Photoshop Elements 2018 & Premiere Elements 2018

Adobe has announced updates to its best-selling photo and video editing applications, also moving to a naming convention around the year. The new products will be "Adobe Photoshop Elements 2018" and "Adobe Premiere Elements 2018"

Even though shipping has commenced in October 2017, these products will spend the majority of their lives being the most current in 2018.If you shoot both stills and video, buying both applications together as a combo, offers best value.

New in Photoshop Elements Editor 2018

 

Auto Selection Tool - is a selection tool based on deep learning technology. Once a user drags to make a rough selection, it snaps to the object present inside the selection area. The Auto Selection tool is available in the tools panel in Expert mode (nested with the other selection tools) and also in Quick mode as well as in some of the guided edits, such as the new Replace Background feature.

How to use the Auto Selection Tool

1 Make a rough selection option, such as a rectangle.

2 Drag a boundary around the object you wish to select and release the mouse. The object is automatically selected.

3 (Optional) tweak the edge by clicking Refine edge.

Open Closed Eyes - is a new feature that lets you correct closed eyes in your photos. You can correct the closed eyes of a person in a photo by using another picture of the same person from your computer or Elements Organizer. This option is available in Expert mode under Enhance >> Open Closed Eyes

The tool is also available in Quick mode by selecting the eye tool and clicking the Open Closed Eyes button on the tool options bar.

This is useful for group shots where one person has their eyes closed. But it works best if the sample image was shot in similar lighting conditions. You can also select eyes from the built in model templates or perhaps change brown eyes to blue eyes.

Before

After

Tweaked using Enhance >> Adjust Facial Features (reducing eye size with sliders)

Replace Backgrounds

A new Guided Edit – Replace Background has been added to the Special Edits tab. 

Users can now quickly replace the background of images, by adding a pattern, solid color or by importing a different image from the computer hard drive. An auto-match color tone button will blend the foreground selection into the new background.

Original Image

Background Replaced

To use the Replace Background feature, do the following:

1 Select the subject from the image: You can use Auto Selection, Quick, Magic Wand, or Refine Selection tool to select the subject.

2 After making the selection, select a background. You can either import a background or choose from presets, solid colors, or transparent background.

3 Use the Move tool to move the subject or background, if required.

4 (Optional) Auto tone.

 

Shape Overlay

The new shape overlay feature lets you apply some creative shapes on your images to give your photo a different feel. You can find this in Guided Edits >> Fun Edits (tab)

To use the Shape Overlay Guided Edit, do the following:

1 Click ‘Select a shape’ button to get a choice of shapes to be applied on the image. The Idea is to put the main subject of the image in the shape.

2 Use the Move tool to resize or move the shape to your subject area of focus.

3 Choose an effect, from a predefined set, to apply on the area outside the shape.

4 Choose an effect to be applied inside the shape to better reveal your subject.

5 Finally, crop to size or crop the image to shape boundary.

Examples:

Double Exposure

The Double Exposure feature has been added to the Guided Edits >> Fun Edits (tab). Users can now merge two photos or choose a preset to create surreal and abstract effects. Users can also apply an effect on the final output from a list of available special effects.

How to use Double Exposure

1 Do one of the following:

• Open a photo in Photoshop Elements.

• Select a photo in the Photo Bin.

2 Choose Guided >> Fun Edits >> Double Exposure.

3 Use the Crop tool to crop the photo.

4 Use the Auto or Quick selection tool to select primary subject.

5 After making the selection, select a background. You can either import a background or choose from one of three presets: Forest, City, or Cloud.

6 Use the Move tool to move the subject or background, if required and adjust the intensity to get your desired double composition.

7 Select an effect to finish the double exposure edit.

Examples:

Watercolor Feature

This new feature compliments the painterly feature introduced in PSE15. You can create your own artwork by opening an image in the Editor and going to:

Guided >> Special Edits >> Watercolor Effect

There is a choice of three starting effects, six watercolor paper types with opacity control, and three types of canvas texture with intensity control; giving over 50 possible layout combinations.

Users can also add text, and type styles and the advanced button enables styles such as drop shadows and stroke outlines to be tweaked.

Examples:

 
New in Premiere Elements Editor 2018

Motion Title Freeze Frame - tell interesting stories by freezing a moment and applying one of the ready-to-use animated text title templates. 

A motion title feature was first introduced in Premiere Elements 14 and this guided edit feature will take you through the hidden gems of motion graphics; demonstrating how to freeze a frame and add a motion title all in one go.

 

This feature is found under:
Guided >> Fun Edits

 

Fix Action Cam Footage - this is a useful feature although its application is certainly not limited to Action Cam footage. The Lens Distortion tweak is especially valuable.

This feature is found under:

Guided >> Video Adjustments

Animated Social Posts - use photos or video clips to get social with postable. Create a postable using motion titles, transparency or colors and share it instantly.

This feature is found under:

Guided >> Fun Edits

Bounce Back Effects – make funny short videos that loop with bounce back.

This feature is found under:

Guided >> Fun Edits

Candid Moments

Very often video clips contain precious moments. So if you missed the candid shot when shooting stills but also have a video of an event, this tool should help.

This tool goes beyond a simple frame grab. Adobe has introduced an algorithm using artificial intelligence and deep learning technologies to automatically extract the best moments. 

The results can be saved as jpegs to the desktop or a named folder. Candid moments can be accessed from the Tools menu after opening a video file. A simple click of the Auto Extract button will start the magic. A more/less slider can be used to display a fewer or greater number of suggested stills.

Smart Trim

In video editing, trimming is an important and primary task which many users find difficult and time consuming. Smart Trim will use content intelligence, style and preset based workflows to automatically trim the video. This new feature is found under the Tools menu and replaces the previous two tools – Smart Trim & Favorite Moment Trim – giving a better combined result than either of the previous tools did individually. It’s important to select an appropriate preset, but manual marking is also available.

 

  

 

Project Specific Online Presets

Premiere Elements now displays online presets based on the type of project. For example, for a NTSC project using a frame rate of 29.9 and for a PAL project with a frame rate of 25. These presets are automatically downloaded and installed the first time online sharing to YouTube, Vimeo or Facebook is clicked.

Animated GIF support (Windows only)

Now you can create animated GIFs from small video segments (5-10 seconds duration). These can be great for adding instant impact to blogs, websites etc.

To create an animated GIF:

1 Add a small video to the timeline.

2 Click Export & Share.

3 Click Image.

4 Click GIF.

 

New in Elements Organizer 2018

Memories

The organizer slideshow feature has been rebuilt to introduce Memories. The interface launches when using the share menu or clicking the slideshow button after selecting media or choosing an album. Three buttons enable you to quickly change image/video files, background themes and audio track(s). You can also add captions and amend the memories title to suit your own event. Multiple audio files can be added with the option to change the sequencing. Creations can be saved as a project. You can export your Memories as a video file to the hard drive or share them online to Facebook, YouTube, or Vimeo. Memories will also help you automatically curate your best shots.

Auto Curation

Auto Curation analyzes your catalog and smartly assembles the images based on their quality, faces present in them, smart tags, trips and events etc.

To use this feature, select Auto Curate (top-right) in the Media view.

Note: For best results, set preferences to allow Face analysis and Smart Tag analysis to complete before using Auto Curate.

Auto Curate will integrate with memories to help you curate the best media for your slideshow, based on quality, people, time, and more so that you can create amazing Memories in no time. Simply checking Auto Curate from your source folder or all media will bring up the automatic selection. A simple slider lets you refine the quality threshold to show more or less of the suggested best picks. Once you get the auto-curated images, you can start any workflow on them; not only slideshows.

Performance

Not just new features, but improved performance. Adobe says users of Elements 2018 should see improved performance in a number of areas including: launching the application, faster switching from media to people view, improved scrolling, grid interaction & double-click for single image view and back, scrolling through unnamed people stacks and a better experience while people recognition is running.

Adobe Announcement

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