Welcome to our live coverage of Adobe Summit 2023. For the next two days (June 8 – 9), we’re on the floor at ExCel London to see what’s new from Adobe.
CEO Shantanu Narayen will be kicking things off in the opening keynote, He’ll be joined by other Adobe execs and industry leaders to reveal the latest work from the company, and its impact. Expect plenty of focus on productivity, personalization, creativity, and, of course, AI.
Day One is about to start – and we'll be here to provide all the updates as they happen.
Adobe’s latest update to Premiere Pro promises to be an absolute game-changer for video editors with the arrival of text-based video editing.
According to the company, the feature, first trailed in April 2023, is “an entirely new way of creating rough cuts that are as simple as copying and pasting text.” That means it doesn’t change how videos are produced – it alters who can edit videos.
Text-based editing isn’t the only new feature now available in one of the best video editing software tools on the market. In a bid to maximize workflows, Adobe has unveiled Background Auto Save, smoother scrolling, and improved language support, too.
Ctrl + V(ideo)
Editing videos through text is all about streamlining and simplicity. This is, after all, about making it easier to stitch together rough cuts before fine-tuning.
Once source footage is transcribed, users can quickly highlight the required text from the transcript and insert it into the timeline. Using the sequence transcript, editors can then copy and paste text to move clips, or delete it to bin them, before refining the cut using Premiere Pro’s trimming tools.
It’s not the first time Adobe has toyed with text-based video editing. Last year, the company unveiled its Project Blink beta, an AI-powered video editor for browsers, that works in a suspiciously similar manner.
When we reviewed the web-based video editing app, we were impressed by its overall accessibility. Anyone who’s ever used Microsoft Word or similar will find themselves in somewhat familiar territory. At the time, we said, “it’s fair to say you lack the omniscient control that you’d find in other video editors, and this isn’t exactly an Adobe Premiere Pro alternative. But what would usually take hours in a fully-fledged video editor, Adobe's Project Blink can accomplish in minutes.”
Adding text-based video editing in Premiere Pro takes that to another level. It not only gives just about everyone the ability to build a rough cut, but makes it an integral part of the workflow for experienced and professional video editors.
And, like the proliferation of machine-learning neural filters and the ability to remove objects from an image in one click Photoshop, it’s another example of Adobe simplifying creative processes. We’re all content creators now.
Serif has announced some major upgrades to its Affinity page layout and graphic design software – just six months after unveiling the feature-filled V2 of its award-winning creative suite.
Dubbed V2.1, the developers are promising “better-than-ever workflow and user experience” thanks to a sweeping combination of new features and smaller, incremental updates.
The former lets users fill areas created by intersecting objects and curves with one click. The latter provides a way to add the name of your document’s topic to headers and footers. Users will also finally get support for keyboard shortcuts for changing the blend mode in whatever layers they’re working on.
Alongside the likes of snappable Vector warp modes and an Auto-select toggle come a raft of smaller tweaks. This includes balanced dash lines, an enhanced cropping tool in its photo editor and Brush Panel improvements based on community feedback.
“We pay meticulous attention to what our customers tell us their requirements are for improved professional workflow and usability,” said Serif CEO Ashley Hewson. “Sometimes a very small improvement can make a huge difference and give somebody their best experience of using Affinity. All the new features have been requested heavily by our customers, and thousands of those users have helped us put 2.1 through its paces during the beta period.”
Existing Affinity users get the latest update to the design and DTP software completely free. For everyone else, V2.1 is available for a one-off cost that’s surprisingly affordable given the power of the tools. Cheerfully, there’s no subscriptions either. That alone is one of the main reasons why we named Publisher as the best alternatives to Adobe InDesign, while Affinity Photo is a serious contender for best Photoshop alternative. With the latest advances in the creative suite rolling out now, that position is only strengthened.
Adobe has announced native Apple M1 silicon support, hopefully meaning faster launch and rendering times for motion designers and video creators.
In benchmark tests released by the company, running After Effects on a high-end M1 Ultra Mac is now up to three times as fast, and those using the video effects software on standard M1-powered devices should see performance jump to double the speed.
According to Adobe, the power boost makes it easy for motion designers, “to explore ideas and iterate more quickly on their compositions.”
(Image credit: Adobe)
What else is new in Adobe After Effects?
Native support for Apple’s proprietary chip is just part of a wider package that’s being deployed by Adobe as it looks to better supply users across the world.
– After Effects and Premiere Pro subscribers now get free access to the Frame.io remote video collaboration service , which comes built into both the VFX tool and Adobe’s much-loved video editing software.
– With 3D making (yet another) comeback, Extended Viewer and Binning Indicators for 3D layers now make it easier for designers to visualize compositions and move through three-dimensional spaces in real-time.
– Scene Edit Detection finally makes the jump from Premiere Pro to After Effects. Powered by Adobe Sensei’s machine learning and AI, the new tool intelligently detects cut points in rendered footage and adds markers at edit points for more efficient creations.
The need for speed
Adobe clearly feels the need for speed – only last year, the software house unveiled Multi-Frame Rendering, boosting speeds by up to four times. This latest update continues a drive to improve motion graphics software performance and delivery for VFX artists.
However, Adobe warns that certain new features and functionalities will be limited or unavailable when using incompatible third-party plugins, or plugins that aren’t ported for Apple silicon, with users seeing a warning pop up when the VFX tool spots an issue at launch.
Adobe also confirmed users can even use older versions of Adobe After Effects on M1 chips – but you’ll need Apple’s Rosetta 2 emulation software to get it running.
The After Effects 22.3 update, which launches today (April 12 2022), is available to all users via a staggered roll-out from the Creative Cloud desktop app.
Adobe has announced native Apple M1 silicon support, hopefully meaning faster launch and rendering times for motion designers and video creators.
In benchmark tests released by the company, running After Effects on a high-end M1 Ultra Mac is now up to three times as fast, and those using the video effects software on standard M1-powered devices should see performance jump to double the speed.
According to Adobe, the power boost makes it easy for motion designers, “to explore ideas and iterate more quickly on their compositions.”
(Image credit: Adobe)
What else is new in Adobe After Effects?
Native support for Apple’s proprietary chip is just part of a wider package that’s being deployed by Adobe as it looks to better supply users across the world.
– After Effects and Premiere Pro subscribers now get free access to the Frame.io remote video collaboration service , which comes built into both the VFX tool and Adobe’s much-loved video editing software.
– With 3D making (yet another) comeback, Extended Viewer and Binning Indicators for 3D layers now make it easier for designers to visualize compositions and move through three-dimensional spaces in real-time.
– Scene Edit Detection finally makes the jump from Premiere Pro to After Effects. Powered by Adobe Sensei’s machine learning and AI, the new tool intelligently detects cut points in rendered footage and adds markers at edit points for more efficient creations.
The need for speed
Adobe clearly feels the need for speed – only last year, the software house unveiled Multi-Frame Rendering, boosting speeds by up to four times. This latest update continues a drive to improve motion graphics software performance and delivery for VFX artists.
However, Adobe warns that certain new features and functionalities will be limited or unavailable when using incompatible third-party plugins, or plugins that aren’t ported for Apple silicon, with users seeing a warning pop up when the VFX tool spots an issue at launch.
Adobe also confirmed users can even use older versions of Adobe After Effects on M1 chips – but you’ll need Apple’s Rosetta 2 emulation software to get it running.
The After Effects 22.3 update, which launches today (April 12 2022), is available to all users via a staggered roll-out from the Creative Cloud desktop app.
In what is being boldly referred to as “the new way to PDF”, Adobe is treating users of Creative Cloud Express with new tools for working with the ubiquitous file type. When the cloud tool launched in December 2021, it included two 'quick actions' for creating and converting PDF files, but Adobe has announced three additional actions to help manage a PDF file.
One will allow you to edit the text within a PDF file, alongside the ability to resize and rotate images.
The remaining new actions will make it possible to easily combine multiple files into one document and also the ability to rearrange pages of an existing PDF file.
The ability to join several files into one is not only a great way to consolidate documents obtained from different sources, but also to ensure that different types of content are saved in a cross-platform, portable format.
While the page organization's quick action makes it possible to change the order in which pages appear in a document, it goes further than what you expect. The same quick actions also enable you to delete pages that are not needed and rotate any which are not correctly oriented. Adobe stresses that modifying PDFs in this way will not interfere with the formatting or design of the original files, so you can be sure that pages will look precisely as intended.
But wait, there's more
(Image credit: Adobe)
While both of these quick actions will be welcomed by Adobe Creative Cloud Express users, it is the third new addition that is likely to generate the most interest. The “Edit text & images” quick action does very much what you would expect from the name, making it possible to change and add text to existing PDFs.
It can also be used to rotate and resize images so there is no need to re-create pages from scratch if a minor tweak is needed.
Adobe states that the latest quick actions came as the result of listening to the feedback of creators. The company is keen to continue to give its users what they need and is looking for more suggestions via the Creative Cloud Express UserVoice page.
Adobe updated its recent out-of-band security advisory to add another critical bug, while researchers put out a PoC for the one it emergency-fixed last weekend. Threatpost
The vendor issued an emergency fix on Sunday, and eCommerce websites should update ASAP to avoid Magecart card-skimming attacks and other problems. Threatpost
If you're keen to use Adobe's powerful creative tools, but are less excited about their high prices, the company's new Creative Cloud Express app could be for you. Effectively a lite version of its software suite, the app is free to use on mobile devices or via web browser, with extra features costing $ 9.99 / £10.10 / AU$ 14.29 a month.
Creative Cloud Express is designed for students, small business owners, or for those who want to turn a hobby into a career. Instead of a collection of apps, here you download just one app that gives you features to edit photos, trim videos and create GIFs, while making content that’s relevant to your customers.
It’s the first freemium product from Adobe, and with Christmas fast approaching, it could be a great entry point for those who want to try out Adobe’s products on their new devices.
Who would want this?
Available from today, you can download Creative Cloud Express for free, from the Microsoft store, Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The free plan includes:
Create on both web and mobile.
Thousands of templates, design assets, and Adobe Fonts.
A limited collection of royalty-free Adobe Stock free collection photos.
Basic editing and photo effects including removing backgrounds and animations.
2GB of storage.
You only need to sign up and you can use the above features straight away. It’s a new angle that Adobe is offering here, as you would have had to sign up for a free trial for Creative Cloud at least, to see if apps such as Photoshop and Premiere Pro were suited to your needs.
The paid plan includes a 3-month free trial with more images and templates to use, alongside the ability to export a project into PDF and other useful features. You can sign up and get a feel for whether Express or the full Creative Cloud package is best for you.
Its press release also stated that an Enterprise edition of Express is coming in 2022, which would help businesses offer the package to its employees in one go.
Analysis: A hint towards the future?
So far the new offering from Adobe looks impressive, with its demos showing both tablets and web browsers using Express. With many users going through their favored web browser to use certain web apps, it could show what the future holds for Adobe and Creative Cloud going forward.
Express looks to be the start of this, and if its features expand to those that are inspired by Adobe’s other apps such as Illustrator and XD, this new package is an enticing and exciting start.
Adobe is continuing its deals for Cyber Monday on Creative Cloud, saving a big 40% on yearly and monthly plans, the deals are ending December 3. (Not in the UK or US? Scroll down for deals in your region).
There have also been other deals on Walmart and Best Buy where you can pay a one-off fee at a discounted price, but these may last after Adobe's own deals expire.
As Adobe Creative Cloud runs natively on Apple's M1 Macs, alongside the newest M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, it's a great opportunity for Mac users to consider a purchase to Adobe's suite of apps.
Adobe Creative Cloud also offers a wide range of services. Beyond Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere Pro, there are tens of other creative apps and 100GB of cloud storage to easily store your content.
For all the Adobe Creative Cloud discounts as Black Friday winds down and Cyber Monday ramps up, read on below.
Today's best US Cyber Monday Adobe deals
Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps:$ 599.98$ 360 a year
Save £239.98 – Get a huge 39% off a subscription to Adobe’s full bundle of creative apps for the first year. The All Apps suite includes over 20 apps, including Photoshop, InDesign, Lightroom and Illustrator, plus 100GB of cloud storage.
Adobe Premiere Pro 1-year plan: $ 239.88 $ 191.88 at Best Buy
Save $ 48 – A big saving for an app that you’ll most likely be using every day. For 365 days you get the latest updates of Premiere Pro, while taking advantage of the features out now, such as better M1 Mac support, better syncronization of audio and merged clips, alongside more.
Adobe Photoshop Elements & Premiere Elements: $ 149.99 $ 89.99 at Best Buy
Save $ 60 – For a one-off fee you get the full version of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements in one, for a cheaper price. You can take advantage of the new features out now, such as better .RAW support, native M1 Mac support and more.
Adobe Premiere Elements: $ 99.99 $ 59.99 at Best Buy
Save $ 40 – For a one-off fee you get the full version of Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements in one, for a cheaper price. You can take advantage of the new features out now, such as better .RAW support, native M1 Mac support and more.
Today's best UK Cyber Monday Adobe deals
Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps: £49.94/mo. £30.34/mo
Save £19.60 – Available until December 3, the Creative Cloud plan includes Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro and 20 over apps from Adobe to use across your devices. This also includes 100GB of cloud storage, alongside Adobe fonts and the latest updates as soon as they’re available.
Adobe Creative Cloud for students: £16.24/mo. £13.15/mo
Save 19% – The Creative Cloud plan for students gives them an additional 19% off. This includes Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro and 20 over apps from Adobe to use across your devices. This also includes 100GB of cloud storage, alongside Adobe fonts and the latest updates as soon as they’re available.
While Adobe will be one of the first to wind down some of its deals for Black Friday, that doesn't mean other vendors will. Best Buy and Walmart look to be ending deals once stock has run out, which has happened already.
We're in full swing with Black Friday, but Adobe hasn't confirmed as yet whether there will be other deals coming with Cyber Monday coming on November 29.
In the meantime, however, there probably won't be another time where you can sign up to Creative Cloud at a 40% discount, so be quick.
More Adobe deals
No matter where you live, you'll find all the lowest prices for Adobe deals from around the web right here as Cyber Monday ramps up, with offers available in your region.
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