Adobe Working On Touch Version Of Photoshop CC

Earlier today Microsoft announced its new and more advanced Surface Pro 3 windows based tablet which works on Windows 8.1 OS. As part of its unveiling Adobe revealed that it is working on a touch version of its existing Photoshop that will work with touch based windows devices such as the Surface Pro 3.

There are currently very few details regarding the new version of Photoshop CC. What Adobe did show is a version of Photoshop CC with larger tools and manuals (UI elements and icons have been doubled in size) that are meant to be easier to use with your finger or with a dedicated stylus (MS is offering a new and improved stylus for the Surface Pro 3).

Another advantage of the touch interface will come in the form of gestures: According to Michael Gough, Adobe’s Vice President of Experience Design, you will be able to: “Pinch and zoom with your fingers or pan using two fingers on the screen. You can zoom and pan or zoom and rotate at the same time by coming gestures. Beyond these, by holding your fingers down on the screen for a few seconds, you can also move the canvas around in a completely free form way, just like moving a piece of paper around on a desk”.

So far there is no word on availability, but its likely that that this software will be available as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud package.

Photoshop CC touch version with larger UI elements and icons

Anybody who used Photoshop with super high resolution displays in the past year will also appreciate this move. Adobe has said that it is working on a fix to the problem of tiny UI elements on ultra hi res displays (see for example this discussion on the official Adobe forums), but so far there doesn’t seem to be any complete solution. A few people have commented that the next version of Photoshop CC which will support the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 might also very well bring high-dpi support to Photoshop – something that many people have been waiting for – for a long time now.

You can see the demo on the Microsoft website (starting at 32:20) as well as some info on the MS site. The above video is an official MS video showing some of the features of the new Microsoft Surface Pro 3 which will support the new version of Photoshop CC (it’s currently unclear if all Windows based laptops/tablets will do the same).

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.