Artists & photographers hopeful but skeptical about prospects of full-scale Photoshop on A...
Professionals working with Adobe Photoshop on desktops appear to be eager that the full-scale software will translate well to the iPad Pro, but skeptical about whether Adobe will handle the port properly.
"If the iPad was able to faithfully replicate what it's like to use Photoshop on my Mac with a Cintiq, then I would most likely use the iPad much more than my [Wacom] Cintiq Companion," visual development artist Lizzie Nichols said in a Macworld interview. Nichols has worked on a number of prominent projects in movies and TV, such as "Futurama" and most recently "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation."
She does the vast majority of her work on a Mac Pro with the connected Cintiq display, which is aimed at professional artists.
"Photoshop is the main way I get all of my artwork done, so the more ways I can access it, the better," she continued. "The ideal thing would be to be able to take Photoshop out into the world with my iPad and be able to work away from my office or home studio, without losing the functionality of Photoshop on my desktop setup."
The problem for her is that she wants as much of the software to translate as possible, including keyboard shortcuts. While iPad apps can certainly support Mac-style shortcuts, developers have sometimes been slow to add them, treating them as a low priority.
Nichols said that until now, she's seen the iPad Pro as a "fancy toy with some potentially fun painting apps on it, with which I could maybe get some digital plein air painting done." There are various Photoshop-branded apps on the iPad, but none of them are anywhere near as powerful as Photoshop for Mac or Windows.
Other people in the artistic world at communities like Fstoppers have complained that even the 12.9-inch iPad Pro may simply be too small for editing, given that professionals are used to working on larger monitors and tablets in many cases. There's also the concern that Adobe will charge too much, presumably tying the upcoming app to an expensive Creative Cloud subscription.
Many artists are already forced to use Creative Cloud however, and subscription-based work apps are nothing new on the iPad. Microsoft requires an Office 365 subscription to get full functionality out of its Office for iOS suite.
There are other hardware issues to consider, according to Nichols.
"It would be fantastic if the Apple Pencil had some kind of clickable button on it -- like the Wacom stylus -- that I could set to whatever function I wanted," she said. "I always have my Wacom stylus buttons set to Option and Right Click. This saves me tons of time on my Cintiq and currently there isn't really a way to do that with the Apple Pencil."
She also describes the iPad Pro's glassy surface as minor issue, since her Cintiq has more "tooth" that can make it easier to draw. But she added that it's good that Adobe and Apple are "listening to the people that use their products to make a living," and she's "cautiously optimistic" the two companies will score a victory.
Adobe announced plans to bring full-scale Photoshop to the iPad on Friday. More details should emerge at a conference in October, setting the stage for a launch in 2019.
"If the iPad was able to faithfully replicate what it's like to use Photoshop on my Mac with a Cintiq, then I would most likely use the iPad much more than my [Wacom] Cintiq Companion," visual development artist Lizzie Nichols said in a Macworld interview. Nichols has worked on a number of prominent projects in movies and TV, such as "Futurama" and most recently "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation."
She does the vast majority of her work on a Mac Pro with the connected Cintiq display, which is aimed at professional artists.
"Photoshop is the main way I get all of my artwork done, so the more ways I can access it, the better," she continued. "The ideal thing would be to be able to take Photoshop out into the world with my iPad and be able to work away from my office or home studio, without losing the functionality of Photoshop on my desktop setup."
The problem for her is that she wants as much of the software to translate as possible, including keyboard shortcuts. While iPad apps can certainly support Mac-style shortcuts, developers have sometimes been slow to add them, treating them as a low priority.
Nichols said that until now, she's seen the iPad Pro as a "fancy toy with some potentially fun painting apps on it, with which I could maybe get some digital plein air painting done." There are various Photoshop-branded apps on the iPad, but none of them are anywhere near as powerful as Photoshop for Mac or Windows.
Other people in the artistic world at communities like Fstoppers have complained that even the 12.9-inch iPad Pro may simply be too small for editing, given that professionals are used to working on larger monitors and tablets in many cases. There's also the concern that Adobe will charge too much, presumably tying the upcoming app to an expensive Creative Cloud subscription.
Many artists are already forced to use Creative Cloud however, and subscription-based work apps are nothing new on the iPad. Microsoft requires an Office 365 subscription to get full functionality out of its Office for iOS suite.
There are other hardware issues to consider, according to Nichols.
"It would be fantastic if the Apple Pencil had some kind of clickable button on it -- like the Wacom stylus -- that I could set to whatever function I wanted," she said. "I always have my Wacom stylus buttons set to Option and Right Click. This saves me tons of time on my Cintiq and currently there isn't really a way to do that with the Apple Pencil."
She also describes the iPad Pro's glassy surface as minor issue, since her Cintiq has more "tooth" that can make it easier to draw. But she added that it's good that Adobe and Apple are "listening to the people that use their products to make a living," and she's "cautiously optimistic" the two companies will score a victory.
Adobe announced plans to bring full-scale Photoshop to the iPad on Friday. More details should emerge at a conference in October, setting the stage for a launch in 2019.
Comments
Second, photo editing is about changing some settings and re-touching some areas, not about fine painting work. Fingers are more than enough for most things one does in PS or Lightroom when it comes to photo editing.
The reason why the Microsoft Surface (and other Windows "tablets") are horrible to use as tablets is precisely because of this attitude. People are stuck with the idea you need to use keyboard shortcuts (or the same menu structures) as a normal desktop App without trying to imagine different ways of interacting on a touch device.
In her example, she uses Option and Right Click (this seems to be common as people often use Shift, Right Click or Option in combination with other actions in Photoshop).
So why not have the keys she uses the most appear on the screen when she selects a tool to use? They can stay hidden most of the time (keeping your screen clear) and appear only when needed. Further, you don't even need to have the virtual "key" work as a standard key (meaning you press and hold when performing an action - like dragging). You could tap once to turn it on and then tap again to turn it off when finished. So instead of having one hand tied up on your keyboard holding a single key down you can now use that hand for others tasks (gestures with your fingers while also using the stylus).
A well-designed tablet App will have a UI that dynamically changes under your fingers as you use the device. Not being constrained to keeping one hand on a keyboard opens up all sorts of possibilities for interaction.
Being a long time Adobe Illustrator user I have recently installed Affinity Designer on my 10.5" iPad pro and am delighted at how much can be done using the combination of finger gestures and the Apple Pencil; I sincerely do not miss the keyboard. Or for that matter, Adobe's own Lightroom Mobile getting up to speed and becoming useful as of lately. I still wouldn't tackle any major large-scale projects on the tablet, rather work on bits and pieces while on the go, then finish off when back at the desktop, but at least I feel I could travel only with a tablet. Almost: what I really miss on the iPad to make it a viable desktop/ laptop replacement at this point is a no-frills external storage/ backup option. Cloud doesn't cut it when for example traveling for three weeks in countries with spotty internet speeds (or on a 19-hour flight for that matter), trying to back up lots of video footage or very large layered photos. I have just ordered a SunDisk Wireless Stick, I am curious to see how much it can do in terms of copying the flies from the iPad, but I am still dreaming of built-in automatic or at least one-click effortless backup to an external drive.
Buttons on the stylus and keyboard shortcuts are far quicker in a work flow than having to find on screen buttons with NO tactile feedback.
In the case of a Surface, you can use the Surface Pen (or any other compatible 3rd party active stylus), which has two buttons (side and top) and an eraser. You can also use any wireless accessory or remote, such as these:
An example here is in the mechanical industries where AutoCAD and two D drafting was king. The industry moved along for years with the AutoCad ""standard"" and the along came solid modeling. That created a lot of grief for people stuck in the "drafting" world that where not able or willing to adapt to new ways of doing things. Now we are at the stage where solid modeling is done by makers in their garages.
In the end i dont see Adobe making an exact copy of Photoshop as it wouldnt play to the strength of the device. Frankly to move forward they have to leave something behind. So im hoping Adobe is of the mind set that they want to move their professional tools forward on iPad. That means a unique intereface to the apps that leverage iPad and dont copy the desktop interface verbatim.
Speaking of RAM upgrades i really wish that Apple would double the RAM in the high end iPad with its SSD upgrade. It would make a huge difference for a array of professional users.
Bullshit.
If you're drawing a standing figure on the iPad, being able to quickly rotate for longer strokes opens out your real estate in a way you can't easily do on the smaller portable Cintiqs. Plus they're all 16.9, so if you put the 16" Companion in portrait mode, it's like drawing on the obelisk from 2001 A Space Odyssey.
That is like asking a pro programmer to not use any keyboard shortcuts, just the drop down menus... You know that some of the best and most productive programmers still swears by vi and Emacs, right?
Welcome to the real world.