Last Updated on 01/16/2014 by Kevin Lee
Adobe is rolling out a series of free updates to Photoshop CC today including three especially exciting features: Perspective Warp, Linked Smart Objects, and 3D printing support. Perspective Warp will allow users to adjust their photos to correct complex distortions all the way to changing a telephoto shot into a wide angle image or vice-versa. Linked Smart Objects work the same as Smart Objects, only that they can be applied to a number of PSD files simultaneously. And finally, there are a couple of clever new 3D printing aids.
Find a breakdown of the most important new features after the jump.
Getting exactly the right perspective can be tough even when using a lens with minimal barrel distortion. For example, in one photo you may have a lighthouse in the distance that is distorted in a different way than the house adjacent to you. Adobe says these are complicated distortions that can’t be fixed with lens profiles or other tools already in its repertoire such as Adaptive Wide Angle, Puppet Warp, or Transform warp.
What Adobe has done is introduce Perspective Warp as a new tool post-processers can use to draw a grid that snaps onto the pixels of an image. Ideally, users will align the grid to the side of a wall or the bottom of a building and then grab that point to transform the object back into a real-life rendition with proper angles.
Beyond fixing the look of buildings, Adobe says the same process could be used to make it appear as though they took the photo from a step to the right and turned left from the original photo–a technique that looks similar to shifting your view in Google Street View except using just one image. In some other post-shooting wizardry, Perspective Warp can convert a wide-angle photo into a telephoto image when used in conjunction with Photoshop’s non-destructive crop. Alternatively, the same feature can help merge multiple images with different vanishing points, such as stitching together imperfect panoramas.
Another new feature is Linked Smart Objects. It provides a new way to use the same objects–such as an icon or watermark–, alter it, and then have it automatically updated across multiple PSD files, whether it be ten or a hundred. Linked smart objects can be placed into photos just like regular smart objects, except in this case Photoshop also creates an external path to the file. This way, when users adjust the clarity of their photo in one file, it will automatically apply the same changes anywhere else the linked item appears. It could be a useful tool for lone photographers or collaborative teams.
For its last major update, Adobe added native 3D printing support to Adobe Photoshop. Specifically, the new addition to the program will help artists develop their 3D models before they make their way to the 3D printer. On top of allowing designers to create models in the usual OBJ and STL formats, Photoshop lets photographers wrap their images on top of an object to create a colored graphic design. One other thing of particular note for photographers is that the program can take a regular flat photo and turn it into a lithophane by creating a 3D depth map where lighter pixels are thinner and darker pixels fill in with thicker material.
Adobe capped off its series of updates with a few smaller improvements. The notable ones include a new preview for Smart Sharpen, enhanced scripted patterns and fills to more easily add a line of trees for one thing, and improved font transformations. The updates are available starting today, free of charge if you’re already a Photoshop CC subscriber or picking it up today. And don’t forget about the recently extended $9.99 deal for the Photoshop Photography Program.
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