Control and create with Photoshop – on the iPad

Adobe has announced three new iPad applications that demonstrate the creative possibilities of using tablets to drive common Photoshop workflows – Adobe Color Lava for Photoshop, Adobe Eazel for Photoshop and Adobe Nav for Photoshop.

Adobe Eazel for Photoshop CS5

The apps are designed to enable users to create custom colour swatches, paint and drive popular Photoshop tools from tablet devices. They were created using the Photoshop Touch Software Development Kit (SDK), which was also announced today.

With the SDK, Adobe is inviting developers worldwide to create mobile and tablet applications that interact with Photoshop, uniting the fun and interactive experience of touch devices with the power and precision of Photoshop.

Adobe today also launched Creative Suite 5.5, a significant mid-cycle release to the industry-leading design and development software for virtually every creative workflow across print, video, mobile and online media (see story).

The Photoshop Touch SDK and a new scripting engine in Photoshop open the door for Android, BlackBerry Tablet OS and iOS apps to drive and interact with Photoshop on the desktop:

• Adobe Color Lava allows creative professionals to use their fingertips to mix colours on the iPad, creating custom colour swatches and themes to transfer back into Photoshop.
• Adobe Eazel takes advantage of cutting-edge painting technology, lets digital artists create rich realistic paintings with their fingertips and introduces a new kind of interaction between “wet” and “dry” paints. These paintings can then be sent directly to Photoshop for compositing or for taking the artwork further.
• Adobe Nav increases workflow efficiency by letting users select and control Photoshop tools using the iPad as the input surface, customize the toolbar, browse and zoom in on up to 200 open Photoshop files or easily create new files.

All three applications take advantage of the iPad tablet’s touch screen for a immersive, tactile, on-the-go experience. While the first applications available are for the Apple iPad and the iOS, the Photoshop Touch SDK makes development possible on other devices, including Android and BlackBerry PlayBook. Adobe has already engaged with a number of developers across the industry to incorporate tablets and other devices into creative workflows that empower Photoshop users in new and groundbreaking ways.

“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. 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 early May, 2011.

The Adobe Color Lava, Adobe Eazel and Adobe Nav applications for Photoshop are also expected to be available in early May 2011, ranging in price, on the iTunes App Store.

For more information or to sign up to be notified when the apps become available for purchase, visit www.photoshop.com.