I have been playing with Adobe Firefly more the last few months, ever since Adobe MAX, inspired by some of the things I learned there. I have learned a number of interesting things from that experience, and Adobe has introduced a number of new features recently that are worth noting. The main things that have been recently added are Topaz’s generative up-res for video, and Runway’s Gen 4.5 video model.
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I attended Adobe MAX at the LA Convention Center last week. This is my 6th time at MAX, and it has been interesting to see the event evolve over the years. This year’s primary focus was clearly on AI tools, both Generative AI, and AI agents. I had used Adobe’s existing Firefly tools to a limited degree over the past year or two, but never really dove into them, which I do intend to do now that they have matured so much in the most recent release.
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Adobe’s creativity conference MAX took place at the LA Convention Center this week. This is the event that launches the next generation of Creative Cloud applications every year, and ten thousand users from all over converge at MAX to learn about the new tools that are being released. The main event ran Tuesday to Thursday, with the Tuesday morning Keynote presentation broadcast across the internet with all of the main announcements.
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The International Broadcasting Conference is being held in Amsterdam this week, which brings with it a variety of exciting announcements and new products. I do not travel to Europe for the show, but I do keep an eye on the various news and updates that happen there. These are just a few of the ones that stood out to me the most, or are relevant to my projects and workflows.
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Adobe has been working on their generative AI initiatives under the Firefly brand for a couple years now, with ongoing improvements and integrations. It started with cloud based image generation in 2023, and grew to include vector and design generation, and now video generation. It also added direct integration in Photoshop for image generation, which works pretty impressively at this point, and they are beginning integration to Premiere Pro with Generative Extend in the current beta application. But their broader AI generated video tools have only been in limited beta form until now.
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NVidia announced their new generation of GPUs at the beginning of this year, at CES in Las Vegas. The first of those “Blackwell” architecture based cards are now hitting the market, starting with the top end 5090, and the second tier 5080, which I have had the opportunity to test. The next steps down, the 5070 and 5070 Ti, will be available in February. The new Blackwell cards are the first to support PCIe 5.0, for faster interface with the host system, and DDR7 for greater memory bandwidth and lower power consumption. NVidia also announced laptop versions of the Blackwell lineup, which should be coming soon as well.
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Adobe took the opportunity of the Sundance Film Festival to highlight a number of new features coming to their video applications in the Creative Cloud suit. Premiere Pro has become more popular for editing feature films, as Adobe continues to improve the application. After Effects has always had a place in the film and VFX world, and Frame.IO has become a widely used cloud tool as its capabilities grow beyond review and approval functionality.
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I recently had the opportunity to test out and review HP’s Omen Transcend 32 OLED Display. It is a 31.5″ UHD HDR QD-OLED panel, supporting up to 240 frames per second. OLEDs are known for their deep blacks, leading to high image contrast and vivid colors. HDR is important for future proofing video content. While high frame refresh rates are usually not as significant for professionals, there are benefits to the flexibility they offer, and high frame rate content can be a valuable creative tool. The display also integrates an advanced KVM solution, to allow power users to leverage its beautiful image with both their desktop workstations and their notebook computers.
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Logitech recently released the MX Creative Console, a new interface device targeting Adobe users. I got the opportunity to see it in person at the MAX conference, and have been testing one myself since then. The device has a rather unexpected design, with two separate parts that are sold together. There is a dial and roller, with four solid buttons, that connects wirelessly to the system via Bluetooth. Then there is a panel of 9 LED buttons, with dedicated next and previous buttons, which connects via USB-C. They are designed to be used together, with the LED buttons displaying and controlling the function of the separate dial, but are independent pieces of hardware. They can each be used by themselves, but they do function more effectively together, and can be set up in a variety of different ways.
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I have had the opportunity to review Lenovo’s ThinkPad P1 Gen7 laptop. It is the first Core Ultra system I have used, built with Intel’s new chiplet design architecture. It also has a new memory module design, and a discrete NVidia RTX GPU, in a 16″ formfactor. And as a ThinkPad, it is a no nonsense design in a solid chassis, with a little red TrackPoint stick in the center of the keyboard.
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