Adobe launches Illustrator for iPad, plus major updates for Creative Cloud apps

Adobe releases Illustrator for iPad

Adobe Illustrator gets its official iPad release, while Fresco comes to iPhone, and apps including Photoshop and Premiere Pro have been given significant updates at the Adobe MAX 2020 event.

To launch its free, three-day Adobe MAX 2020 event, due to start October 21, Adobe has officially released Illustrator for iPad. It follows months of beta testing, and is arriving in the range that Adobe had originally promised when launching Photoshop for iPad.

"When using Illustrator's desktop and iPad apps," said Adobe in a press release, "creators will find a smooth cross-device experience that allows them to create a wide range of graphics, from a logo to a t-shirt illustration."

As with the initial release of Photoshop on the iPad, Adobe says that the "core toolkit" of Illustrator has been brought to the device. It also includes features that are simultaneously new to the macOS version of Illustrator, such as "radial, grid, and mirror repeat."

At the same time, Adobe now bringing its more basic drawing and painting app, Fresco, to iPhones.

Adobe's major app Photoshop has also been updated with greater use of the company's Sensei service, an AI-based Machine Learning-like system. The new Photoshop uses this to power more Refine Edge selections and a Sky Replacement feature.

Video editing software Premiere Pro boasts performance improvements, plus what Adobe is referring to as a "preview" of another Sensei-feature. That's Speech to Text, which promises to automate transcription from videos.

There are also improvements to After Effects, the video graphics editor, plus the photo management app Lightroom. That now includes an improved color grading feature, plus greater performance.

Adobe Photoshop gets performance improvements, plus a Sky Replacement feature

Alongside its existing major apps, and the new iOS versions, Adobe also opened a public beta for what it calls Aero on the desktop. This is a tool for creating Augmented Reality projects, and users have to enrol on the beta program.

New users can subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud solely to get the new Illustrator for iPad, which costs $9.99 per month. Existing Creative Cloud users who pay for more than one app, may have it included in their current subscription.

A version of Fresco for iPhone is free to use, but there is also a premium edition that comes in a bundle with Fresco on iPad and Photoshop on iPad, together for $9.99 per month. This bundle is also included in most Creative Cloud plans.

One of the benefits of Adobe Creative Cloud being a subscription service is that users automatically get all of the new features they're eligible for. The major new updates also come less than six months since Adobe released new versions of its video apps, such as Premiere Pro and After Effects, with improved speed and performance.

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5 Comments

MacPro

said about 3 years ago

It's a lifetime ago now (in fact several lol) but it seems like yesterday when I had to do an onstage demo to the tech press and illustrators who were invited to the Adobe launch in London of the first iteration of Illustrator by the then European distributors. The reaction by many of the illustrators to whom the concept of resolution independence was yet to register, was to state 'they would never be caught dead drawing with a brick' referring to the mouse.

fastasleep

said about 3 years ago

MacPro said:

It's a lifetime ago now (in fact several lol) but it seems like yesterday when I had to do an onstage demo to the tech press and illustrators who were invited to the Adobe launch in London of the first iteration of Illustrator by the then European distributors. The reaction by many of the illustrators to whom the concept of resolution independence was yet to register, was to state 'they would never be caught dead drawing with a brick' referring to the mouse.

They're not wrong; drawing with a mouse sucks ass.

MacPro

said about 3 years ago

fastasleep said:

MacPro said:

It's a lifetime ago now (in fact several lol) but it seems like yesterday when I had to do an onstage demo to the tech press and illustrators who were invited to the Adobe launch in London of the first iteration of Illustrator by the then European distributors. The reaction by many of the illustrators to whom the concept of resolution independence was yet to register, was to state 'they would never be caught dead drawing with a brick' referring to the mouse.

They're not wrong; drawing with a mouse sucks ass.

Using vector splines isn't really drawing in that sense and the mouse is excellent for tracing or simply creating with splines, the whole point of a resolution-independent application called Illustrator. As I said the concept was too advanced for the illustrators at that time, they didn't understand what they were seeing. Of course, a tablet or an iPad Pro and Photoshop et alia are what one would use for 'drawing' in the old sense if you want to do it digitally but remember this was in the early days of computer graphics. Up to that point we were stuck with non-resolution independent raster images.

fastasleep

said about 3 years ago

MacPro said:

fastasleep said:

MacPro said:

It's a lifetime ago now (in fact several lol) but it seems like yesterday when I had to do an onstage demo to the tech press and illustrators who were invited to the Adobe launch in London of the first iteration of Illustrator by the then European distributors. The reaction by many of the illustrators to whom the concept of resolution independence was yet to register, was to state 'they would never be caught dead drawing with a brick' referring to the mouse.

They're not wrong; drawing with a mouse sucks ass.

Using vector splines isn't really drawing in that sense and the mouse is excellent for tracing or simply creating with splines, the whole point of a resolution-independent application called Illustrator. As I said the concept was too advanced for the illustrators at that time, they didn't understand what they were seeing. Of course, a tablet or an iPad Pro and Photoshop et alia are what one would use for 'drawing' in the old sense if you want to do it digitally but remember this was in the early days of computer graphics. Up to that point we were stuck with non-resolution independent raster images.

I understand the difference, I've been drawing on computers since the Koala Pad on Commodore 64. I just meant the sentiment isn't wrong, and I'd add that vector spline illustration is not what I'd consider "drawing" in the sense they were thinking of. I just meant a stylus is a far superior experience in general for illustration.

MacPro

said about 3 years ago

fastasleep said:

MacPro said:

fastasleep said:

MacPro said:

It's a lifetime ago now (in fact several lol) but it seems like yesterday when I had to do an onstage demo to the tech press and illustrators who were invited to the Adobe launch in London of the first iteration of Illustrator by the then European distributors. The reaction by many of the illustrators to whom the concept of resolution independence was yet to register, was to state 'they would never be caught dead drawing with a brick' referring to the mouse.

They're not wrong; drawing with a mouse sucks ass.

Using vector splines isn't really drawing in that sense and the mouse is excellent for tracing or simply creating with splines, the whole point of a resolution-independent application called Illustrator. As I said the concept was too advanced for the illustrators at that time, they didn't understand what they were seeing. Of course, a tablet or an iPad Pro and Photoshop et alia are what one would use for 'drawing' in the old sense if you want to do it digitally but remember this was in the early days of computer graphics. Up to that point we were stuck with non-resolution independent raster images.

I understand the difference, I've been drawing on computers since the Koala Pad on Commodore 64. I just meant the sentiment isn't wrong, and I'd add that vector spline illustration is not what I'd consider "drawing" in the sense they were thinking of. I just meant a stylus is a far superior experience in general for illustration.

Totally agree. The good news is it only took a few weeks for the abilities of Postscript to sink in and full DTP systems were flying off the shelves. PageMaker, Illustrator, and Adobe Fonts coupled with a typesetter were the cat's meow. The initial reaction we saw was analogous to the reaction from demonstrations of PageMaker to printing firms They always had a few typesetters along for the demos and to a man they were against the use of Pagemaker as the Macs' keyboards were far too small for their massive fingers accustomed to pouring hot lead. Wrong audience lol. Oh, what fun times.