Archive notice: This article was originally published on June 25, 2019. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Photopea joins the many Photoshop alternatives such as GIMP, Affinity Photo or Pixelmator. The tool does, however, differ in a few important respects: among other things, it is free, browser-based and has one or another useful feature. Photopea (pronounced “Photo-pee” – to what extent that might be an attack on Adobe…?!) is a one-man project by the young developer Ivan Kutskir. Since its first release in 2014, several million people have already used the tool. Anyone who would like to enjoy a few funny insider facts about the development should also take a look at his Reddit AmA, which took place a few months ago.
Photopea Feature Overview
With currently more than 74,000 lines of code, Photopea’s features are in practice an implementation of their respective familiar Photoshop counterparts – with a somewhat smaller selection, many of the most important functions are present here with the same names and shortcuts. Some shortcuts, such as activating the Transform tool (Ctrl + T), have, however, been changed (Ctrl + ALT + T) so that they do not overlap with the respective browser. Otherwise, the workflow is almost identical. Some features, such as the 3D functions. As a rule, updates with new features or bug fixes arrive every two months.
Web Browser
The tool runs in the web browser and can therefore be accessed from any device – whether desktop PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. At present, however, Photopea therefore also works only in the 8-bit sRGB color space. Once the page has loaded, editing works offline – so none of the images or projects are uploaded to servers. Due to a Chrome bug concerning RAM usage, it is currently recommended to use Firefox.
Workspace and Formats
Alongside the main workspace and tool palette, the interface is equipped with the main tabs for files, Edit, Image, Layer, selections, Filter, View and Window.
On the right are panels for the editing history (30 steps), swatches, layers, as well as several small windows (Info/CSS/Brush/Character and more). Individual editing steps can also be recorded and automated with “Actions,” as is familiar. one Compared with tools such as Gimp, Photopea can also open or convert PSD, Sketch, PDF and SVG (and Gimp) formats, among others.
- Raster: (A)PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP, ICO, BMP, PPM/PGM/PBM, TIFF, DDS, IFF, TGA.
- Raw: DNG, NEF, CR2, ARW.
- Other: PSD, XCF, Sketch, XD, PXD, CDR, SVG, EPS, PDF, WMF, EMF.
Layers, Editing and Filters
As in Photoshop, work here also follows a layer principle – complete with folder system, layer properties for visibility, opacity slider, as well as all blend modes and layer styles known from Photoshop. The Smart Object workflow, masks and adjustment layers are also present. Apart from a small filter gallery, simple lens correction and a Liquify tool, various filters can also be applied to the layers, with the main categories Blur, Distort, Noise, Pixelate, Render, Sharpen, Stylize and Other. Through the “Image” tab, alongside color adjustments, transformation and size adjustments, bitmaps can interestingly also be converted into vector graphics:
The Tool Palette
The panel on the left has a selection of the most important tools for editing projects. Even though not every individual tool is mature down to the details, most fulfill their basic tasks. Among the brush tools, there is even a well-functioning Spot Healing tool. Alongside navigation through Hand, Magnifier and color selection, Photopea has…
- Main tools for transformation, selections, (perspective) crop and Eyedropper
- Brush tools with (Spot) Healing, Patch, Brush and Pencil, Clone, Eraser, Gradient and Bucket, Blur/Sharpen/Smudge, as well as Dodge/Burn/Sponge tool
- Vector & text tool for paths, path selections and a simple text tool
You can find more details about the individual tools in the documentation. But we recommend that you simply jump in and go through the features.
Availability
Photopea is available free of charge on the official website. Anyone who wants to support the developer can buy a Premium variant with which you can double the history and have the small ad field on the right removed. The range of features is otherwise identical.
Further information: Go to the website and the manual
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