Premiere Rush, Photoshop for iPad: Biggest Unveils at Adobe Max 2018

Adobe is making sweeping updates across all the Creative Cloud applications, announced on October 15 at the company’s annual Adobe MAX show. In addition to updating existing programs, Adobe launched entirely new additions to its Creative Cloud suite, including Premiere Rush CC, a social-focused video editor, and Project Gemini, a Photoshop-like tool designed just for digital painting and sketching.

Additionally, the company teased a full version of Photoshop for the iPad and renewed its focus on Sensei, Adobe’s artificial intelligence engine, which now powers more than a dozen new features across multiple apps.

Premiere Rush CC

Teased earlier this year, Project Rush is finally debuting as Adobe Premiere Rush CC. Premiere Rush is a cross-platform video editing tool (desktop and mobile) designed strictly for outputting to social media. The program takes some of the power of Premiere and simplifies it for non-professionals.

Adobe Sensei A.I. shows up here in the form of auto-ducking, which automatically lowers the volume of a music track when someone is speaking. The program also includes many of the basics from Premiere, like the timeline, color and audio tools, and support for Motion Graphics Effects. Once edits are finished, Rush will automatically export in the appropriate formats for the selected social networks, potentially saving users a lot of time.

As a first version, Adobe is already working on expanding the app — the company says video speed tools, performance enhancements and an Android version are already in the works. Currently, Premiere Rush CC is available from Adobe direct and the iOS App Store for $10 a month ($29 for teams and $30 for enterprise). Rush will also be part of the All Apps subscription and Adobe is also including the program with the Premiere Pro CC single app subscription. The price also includes 100GB of cloud storage, which will help manage all those video projects.

Project Gemini

Project Gemini is an app for touchscreen devices that focuses entirely on painting and drawing, incorporating tools from programs like Photoshop Sketch and Illustrator Draw.

Gemini works with existing Photoshop brushes but also adds dynamic brushes, or digital brushes that are designed to behave like the real thing. The watercolor brush, for example, will bleed and blend in a manner similar to watercolor on canvas, and artists can also choose how much water and how much pigment to use in the “paint.”

Adobe says the app is designed for professionals but uses an interface easy enough for hobbyist doodlers to get started in. Project Gemini is only being previewed at Max — the company hasn’t yet shared a launch date, but says that the app will arrive on iOS first before moving to additional platforms.

Premiere Pro

Adobe’s pro-level video editor isn’t going anywhere — Premiere Pro CC also sees a handful of new features unveiled at MAX. The updates, which were all previewed earlier this fall, include new selective color grading tools, VR180 support and other VR enhancements, new Motion Graphics Templates options, display color management, and new collaborative tools. Adobe Sensei helps clean audio, with new sliders for reducing reverb as well as background noise. Premiere Pro will also be able to open and edit Premiere Rush files.

Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom

Screen rendering of Photoshop on iPad Adobe / Kelly Sikkema

Photoshop will soon be getting an iPad app with all the usual tools, Adobe says. A rumor about Photoshop on iPad had been circulating since back in June. The app uses a new interface designed for touch without sacrificing the power of the desktop version.

For desktop users, Photoshop gains the revamped Content-Aware Fill tool that was previously teased. Using Adobe Sensei, Content-Aware Fill now gives users more options to easily remove objects from photos. Photoshop also gains a frame tool that serves as a placeholder for images. Finally, Symmetry Painting, previously a tech preview, helps automate symmetrical designs.

Adobe XD

Adobe’s prototyping software for apps and website, Adobe XD, sees one of the biggest updates in the program’s short history. The app now supports voice commands, as digital assistants and voice-controlled apps continue to gain popularity. A new auto-animate tool allows designers to create transitions between artboards. Additional enhancements include drag gestures, linked symbols and support for Adobe Illustrator and After Effects.

Adobe InDesign

As one of the biggest update to InDesign yet, Adobe’s layout software sees more than 30 performance improvements. New Content-Aware Fit uses A.I. to create a better fit for images in frames, while Sensei is also at work in a new layout adjustment for resizing documents. The update includes several other user-requested features.

Additional Creative Cloud Updates

Adobe Spark Post is now available on Android. The social media design tool was previously available only on iOS or through a web app.
Adobe Stock is even getting a refresh, including a search tool that allows users to search by color, content or composition from a similar reference image. Searches can also be filtered out for images that have copy space. The stock platform is also seeing new content from GoPro.
Adobe Portfolio also sees a boost with new splash pages, the option to purchase and connect a domain, Adobe Stock sales integration, and connection to Adobe Lightroom CC for easy album sharing.
Adobe Dimension, now a year old, now has new material improvements for creating 3D objects as well as faster in-app previews and additional compatibility with Photoshop and Illustrator. Adobe is also beta testing an option to publish 3D designs online.
Adobe Illustrator gains a new gradient tool for blending multiple colors naturally into a gradient by dropping color “pins” onto the illustration. Global edits allow changes made to one logo or icon to apply in several places across multiple artboards. Users can also create a custom toolbar of the most frequently-used tools.
Characterizer, an animation tool, can now animate using a photo using the webcam. Rather than starting with an existing character, the tool allows users to create their own character to animate by uploading a photo or artwork. Magnets to pick up objects, squishiness parameters and replays are also included in the update.
Adobe Audition sees the same intelligent options to reduce reverb and background noise as Premiere Pro.
Animate CC files are now compatible with After Effects, while XD elements can also now open inside After Effects.
After Effects sees performance improvements, new advanced pins and bend pins in the puppet tool, and Motion Graphics improvements.

Adobe’s Premiere Rush is a video-editing app designed for social media projects