Adobe is gearing up to unveil an innovative AI-powered photo editing tool during its upcoming Adobe Max event next week. This tool, known as “Project Stardust,” is designed to simplify the process of editing images for individuals without prior editing experience. A promotional video offers a sneak peek into its capabilities, which appear to go beyond Google’s recent Magic Editor for Pixel phones.
Project Stardust boasts an “object-aware editing engine” that can automatically identify individual objects within standard photographs. This technology allows for easy manipulation and repositioning of these objects. In a quick demonstration, objects within an image, like a yellow suitcase and its shadow, are automatically detected and selected, akin to using Photoshop’s lasso tool. The video showcases how objects can be relocated, removed, or altered as if they were on separate layers, with the empty space behind them automatically filled to match the image’s surroundings.
The tool also incorporates something akin to Photoshop’s “Contextual Task Bar,” introduced earlier this year, which can recognize the next steps in the design process and offer quick editing options. For instance, when selecting a group of blurred individuals in the background, a “remove distractors” button appears on the taskbar, enabling the automatic removal of the crowd with a click.
Project Stardust harnesses generative AI capabilities similar to Adobe’s Firefly-powered Photoshop tools. In one example, the video depicts Adobe’s product manager for digital imaging using the tool to select an area of a photograph and input text into a floating taskbar prompt, resulting in AI-generated flowers filling the selected space. Another clip demonstrates how this feature can replace individual clothing items on a model by selecting the item (e.g., a jacket or sneakers) and specifying a new garment to replace it.
Automated design tools like this are becoming more prevalent alongside advances in generative AI. Canva offers similar editing tools for automatically removing or altering objects in images, and Google Photos features the Magic Editor tool on Pixel 8 devices. While specific details about Project Stardust are limited, Aya Philémon, Adobe’s product manager for digital imaging, indicates that the features showcased so far are just a fraction of its capabilities. She anticipates that this new engine will “revolutionize how we interact with Adobe products.” More information about Adobe’s upcoming AI releases will be revealed at Adobe Max, commencing on October 10th.
