[NewsPoster]

Adobe has today launched several improvements to Photoshop CC for Creative Cloud subscribers. Perhaps the most significant is support for 3D printing; while the software isn't designed for creating objects from scratch, users can import files created in modeling tools or 3D scanners, apply colors and textures, and get automatic mesh repairs. Compatible file formats include OBJ, STL, 3DS, Collada, and KMZ.

During the printing process support structures can be added, and Photoshop will recognize when a particular printer only supports monochrome textures or specific material types. Adobe has partnered with Shapeways and Sketchfab as well, which will allow people to get objects manufactured even if they don't have their own printers.

Beyond 3D printing, another new feature is Perspective Warp, which can be used to fix the perspective a 2D object is sitting in. Users assign a malleable grid around an object, and drag action points to manipulate the object without affecting the surrounding backdrop. Photoshop has also gained Linked Smart Objects, which will apply edits to an object in all the documents in which it appears.

[Inkling]

Don't forget to review the InDesign enhancements. There's several useful ones including one I love. ID will now export printed version footnotes as EPUB pop-up notes for iOS devices. That's such a handy and unobtrusive feature, I suspect fiction writers will begin using it to add notes for their readers. For complex tales, that could provide background. For mysteries, it could let authors create Read Twice ebooks. The first time readers try to figure out the mystery. The second time they can listen to the author explain how he slipped clues into the text.

[tvalleau]

Oh, fer cryin' out loud! 3D-printing??!! This is PHOTO-shop. PHOTO, get it? Next they'll add email, facebook and ebay!