P: More Photoshop like clone/healing/content aware brushes

Scott, I couldn't agree more with your last statement.

Regarding your question: Some might argue that distraction removal does not need to be non-destructive.

Many image adjustments lend themselves to be re-tweaked at some point and hence should be non-destructive. Distractions, in contrast, are typically not brought back. One could therefore argue that it is fine to use destructive image editing in Photoshop for such cases and no hence ACR support is needed.

I'm not of that opinion, for instance, one may later discover that one needs to do a better job of removing distractions and thus revisit the editing. Also, as I wrote before, I think the current integration with Photoshop or other editors leaves a lot to be desired. But still, the view I provided could be the reason why we won't see distraction removal technology in ACR (and thus in Lightroom).

I guess that's one way to look at it. But why should that apply more so to cloning than any other tool that overlaps with PS, of which their are many?

If LR is trying to be a photographer's Swiss Army Knife, cloning is right up there with a screw driver and bottle opener.

Scott, I'm not so sure that "they're definitely on it". It might be something that has to be provided through ACR and the question is whether ACR "needs" it. After all, ACR is mostly used in conjunction with PS and the latter comes with its own distraction removal technology. I guess the question is how important it is to support non-destructive distraction removal technology in ACR. I'm slightly concerned that the answer is "not very important" for all ACR contexts but the Lightroom context.

One has to assume they're definitely on it. But much like soft proofing, it's not a question of if they want to, but whether they can get it done within the launch cycle.

Or so I assume.

We already have one champ (Sean) supporting this very popular idea. It would be fantastic, if an Adobe employee would chime as well and give us an idea about feasibility.

Interesting to note, despite all the improvements in C1 of late, they still haven't implemented distraction removal (for more than dust spots I mean). But, NX2 has it, as does Bibble, Aperture, & DPP (and it doesn't slow them down too much - not at all if its not used)... - all parametric/non-destructive. So, we all know if its not in Lightroom, it *won't* be because of technical feasibility or prohibitive performance... Granted, not all distraction removal is created equal, and blended cloning takes far less CPU cycles than content-aware fill... It has to be done well, or people will not be satisfied, but if anybody can do it, Adobe can... - come on Adobe!......

Photoshop-like Clone and Heal tools would be a great addition to Lightroom.

The current Clone and Heal brushes are fine for removing "dust bunnies" and circular defects. However, when it comes to removing something like a power line or other essentially linear defect those two tools are pretty crude.

This is the single most popular request for Lightroom on this forum (other than new camera support). It is totally doable, no doubt. If not done in Lr4, I wouldn't know what else to conclude except that since its already in Photoshop, it wasn't deemed necessary in Lightroom.

Sure do hope this gets done, or at a minimum Lightroom is modified to allow 3rd party imaging plugins that could do it, or integration with 3rd party editing apps is made more seamless, so they could do it without the photo forking.

No doubt.

Just so you readers from Adobe know this idea is in no way meant to replace Photoshop! I just want to get the image to the base starting point to use it in Lightroom. Like clean dust etc, skin blemishes and fill background area where there wasn't background paper on the edges and things like that.

There's no way that I could do without Photoshop.