Adobe Creative Cloud Adds 3D Printing in Photoshop, Enhancements for Other Apps

Thursday January 16, 2014 8:04 AM PST by Eric Slivka
Adobe today announced several updates to its Creative Cloud suite of apps, including a significant upgrade to Photoshop with the addition of support for 3D printing.

photoshop_3d_printing
With today’s release of Photoshop CC, designs can be printed to a locally connected 3D printer or via built-in access to popular online 3D print services. Photoshop CC supports the most popular desktop 3D printers, such as the MakerBot Replicator, and also supports the full range of high quality materials available on Shapeways -- the 3D printing community and marketplace -- including ceramics, metals, and full color sandstone. Additionally, Photoshop users can now directly upload their 3D models to the Sketchfab 3D publishing service, and embed them in their Behance profile using Sketchfab’s interactive 3D viewer.

Other new additions for Photoshop CC include Perspective Warp and Linked Smart Objects.

Adobe's enhancements to Photoshop CC come as part of a broader Creative Cloud update that sees several other applications receiving upgrades including:

- Illustrator CC: Live Corners, a more intuitive Pencil tool with Path Segment reshaping, and SVG export.

- Indesign CC: EPUB 3.0 support and simplified hyperlink creation and management.

Adobe's Creative Cloud is a subscription service with a variety of plans offering users access to the applications historically made available through the company's flagship Creative Suite bundles. Creative Cloud offers enhanced cloud-based services and mobile integration, with the company deploying regular feature updates to subscribers at a more rapid pace than seen with the traditional standalone software purchase system.
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nagromme
62 months ago
Feels to me like interesting but gimmicky bloat--some of which may lead somewhere useful to lots of people (or more likely, just a few). That's fine--even innovative. But...

How about a less chaotic, more consistent UI?

How about some long-standing bugs fixed?

How about improvements to core tools that have languished for years?

How about broad OpenCL support?

And failing that, how about letting us CHOOSE whether the latest features are worth paying for or not? Someone may love these latest additions; another person may have no use for them.

But instead, we HAVE to pay, every month, or get out of the business.

We pay if bugs get fixed... or if they don't.

We pay if new features are numerous and useful and work well... or if they're little gimmicks that sound better on paper.

We pay if old features we need are removed... or if they stay.

We pay if we need ALL the included apps... or just a few.

We pay if the particular apps we need get Adobe's full attention... or have become high-rent abandonware.

We pay, primarily, for full file format compatibility with OTHER people who are paying. That, for me, is 99% of why I pay my monthly bill. I don't NEED these features. It's just "pay to play."

And we pay to keep using our own creative work, that our own sweat went into. My CS3 Photoshop and Illustrator work is still usable without paying. My CS6/CC work? Gone (or sort-of importable into something else) the moment I stop paying.

I care about my creative work, so that matters.

Meanwhile, whenever I'm using my older Mac running CS3, I am still perfectly productive. WAY too little has improved in those many years to justify my monthly bill.

Please, Adobe, keep the 3D printing buzzwords, and start making great, watertight software of the kind that made me so loyal years ago. Then MAYBE I'll be willing to pay you constantly, forever, for upgrades I don't want or need!

(And for those who say it's always OK to gouge professionals, because professionals always have it easy... I disagree. A small gouge or a big one is still a gouge.)
Rating: 16 Votes
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grimmace
62 months ago
No way I will ever go subscription either. VERY POOR CHOICE ADOBE!

In the business world, we only get a few chances a year to get dept upgrades for software. That moment is usually when companies have made the funds for such a thing. No way I can get corporate to pay a subscription for software!! Better to buy at the moment I can than dealing with an ongoing PO.
Rating: 7 Votes
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dysamoria
62 months ago
Still not going to subscribe to software.

Not ever.

Especially irritating to find that Photoshop CS6 is slow and buggy. I've worked with Photoshop since version 4 and the performance has never been bad until CS6.
Rating: 6 Votes
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phrehdd
62 months ago
Always nice to see Adobe abandon those of us that don't want to buy into their pay to play program. I'll stick with my fully purchased CS6 Photoshop until another company catches up and then jump over. Perhaps Pixelmator or GIMP (or even Corel) will become a contender in 2015 and also be predisposed to 3rd party filter add ons like NIK and OnOne.
Rating: 5 Votes
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stiligFox
62 months ago
Man, if only Adobe hadn't gone to subscriptions :(

Being stuck at CS6 for a long time doesn't seem appealing, but at least it does everything I'll need. 3D printing will have to be through something else.

I'm guessing Bender or another 3D modeling program would automatically be able to output 3D printer ready models?
Rating: 4 Votes
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Yvan256
62 months ago
Bloatware

Stop adding half-baked features to current programs and make full-featured, distinct programs for each task.

That tip is applicable to all companies, not just Adobe.
Rating: 4 Votes
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Will do good
62 months ago
Meanwhile, whenever I'm using my older Mac running CS3, I am still perfectly productive. WAY too little has improved in those many years to justify my monthly bill.

+1
Rating: 4 Votes
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pubwvj
62 months ago
3D printing. Good.
Cloud. Bad.
Subscription. Bad.
Adobe loses 2 out 3.
Rating: 3 Votes
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CBJammin103
62 months ago
Adobe has signed their own software's death sentence. It's just a matter of time... there are sharks in the water developing more relevant and [soon enough] better products and eventually Adobe's trump card of "you have to use our software because it's the only way to read our formats" will matter less and less. The thing they're holding on to right now is brand recognition ("photoshopping" has become an improper noun like "Kleenex") and format lock-in.

I myself am sitting on a pre-cloud license until I can't bear it anymore or until a real alternative emerges... which it will in time. I don't see any reason to "upgrade" soon to CC.

/getoffmylawnrant =P
Rating: 3 Votes
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hkenneth
62 months ago
Anything printed by the cloud will be self-destructed if you stop the subscription.
Rating: 3 Votes
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