Adobe ushers in a new era. At Adobe Max, the company’s annual creative conference that kicked off Monday, Adobe leadership presented next-generation product updates, collaborations and new projects, including the rollout of Firefly’s new generative AI text-to-video tool in public beta, a surprising athletic company partnership and more than 100 new innovations in Creative Cloud.
The creative industries have been shaken by the rise of generative AI, which has become increasingly common in creative software – and increasingly a controversial topic among professional creators, Adobe’s primary users. While some artists are taking legal action against AI companies, particularly over copyright infringement concerns, others are trying to figure out what, if any, applications there are for AI in creative spaces. Adobe certainly seems to think there are some, as AI powers many of its product updates and is one of the main focuses of this year’s event.
CNET is on the ground in Miami this year, bringing you the latest news about creators and AI. Below is an overview of all the most important news that Adobe announced during its keynote address on Monday.
Create custom Gatorade water bottles with Firefly
Many of the updates Adobe has announced are aimed at Creative Cloud users, but this one is for everyone. Starting Monday, you can design your own custom Gatorade Squeeze water bottle using Firefly’s text-to-image capabilities on Gatorade’s website. Gatorade’s free membership program lets you enter what you want to appear on your water bottle, and Gatorade’s site will use Firefly to try to bring your vision to life.
Firefly’s AI video tool is here
Adobe first announced its Firefly video tool in September, and Adobe confirmed Monday that the generative AI video tool will be available in public beta on Monday. It will be the first publicly available, commercially secure video model trained on Adobe Stock and other public databases. In the app, Firefly can also convert reference images into B-roll images and process 2D and 3D animations.
Firefly’s AI video model is also being integrated into Premiere Pro, where it powers a new feature called generative expansion. Generative Extend allows users to create new video clips, including video and audio. It’s intended to help creators when they need a few extra frames, want to smooth out a transition, or want to hold a shot longer.
Generative expansion in Premiere Pro allows new clips to be created with images and sounds.
The feature uses the previous clip as a reference and builds a matching video that you can use to fill the gap in your timeline. Although it uses the content you uploaded to create the new clips, your original clip does not become part of Adobe’s training database. It will be available in beta in Premiere Pro starting Monday.
Those who use Adobe’s Firefly app or integrations will automatically get content references tied to their work — a kind of digital food label that identifies a creator’s work and any AI use. Earlier this month, Adobe announced a new, free app called Content Authenticity that focuses on creating and managing these labels.
New AI-powered editing in Photoshop and Illustrator
Photoshop and Illustrator are getting a lot of updates, thanks in part to Adobe’s latest AI model, Firefly Image 3. Previously only available in beta, it now brings new features and updates to Creative Cloud programs.
In Photoshop, the suite of generative tools (including generative fill that lets you create text-to-image designs for a given space) is coming out of beta and becoming generally available. Photoshop’s removal tool is being upgraded to be better at removing distracting elements, such as accidental photo-bombers. Photoshop is also introducing a new generative workspace in beta that creators can use to ideate and brainstorm. It also gives creators access to a fast generation mode. Substance 3D viewer is also coming to Photoshop in beta, making it easier to edit 3D elements within a 2D design.
For Illustrator, Adobe is introducing a beta version of Project Neo into the program. Project Neo is a web app first teased at last year’s Max, aimed at helping designers and illustrators work and edit 3D designs. Deepa Subramaniam, vice president of product marketing for Creative Cloud, told CNET that Project Neo has been in private beta with about 60,000 users and has been incorporating the group’s feedback.
Objects on Path allows creators to keep elements aligned.
A new feature called Objects in Path saves creators time rearranging objects on a set path, keeping them aligned without having to manually adjust each piece. Image Trace, one of Illustrator’s most popular features, is also getting a major overhaul to hopefully make it easier to convert images to vectors. Generative shape fill also gets better selection and control.
