Adobe Launches Fix, Sketch, and Comp CC Apps for Android; Unveils Project Felix 3D Design Tool

At the Adobe Max 2016 keynote on Wednesday, the company had several announcements to make about the future of Creative Cloud. Alongside, it announced updates to Photoshop and Dreamweaver CC, besides bringing its Photoshop Fix, Photoshop Sketch, and Comp CC apps to Android. These three apps were already available on iOS, but also received updates for the platform, while the Photoshop Mix and Illustrator Draw apps received updates on both Android and iOS. The company also unveiled Project Felix, its 3D design tool.

Starting with Adobe Photoshop Sketch, the app allows users to draw with the help of tools like pencils, pens, markers, erasers, thick acrylic, ink brush etc., and send their artworks as layered files to Photoshop CC. The app, which has just been launched on Android, allows users to add multiple layers of image and drawing, which they can restack, rename, transform and merge, Adobe says in its description on Google Play for app v1.0. On iOS, Photoshop Sketch v4.0 brings support for Photoshop Brushes, a new navigator, new document sizes, layer blend modes, the ability to save as PDF or PSD to the Creative Cloud, apart from bug fixes.

The second app launched by the company for Android was Adobe Photoshop Fix, which is essentially an app meant for image retouching and restoration. This app allows users to retouch their photos and make edits using tools such as 'smooth', 'liquify', 'defocus', and 'Face-aware liquify'. Users can remove the imperfections from their images with the help of these tools. Photoshop Fix 1.0 is available on Google Play. In the meanwhile, Photoshop Fix 1.6 for iOS gets new features like auto skin smoothing, the ability to import from Google Photos, and a new warmth adjustment slider.

Adobe Comp CC is a design and wireframe tool that allows users to lay out their ideas using photos, text, shapes and fonts and then send them to Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC for finishing. Version 1.0 of the app is now available on Google Play. Comp CC is available on iOS as well, and gets a redesigned layout with the v3.0 update.

As for the Photoshop Mix updates, Android is now on version 2.3, while iOS is on version 2.6. Android gets support for tablets, apart from bug fixes and stability improvements. The iOS update on the other hand includes major improvements to Cutout, the ability to import from Google Photos, as well as the ability to import SVG as rendition.

Finally, Adobe Illustrator Draw also received updates on Android and iOS. Illustrator Draw 3.0 for Android gets enhanced brush settings with the ability to control individual settings for each brush, such as pressure, velocity, shape, and rotation. It also gets bug fixes and stability improvements. In the meanwhile, Illustrator 4.0 for iOS gets a new navigator, new document sizes, layer blend modes, the ability to save as PDF or PSD to the Creative Cloud, apart from bug fixes.

Adobe has also updated its Photoshop apps for Windows and Mac with several new features including 100 new templates, seven free Kyle Webster brushes, and two new SVG fonts. Users will be required to install the updates using Creative Cloud's desktop app.

The update to Photoshop also comes with an 'in-app search' functionality that allows users to "search Photoshop tools, panels, menus, Adobe Stock assets, help content and tutorials from within Photoshop using a new search panel that's right at your fingertips," the company said in its post. In order to use this feature, users can either press CMD+F keys or Ctrl+F keys depending on their platform, or search using the option present at top-right of the screen in the app.

After the announcement of revamped paint app by Microsoft last week, Adobe has announced its Project Felix, which aims to provide developers with easy-to-use tools for making designs in 3D. "Project Felix comes with the most powerful rendering engine to date, allowing you preview your changes without making you wait for a final render to export," the company said in its blog post.

However, the company said that its work on Project Felix is far from finished and that it will be releasing the first beta of the app "before the end of the year." It added that the first beta of Project Felix will be made available to paid CC members.