One of Photoshop’s “top feature requests” is finally coming with this latest edition as well: the ability to copy vector shapes from Illustrator and paste them into Photoshop while retaining their editable attributes, groups, and layers. This results in an image similar to one taken using Apple’s Portrait Mode, though no lidar sensor data is required or used. The Depth Blur Neural Filter is not not new but is getting updated with a new machine learning technique that applies a more realistic blurred background while keeping the subject in focus to produce a more believable bokeh effect. From the Layer menu, users can now create masks for all the subjects detected in an image. Photoshop for desktop also gains a new ability to mask all objects in a photo with a single click. Adobe also claims selections made with the Object Selection Tool “are now more accurate and preserve more details in the edges of the selection.” This enhanced selection method utilizes Adobe’s Sensei AI machine learning and should only improve over time. On the desktop, The Object Selection Tool is being improved to allow users to hover over an object and make a selection with a single click. Starting things off, Adobe is releasing “a major feature release of Photoshop on the desktop and iPad.” Photoshop for iPad is gaining Camera RAW support and the ability to edit Smart Objects on the go, which I covered in a separate post.

Illustrator CC and Illustrator for iPad.

Adobe after effects m1