Adobe Photoshop updated: Desktop gets more than 5,000 skies, iPad gets Healing Brush and Magic Wand

Adobe has announced a major update to Photoshop on desktop and iPad. Among the included improvements is a major update to Sky Replacement. Additional tweaked features include the healing brush and Magic Wand.

Looking first at improvements to Photoshop on desktop, Sky Replacement has undergone a big update thanks to 'many new, spectacular skies' to choose from and the ability for users to import up to 5,000 skies at once. You can get more skies directly from Adobe and inside the Sky Replacement dialog in the updated version of Photoshop. You can learn more about sky replacement updates in the video below.

The Transform Warp tool has seen improvement, too. There's now independent Bezier handle movement. Adobe writes, 'This fine-tuned keyboard shortcut control is available for edges and Split Warp points — giving people, like packaging designers, who need to stretch and bend images onto bottles, boxes and other, the ability to create previously-impossible transformations.' You can also combine the new feature with color and opacity customization for warp guidelines in an update earlier this year.

In total, Adobe included more than 500 fixes in today's Photoshop on desktop update. Across the application, canvas movement is smoother when zoomed in at maximum levels, puppet warp mesh visualizations are improved, jitter opacity is smoother when painting, and more.

Neural Filters are improved as well. Preset images are now included in Style Transfer, providing a starting point. You can use any custom image and apply the style of that image to your document. Finally, Superzoom now operates on an entire layer rather than only a cropped portion of the image. To use this new feature, use output>new document to apply Superzoom to the entire document.

Adobe has added a new Discover panel to Photoshop. It provides an easy way to find content relevant to what you're doing within the app. You can search for tools, menu items, workflows and more. There are also hands-on tutorials available within the panel. To initiate a search, use Command+F on macOS or Crtl+F on Windows. You can also click the search icon on the app bar header.

If you'd like to try out new Photoshop features before the general public, Adobe is debuting Photoshop Beta for all users in the Creative Cloud application. You can download a beta version of Photoshop in the Beta section of the Creative Cloud desktop app. You can provide feedback on the beta here. 

Turning our attention to Photoshop on iPad, there's a lot of great news. Photoshop on iPad now includes the same Healing Brush capabilities as Photoshop on desktop. You can use an Apple Pencil to correct imperfections in your image. Adobe writes, 'Just as expected, texture, lighting, transparency, and shading of the sampled pixels are matched seamlessly — and new pixels blend into the rest of the image so you can retouch your images with precision. You will have all the settings and controls you want including diffusion, blend modes and brush angle. You can find the healing brush under the healing tools on the toolbar.'

Another feature is making its way from the desktop to the iPad, Magic Wand. On iPad, you could already leverage the power of Adobe's AI tech, Sensei, with Select Subject and Refine Edge. Now you can take that further with Magic Wand, which is useful for extracting objects from a flat background, selecting an irregular shape and selecting a specific colored element.

A neat new workflow feature, Canvas Projection, has been added. You can use it to share your canvas or collaborate live with others on a larger screen. You can connect your iPad to an external monitor or TV display with HDMI or USB-C. This projects your canvas onto that display without the Photoshop UI.

Both Photoshop updates are available now for all users. To learn more, visit Adobe.