That isn't what the manual states... which could be wrong of course.
It says that Adpro 2.1b is the earliest version that will take the Morph operator. Which also means having a compatible version of FRED installed. You need the FRame EDitor to mark out areas for morphing, you don't need it just to load graphics files, render them and save them out in Amiga IFF style.
Barebones requirements - 1MB total memory (lot of operators unusable but should be able to load, render Amiga screens and save). You can install it to floppy, but you have to load Workbench from floppy and swap disks. Painfully slow.
Full capability - 4MB minimum (although may be limited in picture size).
The fact is, everybody still called it AdPro after ASDG changed the name. The brand was too strong to change.
I hope this is of use to the OP. It's true you don't need AdPro to convert screens to Amiga displayable, but quite frankly if you don't bother with it, you are missing out, in my opinion.
In the context of this thread, this is really not important but...
Morph Plus from the makers of Art Department Professional.
SourceI assure you that if the product (AdPro) had changed names at ASDG I would know.
But feel free to ask Perry of ASDG, who still drops in here occassionally.
One thread he participated in#6