, while in another, Eazel, the iPad serves as a high-tech finger painting pad. A third program, Adobe Color Lava, turns Apple’s tablet into a color-mixing palette.
Adobe is showing the three new Photoshop Touch apps; Adobe Color Lava, Adobe Eazel and Adobe Nav; as part of a series of enhancements coming next month in an interim update, version 5.5, of the company’s flagship Adobe Creative Suite.
Adobe does a full rev of CS suites every 18 to 24 months, but Adobe said this time around it wanted to do things a little quicker. The new version should be available May 3, with the new iPad apps; The Adobe Color Lava, Adobe Eazel and Adobe Nav applications; due to hit the iTunes app store at the same time with prices ranging from $1.99 to $4.99.
Going From Content Consumption to Content Creation
A new free Photoshop Touch software development kit will allow developers to come up with their own ideas of how the iPad can augment the traditional program. While the three apps Adobe has created are for the iPad, the company said its developer tools are designed to allow for creation of programs that could also run on Android devices or even BlackBerry’s PlayBook, thanks to its support for Adobe AIR.
Our research shows that creatives are adopting tablets faster than any other group and we heard loud and clear that they want to use their devices to interact with Photoshop, the tool they depend on most of all,” said John Loiacono, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Media Solutions, Adobe. “The apps that we announced today show some of the creative ways tablets can work with Photoshop and over the next few months Photoshop’s vibrant developer community is going to dazzle us with innovative apps that further integrate tablet devices into creative workflows.
Developers can access the free Adobe Photoshop Touch SDK today for Windows and Mac OS platforms on the Adobe Application Manager at www.adobe.com/devnet/photoshop. Current Photoshop CS5 customers can experience the value of the connection to devices by downloading and installing a free patch available on www.adobe.com or via the Adobe Application Manager, beginning May 3, 2011.
Subscriptions
Adobe will now offer a subscription model. Prices will range from Photoshop starting at $35 a month to Design Premium at $95 a month to the Creative Suite 5.5 Master Collection at $129 a month. Adobe executives said that subscription pricing will open a new market for its tools.
Big Changes to Premiere Pro, Just in Time for NAB
In addition to the tablet apps, Adobe is offering fairly significant updates to some Creative Suite apps, such as its Premiere Pro video editing program. Others, such as Photoshop, are getting only modest updates.
InDesign CS 5.5 also enhances some of the e-book capabilities found in the previous version, such as allowing more control over CSS export and image resolution/
CS 5.5 Production Premium Suite offers workflow improvements and new audio editing. The Adobe Mercury Playback Engine, which had been introduced as part of Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.0, now features broadened GPU support to include laptops and more cards.
