Adobe has announced significant updates to its popular design applications, Illustrator and Photoshop, aimed at enhancing productivity and creativity for designers. The new features are designed to streamline workflows and introduce more powerful tools that leverage the capabilities of Adobe's Firefly AI technology.
Illustrator now includes Generative Shape Fill (beta), a tool allowing designers to quickly add detailed vectors to shapes using text prompts in the Contextual Taskbar. This feature is powered by the latest Firefly Vector Model (beta), which aims to deliver improved speed, power, and precision. Other new tools in Illustrator include the Dimension Tool, Mockup (beta), enhanced selection tools like the Enclosed Rectangular Marquee Selection, and Text to Pattern (beta). These tools are expected to save time and allow designers to focus more on the creative aspects of their work.
Photoshop's enhancements focus on streamlining repetitive tasks and facilitating more intuitive workflows. New features include the Selection Brush Tool and Adjustment Brush Tool, along with updates to the Type Tool and Contextual Taskbar. These tools add new levels of productivity, precision, and control, enabling designers to perform complex selections, compositing, and image adjustments more efficiently. Additionally, Photoshop is introducing Generate Image, bolstered by Adobe Firefly Image 3 Model, to aid in concept ideation and creation.
Ashley Still, Adobe’s Senior Vice President of Digital Media, commented on the new features, stating: "The most creative people across illustration, design, photography, and beyond trust Adobe's tools to deliver the most innovative features to maximize productivity and accelerate workflows across ideation, design, and production. Adobe’s new innovations in Illustrator and Photoshop are built directly into designers' existing workflows, offering new ways to create and helping them to work faster and focus on what they do best—drawing, designing, and bringing their creative visions to life."
The company also highlighted its commitment to supporting the creative community through ethical AI development. "Adobe is determined to be a trusted partner for creators in the era ahead, integrating technology into our tools in a way that is respectful and supportive of the creative community," Still added. Adobe's AI Ethics principles emphasize accountability, responsibility, and transparency, including respecting creators' rights and never training AI on customer content. Firefly's generative AI models are claimed to be safe for commercial use and trained on licensed or public domain content.
The new tools are intended to benefit various creative professionals, from graphic designers and illustrators to fashion and interior designers. For example, the Mockup feature in Illustrator allows for high-quality visual prototypes of art on objects, while the Dimension Tool assists with precise sizing in projects such as packaging design and architectural drawings. Other tools like Retype in Illustrator, which converts static text to editable text, and Enhanced Pan and Zoom capabilities, aimed at navigating complex documents more efficiently, are expected to enhance overall productivity.
The updates are now available, with the Firefly Vector Model (beta) powering features such as Generative Shape Fill (beta) and Text to Pattern (beta) in Illustrator. Meanwhile, the new tools in Photoshop, including the Selection Brush Tool and Adjustment Brush Tool, are also now generally available in both the desktop and web versions of the app.
