Update number 19 once again allowed Adobe Photoshop to retain the title of the world's best image editing tool—equally convenient for artists, web designers, and beginners getting acquainted with the software. At the same time, while the "wow" features in the new Photoshop CC 2018 may not be as numerous as one would hope, there are groundbreaking and impressive improvements to what was already there. For example, imagine "smart" image resizing or near pixel-perfect mask selection, symmetry, and spherical projection. Compared to the results in CC17, the difference is truly revolutionary.

Of course, there are new features (how could there not be), but most of them aim to improve the adaptability of the workspace and user comfort—so you might not spot them immediately upon launching the app. However, once you start working, they will become evident and shine in all their glory.

Let's explore all the capabilities of Photoshop CC 2018 and compare some of them to how they worked previously.

What's New

OpenType Font Attribute Support

Yes, Photoshop now supports font attribute variation for OpenType fonts. This format allows working with custom font attributes like width, slant, weight, and more. As a result, it’s faster and easier to customize styles using simple sliders for each parameter.

This adds a whole new dimension to Photoshop. Not everyone has access to InDesign, but with such precise font styling and control, the workflow becomes more flexible and intuitive—truly at your fingertips.

However, this feature isn't entirely intuitive out of the box. To activate variable font options, you’ll need to:

Note: Not all OpenType fonts support variation, especially Cyrillic fonts. But because Photoshop has focused on supporting such font types, this has led to a trend in web typography that we covered in a previous article.

Let’s take a look at the font Source Serif Variable, which supports Cyrillic. In this example, we adjusted the "Weight" value for the Regular style.

Now let’s open the style list, choose ExtraLight, and also adjust the slider.

For the word "Day", we chose a different font—Acumin Variable Concept—and immediately saw several sliders. We adjusted their positions.

It all looks clean and convenient. For us—web designers, illustrators, artists, or even those who only occasionally deal with typography—this innovation is a real mood booster. For years, Photoshop lagged behind Illustrator and InDesign in typography. Now, it's not only caught up—it may have even stepped slightly ahead.

Importantly, fonts adjusted via sliders are not deformed or transformed. That means, if a font doesn’t support a certain attribute, Photoshop won’t "force" it to have one. But if attributes are available, they can be finely tuned.

Brush Tool Features and Controls

In CC2018, Adobe has completely revamped all brush features and settings, delivering some real treats for us. Whether you're a web designer, illustrator, artist, or none of the above, you'll appreciate the updates.

The most interesting new feature is Smoothing, located on the top brush control panel.

Important: Before using this feature, go to Preferences → Cursors and enable the checkbox: "Show Brush Leash While Smoothing."

The thin pink line shown in the screenshots is the brush leash guide.

Interestingly, this feature works in three modes:

These three modes give you more control over your drawing strokes. As a result, you’ll find yourself using Undo or stepping back in the History panel far less often. It's now easier to control your stroke path. One caveat: on PC, these modes might initially seem bulky or unnecessary. But try sketching with a stylus, pen tablet, or finger on a touchscreen—and you’ll quickly notice how much easier it is to draw the "right" line with the desired curve.

Brush Settings

Another significant enhancement in Photoshop CC2018. Not entirely new, but a major improvement and modernization of an existing feature.

Now, brushes can be organized into folders, including nested folders, and you can manage them directly from the top settings panel. If you have lots of brushes, especially if you frequently download them from the internet, you know how long the list can get. Finding the right one could take time. Now you can group them.

You might say brushes were already organized into sets. True, but when you load a set into Photoshop, all the brushes appear in one continuous list. Folders let you organize this chaos.

All new brushes are now automatically placed into a folder named after the set. Brushes that come with Photoshop are also grouped this way.

The brush menu has changed too. Click the gear icon to access it. For example, new brushes are now added via "Import Brushes". The "Brush Group" option lets you create folders and subfolders. To make a subfolder, drag and drop one folder into another—creating a tree structure.

And that’s not all. You can save any custom brush settings into a new brush. All attributes—opacity, blend mode, etc.—are preserved.

For beginners, this might not seem crucial. But for those creating multiple artworks and using many brush types in one project, this is a time-saver. For example, if you're designing watercolor-style web pages and turning photos into illustrations, you’ll need brushes. If each page has a different watercolor effect, constantly reconfiguring brushes becomes exhausting.

The slider at the bottom of the Brush panel adjusts the icon preview size.

Working with 360° Content

Photoshop can now handle spherical panoramic images, edit them using the 3D workspace, and export them. This allows users to control camera angles, add elements, and edit the full composition—making interactive or animated web designs easier than ever.

To create a 360° panorama, you need either source images or a camera-generated photo series that forms a sphere. Most smartphones support this.

Once you have your stitched image, open it in Photoshop—just like any image from the web.

You can create a spherical panorama in two ways:

The result is a new document window matching your image. Click OK and see your new panorama.

Click and drag the image—voilà, seamless movement in all directions within a sphere. Magic! You can view the ceiling and floor. Compare with the original image and panorama segments.

Now let’s edit the image. Suppose you want to draw or write something. Double-click the spherical map, and the image opens in a new PSB document. Any edits made there will reflect on the panorama. Add a new layer, draw something—check the panorama, it’s there. Don’t want it? Turn off the layer.

For example, add a layer, use the Healing Brush Tool to remove cameras. Switch to the panorama—gone. Also corrected tile chips on the floor.

You can use adjustment layers, change colors, add lighting or effects, even reposition icons or text. All edits are synced back to the panorama.

For exporting, if you’re publishing to Facebook, go to 3D → Spherical Panorama → Export and save as JPG. For YouTube or website video, open the Timeline panel below.

Click the timeline, then the Create button. Double-click Layer 1, find “Camera Position”, set a start keyframe, drag the timeline to the end, move the camera in a circle—or however you like—and a new keyframe is set.

Go to File → Export… and choose either Render Video or Export for Web. Select GIF format and save.

This feature shows how deeply Adobe embraces the technological shift and new innovations. YouTube began supporting 360° video only about 1.5 years ago.

Helpful Tooltips

One final small feature—simple but useful, especially for newcomers. Detailed tooltips now appear when hovering over any tool. They include text, videos, and usage examples. Go to Preferences → Tools and enable Show Rich Tooltips. Disable if not needed.

Conclusion

Photoshop CC2018 contains many more features for web designers, artists, and creative beginners. We haven’t even covered all the brush tools yet. More tutorials are coming. But one thing is clear: this version is well worth updating to—even without a license—because of the abundance of improvements. Even the Healing Brush now works "intelligently" with better object removal. Edge selection has improved too.

Adobe has finally delivered the app many have been waiting for: richer, more powerful, and more convenient. It may seem complex at first, but you can import your previous settings, making the transition smoother and faster.