A 'real' Photoshop app is coming to the iPad

Adobe Photoshop Express has been available as an iPad app for quite some time, but — despite being quite powerful and feature-filled — it hasn't been as appealing to most image-editing beginners as some other apps.

Based on Adobe's keynote presentation during Photoshop World 2011 though, that might be changing soon.

Photography Bay reports that Adobe demonstrated its plans for the Photoshop for iPad app on Thursday and that there is a lot to be excited about. Based on the presentation, the future app will be a great deal more powerful (probably thanks to the fact that the iPad 2 is a graphics powerhouse), have nearly every menu option under the sun, take advantage of more multitouch gestures, and include a clever layer animation feature.

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As you can see in the slightly blurry video of the demonstration above, the layer animation feature is one of those things that initially seems to have little reason for existence other than to show off how nifty an iPad's user interface and touch screen are, but there's more to it than that.

This showy feature will probably help make the app — and Photoshop itself — far more accessible to amateur image editors.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

Sam Spratt, a professional digital artist for whom Photoshop is a key tool, explains that image editing beginners often struggle to comprehend features such as layers in particular. For those individuals, "the ability to see the layers of an image deconstructed to their individual shapes and transparencies almost instantly makes a difficult concept simple to grasp and utilize."

There are no details as to when amateurs and professionals will be able to take advantage of the features shown off in Adobe's keynote, but for the sake of better image memes, we hope it's soon.

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Rosa Golijan writes about tech here and there. She's a bit obsessed with Twitter, loves to be liked on Facebook, and needs to brush up on Photoshop basics.