Adobe MAX 2024 - Max Recap
The freshly hurricane-pummeled state of Florida just got a creative shake-up.
Say goodbye to tedious manual work. This is where the AI is worth its salt (supposedly).
Adobe managed to sneak in around 100 enhancements, including some promising new features. Our favorite is #ProjectTurntable (still in development, but still).
Adobe MAX Sneaks
Adobe MAX Sneaks—MAX demonstrations that offer a glimpse into future products—stirred a lot of excitement. Saving time is high on everyone’s priority list.
#ProjectTurntable
#ProjectTurntable, developed by Zhiqin Chen and others for Adobe Illustrator, turns your vector graphics into 3D objects, allowing them to be viewed and positioned at different angles without losing their 2D charm.
While you rotate your 2D drawings in 3D space, they acquire 3D shapes but stay true to their original style, retaining all the key components of the design regardless of the viewing angle. Now that’s art.
#ProjectTurntable, if finalized, would be a game-changer for graphics designers and animators.
Between Neo and Scenic
Project Neo (Beta) is also focused on 3D objects for Illustrator but follows a different approach. It runs in a web browser, enabling you to create vector illustrations such as logos or infographics as 3D objects, and export them as SVG files for further editing in Illustrator. In the web browser, you can use simple controls to adjust lighting and shadows in real-time. The resulting graphics tend to don the charm of 1970s illustrations, imagine that.
With Project Scenic, Adobe is developing a solution for creating artistic 2D images using AI prompts in a 3D scene layout.
While Neo is a disappointment style-wise, Scenic is a jaw-dropper.
#ProjectPerfectBlend
Now you can kick all your photo editing prowess to the curb, courtesy of #ProjectPerfectBlend.
But don’t despair. These features won’t be out just yet.
Project Perfect Blend uses AI in Photoshop CC to adjust elements in a composition, such as color, lighting, and shadows, to blend them more seamlessly into a scene.
Remix a Lot, to Save a Lot of Time
Project Remix A Lot brings generative AI to Illustrator, allowing you to turn a freehand sketch into an illustration, automatically adjusting it to any aspect ratio or even applying it to a product packaging template. It can also transfer the layout style of an existing illustration to a new one with drag-and-drop ease.
Mockups in Illustrator
Adobe’s new Mockup feature in Illustrator CC 2025 facilitates the creation of realistic mockups of vector designs on objects like t-shirts, mugs, or product packaging. It’s non-destructive and offers deep customization of the 3D composition to mirror the final product.
The process is straightforward: Select your vector design and a photo depicting the object you want to use for the mockup. Then, go to Object > Mockup > Make and Illustrator will apply the design to the image. Now you can adjust the position, rotation, and scale of your design using familiar transformation handles.
You can even change the blend mode of your artwork to make it look more realistic, matching the shadows and lighting. The mockup feature supports non-destructive edits, meaning you can make changes to your design without permanently altering the original data.
Tools like Generative Extend, Image-to-Video, and Text-to-Video are now live in the Premiere Pro beta. Currently, GenAI can create 720p clips at 24 frames per second. Adobe says it is working on improving the quality.
Project Super Sonic
Project Super Sonic aims to generate audio to match your video with a simple text prompt or click on objects in the frame to blend into the existing audio track.
Tell us what you think in the comments. Subscribe, if you haven’t already. This post is developing and will be in your inbox soon. Don’t miss out on it!
AI fatigue
This time around, Adobe’s colorful conference for creative professionals had a lot of surprises to offer.
Even so, the AI fatigue was palpable–as were Adobe’s attempts to get you to shell out some old-fashioned coins to certify your hard-earned skills.
Adobe has claimed approximately 100 enhancements, including perhaps a handful of relevant workflow improvements. To the delight of prepress and other media professionals, Photoshop CC 2025, InDesign CC 2025, and Illustrator CC 2025 have gained time-saving features without sacrificing your creative freedom.
Generative Layout Improvements
In the 2025 editions of its CC applications, Adobe has committed to shaking up your daily routine with AI-powered tools that can be actually quite useful.
Chief among these AI features are Generative Fill and Generative Expand. As you may remember, these features debuted a few months ago in Photoshop but have garnered little excitement so far. Now you can use them in InDesign CC 2025 and Illustrator CC 2025.
Generative Fill in InDesign brings Firefly’s text-to-image functionality to placeholder frames. When you select an image frame in a layout, InDesign offers you its Text to Image controls in the contextual bar floating across your display. A single click on the appropriate button opens up a prompt editor, where you can describe your desired image in simple words (e.g., "pancake with blueberries"), use reference images, or apply stylistic guidelines.
InDesign presents several AI-generated variations in the "Text to Image" panel, allowing you to cut down on the time spent searching through image databases or manually retouching images. This feature is especially welcome in print layout workflows where space constraints and resolution requirements are rigid.
Generative Expand allows you to expand images to the required size in any direction while ensuring consistent texture, lighting, and perspective. Instead of manually scaling or cropping, you can now simply extend the image frame, leaving the adjustments to the AI. This could, for example, transform a portrait into a panorama without visible transitions or loss of sharpness. This flexibility is invaluable when working on projects like brochures, posters, cardboard boxes or other packaging, especially when existing assets don't quite fit the new format.
In projects requiring frequent client approvals, this feature speeds up iterations by simplifying layout changes without much debate.
Similarly, Generative Fill in Illustrator CC 2025 enables you to describe desired fill patterns with simple text prompts, filling shapes with detailed vector graphics. Users can access this function either from the context bar or via the Text-to-Image panel.
Meanwhile, Generative Expand in InDesign CC 2025 and Illustrator CC 2025 allows you to smoothly extend images beyond their original boundaries to fill empty spaces within frames.
The AI engine in InDesign 2025 can suggest layout optimizations, such as adjusting image placements or text frame arrangements to harmonize the appearance of the page. It can also rewrite sections of text to better fit the layout.
These advancements represent a significant leap forward in terms of time spent fiddling with frames, especially for print media professionals who are juggling tight deadlines while aiming for high quality standards.
According to Adobe, Image Trace remains one of the most frequently used features in Illustrator. The latest iteration of this tool delivers sharper vector outputs with cleaner lines, closer to the original image. The vectorized outputs have fewer anchor points, and transparent backgrounds no longer get traced as white. The support for gradients is still largely unimaginative. We were left unimpressed.
Support for MathML
Handling mathematical expressions in layout files has long been a weak spot of InDesign. Typically, LaTeX—an open-source system for typesetting technical and scientific documents—was used to handle the task. In this awkward workflow, one person would write Math equations in LaTeX, export them as PDF files, and hand it over to the next person who would place them in InDesign, with no option for further editing once imported. Errors had to be corrected at the source, in LaTeX itself. It took two people. Now, it may still take two, but at least you can be the one who gets to do the editing–right in InDesign.
InDesign CC 2025 natively supports MathML (Mathematical Markup Language), an XML-based language for representing mathematical notation. This new functionality allows users to work directly with math equations inside InDesign and reuse the content in downstream applications.
The Insert MathML command, accessible via the Object menu, opens a dialog where users can paste MathML code, preview the output, and render it directly on the page. Should any changes be needed, you can update the MathML markup and render the equation even at the last minute.
The Bottom Line
There is more to AI at Adobe than meets the eye. Not all of it is good news for creatives.
While today’s fast-paced environment demands new tools that can keep up with the turnover of modern media production, AI mostly serves to crank up the churn.
AI-powered workflows may be revolutionizing the way designers operate, but they are also disruptive. Tell us what you think in the comments.