It was only a matter of time before someone pointed the finger at AI coding tools. Photoshop and ask it to create a copy.
PhotoCraft is that copy – a cross-platform open source image editor written in Rust. The application is part of several creative tools created by the ArtCraft project, led by Brandon Thomas, the former CEO of storyteller.ai.
ArtCraft presents the application as a “cleanroom reimplementation of Adobe Photoshop”, and thus avoids any copyright issues because it is not reverse engineering (which is not publicly documented) – words that FOSS fans will be happy to hear.
In terms of features, PhotoCraft is already well stocked although it is in alpha. It contains layers, masks, layer styles, smart objects, brush engine and much more. It also has 34 tools, 27 blend modes and various filters. It can also open/save to Adobe .psd file format.
It also copies the location of menus, keyboard shortcuts and tools from the real deal since the idea is that those familiar with Photoshop can switch to Photoshop. PhotoCraft and continue1.
GPU acceleration works through Vulkan on Linux, Metal on macOS, and DX12 on Windows (or WebGPU in the WebAssembly version that you can self-host). The app also has numerous agent hooks for each feature so that AI agents can also “use” the app.
It starts incredibly fast – even on my workhorse Chuwi laptop (with a weak m3-8100y processor, integrated GPU and room for a pony), it seems responsive. Upped to 5GB of RAM within minutes of opening a PSD, just like real Photoshop!
Why do it?
Based on what he posted on Reddit, Thomas was motivated early on to clone Adobe products because of the fees, hurdles, and general disregard involved in canceling his Adobe subscription. That and, I suppose, as an experienced developer with a history of AI, it’s an obvious target.
It will not replace Photoshop for professionals
I’m pretty familiar with real Photoshop and was a bit cynical about the “clone” aspect. Having tried PhotoCraftit comes close in real UI and UX – more than “make GIMP look like Photoshop” efforts that I have written about in the past.
But this is only a superficial similarity. To this end, it reminds me PhotoPeathe free online Photoshop clone that has been around for many years (pre-AI, made by a human). This is what PhotoCraft feels more indebted.
Having similar features in similar places with similar names/icons is not the same thing2 as features behaving or producing the same thing. Although it looks suspiciously like Photoshopit’s far from having the impression that it is Photoshop.
Adobe has refined its blending modes, filters, content-aware tools, object detection and smear removal algorithms over several decades. Clones can follow public specifications and adapt to observed behavior, but they cannot reproduce observed behavior. exact same output.
Is this important?
It depends how well you know Photoshop.
Casual users doing basic edits won’t notice any difference (until they try to follow a detailed Photoshop tutorial on YouTube). For this cohort, many image editors already exist, with functionality comparable to Photoshop – Affinity works fine on Linux via Wine.
For the pros, PhotoCraft Missing features, bugs, different outputs and results, and all the “invisible” things may seem small in isolation, but in a daily workflow, they add up.
It could be a clone created with a real end goal, or a development flex with a middle finger geared towards a particular company.
Try PhotoCraft on Ubuntu
PhotoCraft is free and open source software supporting Windows, macOS and Linux. The project’s Github releases page contains alpha releases for all major operating systems, including a DEB installer for Ubuntu (Intel/AMD and Arm64). I opted for AppImage.
Although it is free to use, the ArtCraft website lists monthly and annual subscription levels. Earning money earns you AI credits to use generative AI features inside apps – although, at the moment, these are not included in this app.3.
Like other AI-generated applications, the pace of development is breakneck: version 0.1.0 was released 5 days ago, and there have been 8 other releases, large and small, since then. I tested v0.3.0 while writing this, and v0.5.0 is already available.
Given the hatred people have towards Adobe, and PhotoCraftThe price is free, so it’s no surprise that this effort is already generating both interest and goodwill (the repo has 17,000 stars and counting).
Gn tech
