Adobe Fresco is out today - how to get Adobe's painting app for free
Adobe's most realistic drawing and painting app yet, Adobe Fresco, is available to download on the iPad today.
The full version of Adobe Fresco is available now on its own for a monthly subscription fee or bundled in with most Creative Cloud plans but, if you're looking for a more affordable option, many of the same features and tools are also available in the free version of the app.
The latest addition to the Creative Cloud is marketed at professionals and beginners alike with infinitely scalable vector brushes, classic Photoshop brushes and custom brushes thanks to Adobe Capture. Adobe has also introduced a new category of Live Brushes powered by Adobe's AI tech Adobe Sensei to realistically mimic the way that paint flows directly on your screen.
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The watercolour Live Brush allows colour to bloom into other parts of the painting and there is even an option to paint with water to dilute colours and encourage them to blend. The oil brush gives a painting ridges, brush strokes and dimension.
Fresco also includes more traditional tools such as layers, masking and selection. Fresco files can also be opened in Adobe Photoshop and exported to PDF and edited in Adobe Illustrator.
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Adobe chose the name Fresco to reflect the portable nature of the iPad app. The fresco style involves spreading a layer of plaster onto a surface and then painting an image using pigment and water while the plaster is still wet. A chemical reaction binds the pigment to the plaster and leaves an image behind when the surface dries.
"When inspiration strikes, you have to act before the plaster dries", wrote Adobe in its announcement on Sunday. "We're developing Adobe Fresco to empower spontaneous creativity".
Adobe has revealed in the past that it has plans to release alternate versions of the app for other stylus and touch-based devices too so, if you're not an iPad user, keep an eye out for Adobe Fresco for your device in the future.
You can subscribe to Adobe Fresco from today for $9.99 a month or download the free version at no cost on Adobe's website.
