About a year ago Adobe announce they would bring Photoshop to the iPad. Not a cut down version but the full app. Today at its Photoshop for the iPad annual Adobe Max design conference today they have started to deliver on this promise. While the app is great than a light version of the product, is still has a ways to go to be an equal to the Windows and Mac version of the app. IT still appears to be a great start!
The app has been redesigned for the context of a mobile/touch device and includes many of desktop Photoshop’s core tools mainly around compositing, retouching, and masking. Not everything is here, but Adobe says this first version is just the starting line.
The new app sports a toolbar on the left – which packs the brush, type, clone stamp, healing brush, and lasso tools to name a few. Layer panels are on the right, along with tools for photo editing like brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation, and levels. Plus there are panels to make image adjustments with layer masks, gradients, and blend modes.
The iPad app is built from the same code base as Photoshop on the desktop. The new app supports the new Cloud PSD file format, which allows users to sync edits across the tablet and desktop. Adobe’s Fresco and Aero app also support PSD is in the cloud.
The extension for PSD cloud is PSDC, “C” for cloud. PSDCs will auto-save can be saved in other cloud storage locations other than the Adobe Creative Cloud.
Users can use Photoshop on their iPads or desktops offline, with edits being cached on the device until they connect back to the internet.
Photoshop on the iPad is only available for Creative Cloud customers, meaning it’s included if they’re already paying for a plan with Photoshop. If not, users will have to sign up for a subscription, the cheapest of which is the $9.99 Photography plan that includes Lightroom and Photoshop.
