Adobe updates Camera Raw and Lightroom, adding GPU acceleration

Posted:
in General Discussion edited August 2019
Adobe has released a slew of updates to Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic, all focused on on improving performance and workflow.

Image Credit: Adobe
Image Credit: Adobe


Creative suite developer Adobe has rolled out several improvements to Camera Raw and Lightroom Classic, their desktop-centric photography programs. The updates add new functionality and overall improvement to'performance.

Both Lightroom and Camera Raw now feature GPU Accelerated Editing, giving users the ability to utilize more powerful graphic cards to provide a smoother and more responsive experience. The better the GPU, the better the experience, and the effects will be most noticeable on monitors that feature a 4K resolution or higher.

Perhaps one of the most requested additions -- the ability to export images as PNG files -- has been added to both Camera Raw and Lightroom. While both apps have been able to open and edit PNG-based files, users have had to export as JPEGs, PSDs, TIFFs, and DNGs. Now users can utilize the popular, uncompressed PNG file format.

Image Credit: Adobe
Image Credit: Adobe


Lightroom classic sees significant improvements in the library module while browsing folders, and users can now assign color labels to groups of photos. This gives users the ability to tell what photos are in a specific group at a glance. Color labels can be applied to collections, collection sets, and smart collections.

Image Credit: Adobe
Image Credit: Adobe


Lightroom Classic now also makes it possible to batch merge HDR and panorama images, speeding up workflow by automating the task.

The Lightroom Ecosystem sees multiple improvements, including the ability to recover images that were deleted in the last 60 days, updates to the in-app educational tools that were released in May, and general improvements to the search feature, including the ability to search for photos with specific focal lengths, HDR images, and photos that include depth maps. The mobile versions of Lightroom will now be able to extract edits from Discover posts and download them as presets, which can then be applied to photos via the preset library.

Image Credit: Adobe
Image Credit: Adobe


Currently available for ChromeOS and Android, Lightroom users can now select a range of photos and adjust the metadata all at once. This gives users the ability to change the title, caption, copyright, and star rating of multiple images in one edit. This feature isn't live on Lightroom for iOS yet, but Adobe states that it's currently being worked on and will be made available as soon as possible.

Adobe has recently been ushering users to move to its Creative Cloud subscription service, even going so far as to threaten those who use older versions with cease and desist orders.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    That last paragraph was news to me, not sure how I missed it.  "Vampiristic" used in the associated comments regarding this was really hitting the nail on the head.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 8
    Not really working for me and spiking my CPU while just sitting idle in the program. I hate Adobe and Lightroom.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 8
    aopisa said:
    Not really working for me and spiking my CPU while just sitting idle in the program. I hate Adobe and Lightroom.
    I've updated mine (2015 15in MBP inc Radeon R9 M370X) and don't get this spike. I've even done some typical workflows with it.
    YMMV naturally.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 8
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    Adobe has recently been ushering users to move to its Creative Cloud subscription service, even going so far as to threaten those who use older versions with cease and desist orders.
    This is misleading.  Adobe was “warning” users that Dolby could technically go after users for using older versions of Adobe’s products which would infringe on Dolby’s IP after their agreement expired.

    Theres a difference.  Why the sensationalist writing?
    michelb76watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 8
    Now users can utilize the popular, uncompressed PNG file format. 
    Pretty sure PNG’s compressed. Lossless, but still compressed.
    fastasleepmichelb76watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 8
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,408member
    MacPro said:
    That last paragraph was news to me, not sure how I missed it.  "Vampiristic" used in the associated comments regarding this was really hitting the nail on the head.
    That’s not what happened though. There’s Dolby IP in older versions of certain apps that they no longer have licensed. It has absolutely nothing to do with pushing people to newer versions for their own financial gains, which wouldn’t make any sense anyway since you’d need a subscription for the older versions in question anyway. This article is misrepresenting the whole thing or they fundamentally don’t understand the issue at hand. 
    michelb76watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 8
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    MacPro said:
    That last paragraph was news to me, not sure how I missed it.  "Vampiristic" used in the associated comments regarding this was really hitting the nail on the head.
    That’s not what happened though. There’s Dolby IP in older versions of certain apps that they no longer have licensed. It has absolutely nothing to do with pushing people to newer versions for their own financial gains, which wouldn’t make any sense anyway since you’d need a subscription for the older versions in question anyway. This article is misrepresenting the whole thing or they fundamentally don’t understand the issue at hand. 
    OK, I stand corrected.  It was new news to me.  I haven't really looked into it.
    edited August 2019 watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 8
    mcdavemcdave Posts: 1,927member
    So iOS is no longer the leader but the follower for Lightroom mobile?  Apple needs to step up and create some pretty compelling professional iCloud services or they can ditch the Pro in iPad Pro.
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