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Updates out today for Photoshop CC (version 14.1) bring new features for Creative Cloud members including a brand new open source technology that Adobe is calling “Adobe Generator”. The new feature will allow users to automatically create image assets in real-time without the need “of copying, slicing and exporting each layer manually.” Here’s how it works:

In Photoshop, Adobe Generator can be turned on by navigating to  File -> Generate -> Image Assets and renaming layers with supported tags. Adobe notes some examples in its blog post. For example,  “200% logo-retina.png, logo.png” produces both a 2x and a 1x asset, while “heroImage.jpg10” produces a 1x asset with max quality.

Adobe noted that the new generator feature also provides “a real-time connection between Photoshop and Edge Reflow,” allowing users to bring in assets from Photoshop with a single click. Generator is an open source project, which will allow users who know JavaScript to modify or write their own plug-ins using the technology. The company posted the video below that shows developers who are using Generator to write a custom plug-in for a mobile game that allows them to “change the UI of a game in Photoshop while the game is being played.”

Normally $50/month ($30 for existing CS customer), you can currently get some big discounts to upgrade from a Creative Suite product to a Creative Cloud membership. There’s an additional $20/month off for signing up for Creative Cloud for Teams and last week Adobe introduced a new Photoshop Photography bundle that allows customers to get Photoshop CC, Lightroom 5, 20GB of online storage, Behance ProSite, and more for $9.99/month.

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Here’s a breakdown of all the features in the first release of Generator courtesy of Adobe:

  • Real-time image asset generation gives Photoshop CC users the power to eliminate time-consuming production steps while ensuring their designs are properly implemented both on the desktop and mobile screens
  • Tagged layers and groups in Photoshop CC are automatically saved and updated in real-time as individual files, in the format selected
  • Layers can now be exported as JPEG, GIF, or PNG with a variety of options, including scaling for Retina displays and varying levels of compression
  • In one click, Edge Reflow CC can import Photoshop CC assets, including images and text directly into Edge Reflow, allowing designers to immediately begin their responsive design process and reduce manual production steps