Adobe has begun testing a free version of Photoshop online and plans to open the service to everyone as a way to introduce more users to the application.
The company is now testing the free version in Canada, where users can access Photoshop online through a free Adobe account. Adobe describes the service as “freemium” and ultimately plans to exclude some features that will be exclusive to paying subscribers. Enough tools will be freely available to perform what Adobe considers to be the main features of Photoshop.
“We want to do it [Photoshop] more affordable and easier for more people to try and test the product, ”said Maria Yap, Adobe’s vice president of digital imaging.
Photoshop on the web. Image: Adobe
Adobe first released its web version of Photoshop in October, providing a simplified version of the application that can be used to handle major edits. Layers and basic editing tools have jumped, but the service has not come close to including the full breadth of application features. Instead, Adobe presented it primarily as a collaboration tool – a way for the artist to share an image with others and make them jump in, leave some clarifications, and make a few small changes and bring it back.
In the following months, Adobe made several updates to the service and also began to open it outside of collaboration. Someone used to have to share a document on the web from the desktop application, but now any Photoshop subscriber can log in and launch a new document directly from the web.
“I want to see Photoshop meet users where they are right now.”
The goal of Adobe is to use the web version of Photoshop to make the application more accessible and potentially attract users who will want to pay for the full version in the future. The company has taken a similar path with a number of its mobile applications, including Fresco and Express. The web version of Photoshop is a particularly important proposition, as it opens up one of the company’s most powerful tools next to the Chromebook, which is widely used in schools.
“I want to see Photoshop meet users where they are right now,” says Yap. “You don’t need a high-end machine to get into Photoshop.”
Adobe has not provided a timeline for when the freemium version will launch more widely. Meanwhile, the company continues to update Photoshop for the web with more tools, including edge refinement, curves, dodge and burn tools, and the ability to convert smart objects. The web version also receives mobile support for viewing and commenting on images.
Adobe is also visualizing a new neural filter powered by artificial intelligence, which today comes in Photoshop itself. The new Photo Recovery Filter can capture a yellowed photo and automatically clean scratches and restore some of its color. When combined with Adobe’s existing color filter to add color to black-and-white photos, both filters can quickly bring an old photo to life, even if the end result looks a bit animated.
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