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[Verge] Adobe plans to make Photoshop on the web free to everyone

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member

For now, it’s testing a freemium version in Canada​



Adobe has started testing a free-to-use version of Photoshop on the web and plans to open the service up to everyone as a way to introduce more users to the app.

The company is now testing the free version in Canada, where users are able to access Photoshop on the web through a free Adobe account. Adobe describes the service as “freemium” and eventually plans to gate off some features that will be exclusive to paying subscribers. Enough tools will be freely available to perform what Adobe considers to be Photoshop’s core functions.

“We want to make [Photoshop] more accessible and easier for more people to try it out and experience the product,” says Maria Yap, Adobe’s VP of digital imaging.

Photoshop_on_the_web_Edititing.png

Adobe first released its web version of Photoshop in October, delivering a simplified version of the app that could be used to handle basic edits. Layers and core editing tools made the jump, but the service didn’t come anywhere close to including the app’s full breadth of features. Instead, Adobe framed it primarily as a collaboration tool — a way for an artist to share an image with others and have them jump in, leave some annotations and make a couple small tweaks, and hand it back over.

In the months since, Adobe has made a handful of updates to the service, and it’s also started to open it up beyond collaboration use cases. Before, someone had to share a document to the web from the desktop app, but now, any Photoshop subscriber can log in and start a new document straight from the web.

Adobe’s goal is to use the web version of Photoshop to make the app more accessible and potentially hook users who’ll want to pay for the full version down the road. The company has taken a similar route with a number of its mobile apps, including Fresco and Express. The web version of Photoshop is a particularly important offering since it opens one of the company’s most powerful tools up to Chromebooks, which are widely used in schools.

“I want to see Photoshop meet users where they’re at now,” Yap says. “You don’t need a high-end machine to come into Photoshop.”

Adobe didn’t provide a timeline on when the freemium version would launch more widely. In the meantime, the company is continuing to update Photoshop for web with more tools, including refine edge, curves, the doge and burn tools, and the ability to convert Smart Objects. The web version is also getting mobile support for reviewing and commenting on images.

Adobe also previewed a new AI-powered Neural Filter today that’s coming to Photoshop proper. The new “photo restoration” filter can take a beaten-up yellowed photo and automatically clean up scratches and restore some of its color. When combined with Adobe’s existing colorize filter for adding color to black-and-white photos, the two filters can quickly bring an old photo to life, even if the end result looks a bit cartoony.
 
Good step. I always thought the price for Photoshop was pretty crazy.

I might actually get back in to making some stuff. I did a bit of graphic design in College.
 

Zeroing

Banned
What's the catch?

With Adobe, there is always a catch.
They will gather even more information about you and what you do there... then when they get hacked for the 30rd time all your information will be out there for anyone to use it.

Good step. I always thought the price for Photoshop was pretty crazy.

I might actually get back in to making some stuff. I did a bit of graphic design in College.
Did you know they will block a lot of features so that you have to pay?
Back when I was at Uni they launched a version it was expensive but it was yours forever... now they force you to have an app monitoring everything, not only does make your pc super slow but it gathers information. They force you to pay monthly or yearly and their updates are just little tweeks. Want to cancel the plan? Good luck they do not do refunds.
 

Tams

Gold Member
Trying to get their hooks into you. Avoid at all costs.

And likely partly driven by Photopea after they failed to get it shut down (because of course they did).

Anyway, relying on a program like this being not only in 'the cloud', but a browser is stupid.
 
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levyjl1988

Banned
When they made Photoshop from a one time purchase to a monthly service is when I turned from casual digital artist to writer. It was too expensive to do basic edits. They fucking charged a lot monthly. You have to be a full time digital artist to actually make full use of the service than someone who plays with it once or twice every three months. I forgot how to use photoshop in that time because they got corporate and greedy. The reason they are doing this is because they are bleeding money and mostly focused on industrial design to make a profit at the same time dismissing the casual audience base.
Fucking business people.
 

Rran

Member
For anyone interested in any art design stuff besides actual photo editing, get Clip Studio Paint/Pro instead.

No subscription fee, very affordable (and often on sale), and works better than PhotoShop. Clip Studio!
 

MastaKiiLA

Member
I switched to GIMP a few years back, and I don't imagine going back to PS anytime soon. GIMP is more lightweight, and as I'm not a graphics designer, it does more than enough for what I need.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Switch from photoshop to gimp years ago and haven’t looked back.


Adobe is just feeling the pressure from a very saturated market now.
 

dr_octagon

Banned
I switched to GIMP a few years back, and I don't imagine going back to PS anytime soon. GIMP is more lightweight, and as I'm not a graphics designer, it does more than enough for what I need.
It takes a bit of learning but decent.

The name reminds me of Pulp Fiction.

awkward pulp fiction GIF
 
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