Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 technology preview brings MacBook Pro Touch Bar controls

As promised at the MacBook Pro release event, Adobe has made available a technology preview version of image editing suite Photoshop CC 2017 for Mac, adding beta versions of contextual touch tools to the Touch Bar.

All of the familiar brush controls are available on the screen with the Tech Preview release, as well as on the Touch Bar. Users can select brush parameters such as color, flow, hardness, opacity, and size. The Favorites implementation on the Touch Bar includes flip controls, a toggle between full and normal screen modes, and a New Layer button.

Layer Properties on the Touch Bar allow for opacity modification, and scrubbing through blending modes. Other tools added include a layer duplication tool, a preview share button, a button to invoke the select & mask task space, and more.

The tools can be mixed and matched, with Adobe allowing the user to customize the Touch Bar to some extent.

Pricing for new members depends on the application or software suite being purchased. For example, the Creative Cloud Photography plan, which comes with Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC, starts at $9.99 per month on an annual plan, while single-app subscriptions come in at $19.99 per month. Adobe offers an annual plan with access to all apps for $49.99 per month, while the step-up membership with a month of Adobe Stock access and 10 free Adobe Stock images is priced at $79.98 per month.

10 Comments

tmay 6455 comments · 11 Years

About 7 years ago

When the new iMac shows up, mid next year, I would be very happy to see a wireless keyboard supporting Touch Bar Controls. Make it so Apple.

frank777 5762 comments · 22 Years

I still don't understand the need for a wireless keyboard for an iMac. Is the single cord really a big problem?

wylyquimby 7 comments · 11 Years

Battery life could potentially be a challenge for a wireless keyboard with Touch Bar.

volcan 1799 comments · 10 Years

wylyquimby said:

Battery life could potentially be a challenge for a wireless keyboard with Touch Bar.

Perhaps, however Apple is always concerned with battery life and the MBP is no exception. I would think they have optimized it to not be a significant battery drainer. Currently my batteries in my wireless keyboard and mouse last a really long time, like a few months, so long as I turn them off when not in use.

I'm still not sold on the usefulness of the Touch bar feature though. I am a heavy user of Photoshop and after watching the Adobe portion of the keynote I was left with the impression that the touch bar doesn't really add anything to my work methods. But then I only use my MBP when on the road. I much prefer a large screen desktop. We'll see if/when they bring it to the desktop keyboard.

mainyehc 142 comments · 17 Years

Technology preview? Only in Photoshop? Coming from a major company that must've had early access to the Touch Bar API portion of Apple's SDK, otherwise it wouldn't have been featured in a keynote? You have got to be kidding me…

Meanwhile, Serif already delivered two entire apps (Affinity Designer 1.5.4 and Affinity Photo 1.5.1) with full Touch Bar support in the MAS, under a perpetual license.

Tell me again how Adobe's decision of killing perpetual licenses and forcing subscriptions down their users' throats made their development cycle quicker… Tell me that with a straight face. You can't. This is the reason why I sometimes don't like John Gruber (even though I am usually a fan of his work) et al.; there are many a pundit who we think are supposedly honest and unbiased, but then ignore entire chunks of the market and especially rising stars, even though they covered Apple, the then-quintessential underdog, during its darkest years.

That Apple may give Adobe more airtime than Serif right now, I can understand completely; Adobe is a household name, it sells. But just watch Serif eat their lunch with their cross-platform apps and, one day, Apple may finally rid itself of one of its worst frenemies and start promoting some better alternatives to the most well-known CC component in earnest.