Adobe Generator Simplifies Mobile Design for Photoshop Users

Adobe is helping Web and mobile designers speed up image creation with Adobe Generator, a new Photoshop CC API for the company’s Creative Cloud members.

Generator is designed to enable designers to create image assets in real-time as they work, which eliminates the traditional method of manually copying, slicing and exporting of images after completion. Users simply add their preferred file extension to a layer or layer group in the file. Photoshop automatically creates a JPG, PNG or GIF file from that layer, which can include scaling for retina displays and varying levels of compression. Changes to the original file are updated immediately.

The technology holds promise for developers working on both Web-based and mobile platforms.

"As we expand our business from .com websites out to multiple mobile platforms, it is essential for us to have the ability to use the integrated tools and services in Creative Cloud to tighten our design workflow," said Stephen Gates, vice president, global brand design, Starwood Hotels & Resorts. "With more than 1,100 luxury hotels, it can be time consuming doing multi-screen design with adjustments to assets for each screen. Now, with Generator and the real-time image assets creation feature in Photoshop CC, our design team can be more nimble, ideate and deliver faster."

Adobe released Generator as an open-source product, which allows third-party application and service developers to create similar tools for Photoshop CC. The technology platform uses JavaScript API to allow for customized plug-ins.

"Creating a mobile game requires frequent and rapid iterations," said Nate Beck, CEO of The Engine Company, a developer of game engines. "With Adobe Generator, we built a plug-in written in JavaScript that connects our Photoshop designs to our Loom SDK game running on iOS, Android and OUYA. When the design is changed in Photoshop, it immediately changes in the game in real-time, allowing for much faster experimentation, and ultimately a better game."

Generator also enables a real-time connection between Photoshop and Edge Reflow, Adobe’s Web design application. Users can get assets from a Photoshop document into Edge Reflow with one click.