New Features In Photoshop CC 2015

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ByJesús Ramirez

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Photoshop CC 2015 new features add haze removal in Camera Raw, scalable Content-Aware editing, multi-effect Layer Styles, Artboards, and Adobe Stock integration.

The 2015 release of Photoshop CC rolls out exciting new features for designers and digital photographers.

In this video, I’ll cover 9 of the major upgrades. You can also read below to get a birds-eye-view of all the changes and for links to resources offering more information.

Key Takeaways

  • The Photoshop CC 2015 new features added Dehaze to Camera Raw, the first built-in way to cut through haze or fog without a manual adjustment layer.
  • Layer Styles gained the ability to stack multiple copies of the same effect, so a layer can carry more than one stroke, shadow, or gradient overlay at once.
  • Artboards let a single Photoshop document hold several canvases side by side, which is why they became the standard way to design for more than one screen size.
  • Design Space (Preview), the modern web and UX design mode this release previewed, never left beta. Adobe discontinued the project in 2017 and it never shipped in Photoshop.
  • The Device Preview feature and its companion Preview CC mobile app, also introduced here, were removed from Photoshop in October 2017.
  • The 3D Printing & Imaging Upgrades this release added are historical only. Adobe removed Photoshop’s 3D feature set completely in July 2024.

Table of contents

What You Will Learn

  • How Dehaze and the new White and Black local adjustment sliders work in Camera Raw
  • How Content-Aware fills gaps in a Photomerge panorama and scales a moved object
  • How to stack multiple effects on one Layer Style
  • How Artboards let you design for multiple devices in one document
  • What Adobe Stock adds to Photoshop, and how library-linked images update after purchase
  • Which of this release’s features are still in Photoshop today, and which ones Adobe discontinued

Requirements

Before you start

Adobe Camera Raw 9.1

Dehaze

With Adobe Camera Raw 9.1, you can now easily decrease or increase the amount of haze or fog in a photograph.

Watch the video

White and Black Sliders in Local Adjustments

Local adjustment controls in Adobe Camera Raw 9.1 now include White and Black sliders. These new sliders are available when you use the Adjustment Brush, Graduated Filter, or Radial Filter.

Note: For a more targeted way to apply local adjustments today, see Range Masks in Camera Raw and Color Range Masks in Camera Raw.

Content-Aware In Photomerge

The Photomerge dialog now allows you to fill transparent areas of your merged panorama with Content-Aware.

Watch the video

Scale With The Content-Aware Move Tool

The Content-Aware Move tool now has Transform handles which allow you to scale the object you moved.

Note: Content-Aware editing has grown well beyond this. See the modern, interactive Content-Aware Fill workflow in current Photoshop.

Watch the video

The Blur Gallery now contains a tab that allows you to Restore grain/noise to make blurred areas look more realistic.

Watch the video

Glyphs Panel

The new Glyphs panel makes it easier for you to insert specialized characters, as well as glyphs from other languages into text in Photoshop.

Watch the video

Layer Styles

You can now apply multiple effects (strokes, inner shadows, color overlays, gradient overlays, and drop shadows) to a single layer style.

Note: This same multi-effect approach still works in current Photoshop. Add a second copy of any effect from the plus sign in the Layer Style dialog box.

Watch the video

Artboards

If you are a web or UX designer, you’ll love Artboards.

Artboards allow you to design websites or apps for multiple devices on the same canvas. You can think of artboards as individual canvases within one document.

This will allow you to streamline your design process by giving you multiple canvases to work on.

Watch the video

Export

The new Export dialog box allows you to fine-tune settings when you export layers, layer groups, artboards, or Photoshop documents as images.

Watch the video

Adobe Stock

Adobe Stock is a new service that provides high-quality, royalty-free images, illustrations, and vector graphics.

You can search for Adobe Stock content directly from within Photoshop. Select File > Search Adobe Stock.

Adobe Stock is also deeply integrated with Photoshop. You can use watermarked images in your Photoshop documents as a library-linked asset. If you like the image, you can then purchase a license, and the linked asset will automatically update and remove the watermark.

Watch the video

Design Space (Preview)

Design Space never made it past this Technology Preview stage. Adobe discontinued the project in 2017, so it is not part of current Photoshop.

Design Space is a modern design experience inside Photoshop streamlined for the requirements of web, UX, and mobile app designers.

To enable Design Space (Preview), select Preferences > Technology Previews and then choose Enable Design Space (Preview).

For more information on Design Space Click Here.

Device Preview and the Preview CC companion app

Photoshop now allows you to get design previews on multiple iOS devices with the new Device Preview feature in Photoshop and the Adobe Preview CC mobile app.

Note: Adobe removed Device Preview and discontinued the Preview CC app in the October 2017 release of Photoshop. Neither is available in current Photoshop.

Changes you make in Photoshop are then displayed in Preview CC in real-time.

Get more information here:

3D Printing & Imaging Upgrades

  • Simplify 3D meshes command
  • Improved UI for exporting 3D layers
  • Export a single meshes individually
  • Tweak bump or normal maps using Blur, Detail Scale, and High/Medium/Low Frequency.
  • Create bump maps or normal maps from diffuse textures
  • Convert a vertex color to a texture color
  • 3D Printing upgrades can be seen here.

Note: Adobe removed Photoshop’s 3D feature set completely in July 2024, so none of this 3D printing workflow exists in current Photoshop.

Other Changes In Photoshop CC 2015

  • Adjustments (Image > Adjustments) can now be applied as Smart Filters.
  • Moving a layer to a group now moves it to the top of the order instead of the bottom.
  • Step backward/forward operations no longer change the layer you have selected.
  • The Save For Web option has been moved to File > Export > Save For Web (Legacy).
  • The Digimarc plug-in is no longer installed by default. However, you can get it here.
  • Scale the UI 200 percent for high-density displays is no longer a Technology Preview feature. It is now part of standard Photoshop functionality. To enable this feature in Photoshop CC 2015 release, select Preferences > Interface > UI Scaling: 200.
  • UI toolkit for plug-ins and scripts had several enhancements. For more information, see the Photoshop UI toolkit for plug-ins and scripts.

Previous Photoshop Updates

This post is the CC 2015 entry in the series of Photoshop version write-ups. Here are the others.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the Photoshop CC 2015 new features?

This release added Dehaze and local White/Black sliders to Camera Raw, plus Content-Aware fill in Photomerge and a scalable Content-Aware Move tool. It also added a Restore grain option in the Blur Gallery, a Glyphs panel, multi-effect Layer Styles, Artboards, a new Export dialog, and Adobe Stock integration.

What does Dehaze do in Camera Raw?

Dehaze cuts through haze, fog, or smog in a photo with a single slider. It was one of the first built-in tools for that job in Camera Raw.

Is Design Space still available in Photoshop?

No. Design Space (Preview) stayed a Technology Preview and never reached a general release. Adobe discontinued the project in 2017, so it does not exist in current Photoshop.

What happened to Device Preview and the Preview CC app?

Adobe removed Device Preview from Photoshop and discontinued the Preview CC mobile app in the October 2017 release. Neither feature is available today.

Can I still use the 3D printing features Adobe added in Photoshop CC 2015?

No. Adobe began retiring Photoshop’s 3D tools in 2021 and removed the entire 3D feature set in July 2024. The 3D printing enhancements from this release no longer exist.

What are Artboards used for in Photoshop?

Artboards let you place several canvases inside one Photoshop document, which is useful for designing the same layout at multiple screen sizes. They remain a core part of Photoshop’s design tools.

Is Adobe Stock still integrated into Photoshop?

Yes. You can still search and place Adobe Stock images from inside Photoshop, use a watermarked version as a library-linked asset, then purchase a license to remove the watermark automatically.

Photoshop CC 2015 New Features: Final Thoughts

Photoshop CC 2015 added nine major updates, from Dehaze and multi-effect Layer Styles to Artboards and Adobe Stock.

Most of them are still part of Photoshop today. Design Space, Device Preview, and the 3D printing enhancements did not survive; Adobe discontinued all three.

Watch the full video above for a walkthrough of every feature, and comment on the video if you have a question.

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Jesús Ramirez

About the author

Jesús Ramirez

Jesús Ramirez is a graphic designer and the founder of the Photoshop Training Channel, which he started in 2012 and has grown past two million YouTube subscribers. He has taught at Adobe MAX, Adobe Summit, and Photoshop World, teaches courses for CreativeLive and Pluralsight, and was one of five artists chosen for Adobe Stock's Make a Masterpiece campaign. His Photoshop templates shipped inside Photoshop CC 2018.

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8 Comments

  3. Greetings from Panama Hello, I’m new to this Photoshop appreciate your tutorials, thanks for sharing knowledge.

  4. Yeah.. I am so happy to be here. I am computer literate but dont know Photoshop. I just got the AP CC 2015 and I want to learn everything from scratch to expert level. And i hope i am in the right place. Please furnish me with as much as information as i will need to achieve this dream. Thanks and God bless you Sir…

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