New Feature In Adobe Photoshop CC 2020 | Nip Crreative

Do you have any ideas to improve the next version of Adobe Photoshop CC application? What would you suggest to Adobe to add to its Photoshop software to make it better?

What tools need to be added? Which ones need modification? Do you think the current user-interface of Photoshop app is good enough or it needs some polishing? Do you have any wishlist for the Adobe Photoshop CC 2020?

Put down your suggestions, ideas and wishlist for upcoming Photoshop application here. We will be listing your wish list here and will try to send it to the developers at Adobe.

Adobe has released Photoshop CC 2020, the latest update to its flagship image-editing application. The new version brings some seriously useful new features, including new Warp capabilities, better automatic selection, and a range of minor interface changes that combine to make you more productive. Here’s our guide to the best features in the update.

1. Object Selection Tool (Keyboard Shortcut: W)
This is probably one of the most useful new tools introduced to Photoshop in the last couple of versions. In CC 2019 we got the Frame Tool, which is supposed to work as an intuitive Clipping Mask, but in reality it is quite limited. On the other hand this new smart selection tool, powered by Adobe Sensei artificial-intelligence is a brilliant feature that will save a lot of time making selections.

It has two modes: Lasso and Rectangle, both working similarly to the familiar selection tools, but with the difference that the selection boundary quickly adjusts itself to the subject inside the selection. I tested this and it works very efficiently on all kinds of photographs, no matter what your subject is.

It is worth mentioning that this tool has also been added to the Select and Mask workspace.

2. Enhanced Transform Warp
The Warp option finally got a complete revamp and it became much more powerful. In its new state it became a worthy competitor of the Puppet Warp and Liquify Filter. In a way it is similar to Illustrator's Gradient Mesh but used for distortion.

The Warp option used to work only with a 3x3 grid, while the new version has presets for 4x4, 5x5 and custom grids up to 50x50. You can manually place Split points on the mesh and use the following keyboard shortcuts to make amends:

Alt/Opt key to add split warp intelligently (detects when close to existing split lines)
Shift key to move and rotate multiple anchor points
Delete key to delete any anchor point
The GPU has to be enabled in the Preferences for this feature to work.

3. Free Transform Improvements
In CC 2019 the developers updated the behaviour of the Free Transform feature and made the default transformation proportionally constrained. This means that it is not required anymore to hold down the Shift key to avoid stretching content. However this new behaviour only worked on certain type of layers not including Smart Objects for instance. Luckily in Photoshop CC 2020 they fixed and added several other updates to this crucial feature:

Rotate from any distance
Multiple undos available
Better visibility on Shape layers
Preferences > General - Use Legacy Free Transform or toggle the chain in Options bar (general override and sticky)

4. Improved Properties panel
The Properties panel is now included in all of the main Adobe Creative Cloud applications (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign). It serves as a central hub of features in each software combining a lot of functions from other panels, menus and the Options bar.

The Properties panel in Photoshop CC 2020 is context-sensitive, always updating and showing relevant options based on the currently selected layer. Here are few of the updates and improvements introduced in the this version:

Remove Background for pixel layers
Convert Smart Object to Layers (Unpacking source layers in-place)
Document Properties when no layer is selected
Extended Type Layer properties (including Transfer cluster/set with non-destructive Angle and Flipping options)

5. Content-Aware Fill workspace improvements
Thanks to the Auto Sampling Area option the Content-Aware Fill option leads to far better starting results for all selections. This option is making it even easier to remove unwanted details from photos.

6. Updated Patterns, Gradients, Shapes, Swatches and Styles panels
In Photoshop CC 2020 we got a completely refined way of working with Presets. Patterns, Gradients, Shapes, Swatches and Styles are now all available as individual panels and are removed from the clunky Preset Manager.

Thanks to this update we can now finally create Groups for each of these presets to keep them more organised.

The biggest advantage however is the ability to drag and drop all kinds of presets onto any Layer types. There are also lots of new, modern presets added and Layer Styles can now be saved into CC Libraries.

7. Improved Lens Blur Filter
It is now possible to Set Focal Point within the Lens Blur filter, which works especially well if you have a Depth Map available for a photograph. Photos taken with the Lightroom CC app can capture this information if the relevant Technology Preview feature is enabled in the settings. The HEIC images captured this way will store depth information in an Alpha channel, which will be activated when the Lens Blur opens up.

Besides the new Set Focal Point option the filter also got a performance boost, utilising the GPU.

8. Cloud Documents
With the introduction of Photoshop for iPad, Adobe decided to also create a new file format (PSDC - Photoshop Cloud Document). This allows saving layered Photoshop working files into the cloud and making them available on any device connected to the internet, including iPads.

You will get a notification the first time you try using the Save As command:

The most exciting aspect of Cloud Documents is that in future releases you will be able to use them to collaborate with others. This most likely means that multiple users will be able to work on the same Photoshop Cloud Document simultaneously, similar to the new feature introduced in Adobe Xd.

9. Timesavers
Finally here is a list of additional gems introduced in Photoshop CC 2020:

Alt/Opt+click on any layer to zoom onto its content (works with Layer Groups too)
Faster New Document and Export As windows
Hold down tilde key (~) to temporarily turn current Brush into Eraser
Arrow keys to rotate brush tip angle by 1 degree (Shift to rotate 15 degrees)
Close Others option in File menu
Layer Comps can now track Smart Object’s Layer Comp settings
Import from iPhone and iPad (Mac-only)

Additional new features
There are many small but useful additions to Photoshop 2020. Constraining the aspect ratio to maintain layer proportions with Free Transform was introduced in Photoshop CC 2019 – previously, you had to hold the Shift key to do this; now you hold the Shift key to unconstrain transformations. But it was applied inconsistently, with Smart Objects still retaining the old behavior. That oversight has now been corrected, irrespective of layer type.

Creative Cloud plans now include access to all 17,000 Adobe fonts in what was previously known as the Typekit collection. The really good news is that you can still access all the fonts even if you only have the Photography plan, which includes just Photoshop and Lightroom. The Properties panel now also allows you to access stylistic sets from those fonts that support them, with plain English descriptions of the glyphs to be changed.

Smart Objects could previously be turned into regular layers only by opening the Smart Object in a new window and dragging all the layers into your document. There’s now a Convert to Layers button in the Properties Panel, which creates a new group containing all the layers that were in the Smart Object; you can choose whether to retain or discard Smart Filters and transformations that had been applied to it.

The Brush tool has also had a minor update, with the ability to use the arrow keys to rotate a brush tip as you paint with it. You can now also hold the Tilde key ~ to temporarily make the Brush tool into an Eraser.

This is a worthwhile upgrade, providing many genuinely useful new features. Those with a Creative Cloud subscription will get it automatically; and it provides extra impetus for those diehard CS6 users to take the plunge and subscribe.

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