Sneaks is the session people save a seat for. It’s where Adobe researchers (engineers) show unfinished ideas on stage, and it’s hosted this year by Terry Crews and designer Kelsey Slay. I watched from Southern California, 15-plus years into designing, with attending live still a life’s dream.
Sneaks are prototypes, not promises. Adobe hasn’t committed to shipping any of these but plenty of past Sneaks became features I use, so I treat this session as a preview of my future toolbox. Ten projects this year, and I’ve sorted them by what they could mean for client work, not by the order they appeared.
For brand and image work
Project Link Up (Illustrator). Dragging one object onto another normally only decides where it lands. Link Up reads both objects plus the way you drag, including the path and speed, and blends them while the result stays fully editable vector artwork. It works with or without a prompt. You are able to drop images with intent and still remain an editable vector.
Project Hands On. Instead of rewriting a prompt to nudge a detail, you get control points on the image and drag. It understands what’s in the picture and builds the controls for you. This is also one of two Sneaks you can try now in the new Adobe Labs Playground.
Project Rinse Repeat (Photoshop). It copies the way you work and applies it to other parts of an image. The demo added drop shadows across a product composite, matched to different product sizes. It isn’t generative AI, which makes it the most practical one of the ten for repetitive client retouching. Probably my favorite and most useful as a designer.
Project Deep Brush. The other Playground project. It lets creatives paint over a photo and add the result into the scene, including light. You could put a logo or texture on a curved or angled surface like a bottle, and the edit would follow the contours and lighting. This would come in handy when doing product mockups too.
For video and audio
Project Live Set. Change a subject, transform an environment, or redirect the camera while a scene continues, with results in real time. The pitch is full control of every frame without the waiting.
Project On Cue. You control when something happens in generated video, like a flash of light, using a timing signal you draw by hand or extract from a video or a piece of music.
Project Scene Sweep. Tracks characters, locations and scenes across a sequence so one edit carries consistently across cuts and camera angles. This is long-form consistency.
Project Sound Bender. Describe a sound, pull it out of a finished mix, then explore variations on an interactive canvas.
For characters and space
Project Screen Test. You upload a character, record a sample voice and add a description. The tool interviews you, and your answers become a personality profile. Then you can talk to the character to see how it responds in different scenes. Maybe the strangest idea of the day but probably the most experimental.
Project Sight Span. Turn a flat photo or illustration into a 3D preview environment, move and explore camera angles and direction freely, then click upscale to restore detail. This creates contextually accurate content beyond the original frame.
Do Sneaks actually ship?
Some do. Relight in Photoshop and Generate Soundscape in Premiere are recent features that began as Sneaks, and Firefly Graph, which launched at this year’s MAX, was a Sneak last year.
My take
The common theme was control and that’s the most important feature for me as a creative and designer. Most of these replace a prompt box with something you can touch, drag or draw. The two I’d test first are Link Up and Hands On, because the question I ask of any AI tool in client work is whether I can still edit the result afterward.
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