Adobe has launched Photoshop version 19.1 (opens in new tab) today, bringing along several notable new features. But alongside general updates to some of its tools, Photoshop has added some specific improvements for Windows users: support for Surface Dial and high-density monitors.
Support for Microsoft's Surface Dial accessory actually appeared in Photoshop in October of 2017, but it was only available as part of a technical preview. With Photoshop version 19.1, Surface Dial support is available for everyone. The Dial can be used to zoom in and out of the canvas or change brush settings on the fly. From Adobe:
Now you can now assign the Microsoft Dial to control opacity and then adjust opacity as you paint. Assign any dynamic control in the Brush Settings Panel to Microsoft Dial, including size, roundness, angle, scatter, texture depth, foreground and background colour, opacity, flow, wetness, and mix.
In addition, Photoshop 19.1 improves support for high-density displays on PCs with the Windows 10 Creators Update or newer. This includes a "full range" of choices for UI scale factors, allowing you to move from 100 percent to 400 percent in 25 percent increments. Photoshop also now supports per-monitor scaling across monitors with different scale factors. "This means that a high resolution (HiDPI) laptop now works seamlessly alongside a lower resolution desktop monitor (or vice versa)," Adobe says. "One monitor can have a scale factor of 175% and another a scale factor of 400%."
Other new features and improvements in Photoshop 19.1 include a new "Select Subject" tool, which allows you to more quickly select specific objects in a photo, as well as better SVG compatibility with Adobe XD. Adobe has also added a decontamination slider to Select and Mask.
If you're already a Photoshop user, you can grab the latest update with the Creative Cloud app (opens in new tab). New users can get started with Photoshop at Adobe (opens in new tab).
