Category Archives: Adobe MAX

New Adobe tech promises 3D & materials scanning

3D, Adobe MAX, AR/VR

Probably needless to say, 3D model creation remains hard AF for most people, and as such it’s a huge chokepoint in the adoption of 3D & AR viewing experiences.

Fortunately we may be on the cusp of some breakthroughs. Apple is about to popularize LIDAR on phones, and with it we’ll see interesting photogrammetry apps like Polycam:

Meanwhile Adobe is working to enable 3D scanning using devices without fancy sensors. Check out Project Scantastic:

They’re also working to improve the digitization of materials—something that could facilitate the (presently slow, expensive) digitization of apparel:

New typographical brushes from Adobe turn paint into editable characters

Adobe MAX, Typography

I’ve long, long been a fan of using brush strokes on paths to create interesting glyphs & lettering. I used to contort all kinds of vectors into Illustrator brushes, and as it happens, 11 years ago today I was sharing an interesting tutorial on creating smokey text:

Now Adobe engineers are looking to raise the game—a lot.

Combining users drawn stroke inputs, the choice of brush, and the typographic properties of the text object, Project Typographic Brushes brings paint style brushes and new-type families to life in seconds.

Check out some solid witchcraft in action:

Photoshop’s new Smart Portrait is pretty amazing

Adobe MAX, Illustration, Photography

My longstanding dream (dating back to the Bush Administration!) to have face relighting in Photoshop has finally come true—and then some. In case you missed it last week, check out Conan O’Brien meeting machine learning via Photoshop:

On PetaPixel, Allen Murabayashi from PhotoShelter shows what it can do on a portrait of Joe Biden—presenting this power as a potential cautionary tale:

Here’s a more in-depth look (starting around 1:46) at controlling the feature, courtesy of NVIDIA, whose StyleGAN tech powers the feature:

I love the fact that the Neural Filters plug-in provides a playground within Photoshop for integrating experimental new tech. Who knows what else might spring from Adobe-NVIDIA collaboration—maybe scribbling to create a realistic landscape, or even swapping expressions among pets (!?):

Photoshop’s Sky Replacement feature was well worth the wait

Adobe MAX, Photography

Although I haven’t yet gotten to use it extensively, I’m really enjoying the newly arrived Sky Replacement feature in Photoshop. Check out a quick before/after on a tiny planet image:

Adobe MAX starts tomorrow, and you can attend for free

Adobe MAX, Design

From Conan O’Brien to Tyler the Creator* to (of course) tons of deep dives into creative tech, Adobe has organized quite the line-up:

Make plans to join us for a uniquely immersive and engaging digital experience, guaranteed to inspire. Three full days of luminary speakers, celebrity appearances, musical performances, global collaborative art projects, and 350+ sessions — and all at no cost.

You can build your session list here. Looking forward to learning a lot this week!

*I’m reminded of Alec Baldwin as Tony Bennett talking about “Wiz Khalifa and Imagine Dragons—what a great, great, random pairing.” I can’t find that episode online, so what the heck, enjoy this one.

ADIM & MAX

Adobe MAX, Uncategorized

Next month’s Adobe MAX conference is shaping up to be a great show.  These sessions seemed worth a mention:

 

  • Russell Brown has adjusted his popular-and long-running ADIM (Art Directors Invitational Master Class) to coincide with MAX.  It’s "the essential two-day, hands-on instructional course that brings top art directors, designers, illustrators, and photographers together to learn advanced tips and techniques using Adobe products."  ADIM takes place Sunday & Monday, Nov. 16-17th, and plenty of details are on Russell’s site.
  • Dr. Woohoo will be presenting three sessions talking about using Flex+AIR to automate CS3/4.  (Here’s some background on that subject if you’re interested.)
  • I’ll be covering Photoshop CS4 on Wednesday the 19th 2-3pm, and Bryan Hughes will be giving his PS session 3:30-4:30 that day.  You can find other Photoshop-related sessions by clicking the "By Session" tab, then choosing Photoshop from the product drop-down.