Adobe has launched the latest versions of two flagship post-production tools: Premiere 26 and After Effects 26. These updates pack powerful AI-enhanced features, expanded 3D capabilities, and improved user workflows designed to speed up editing and unlock new creative potential.
Whether you’re an individual editor, a creative business, or a motion designer, these new tools can transform how you work, from rapid object masking to rich 3D typography. Let’s dive into the highlights that you won’t want to miss.
AI-Powered Masking and Smarter Editing in Premiere 26
One of the headline features in Premiere 26 is the Object Mask, an AI-driven tool that operates fully on-device for quick and accurate selection and tracking of people or objects. Using intuitive colored overlays and simple controls, editors can now create complex masks with ease—a task that used to take painstaking manual adjustments.
Adobe says Object Mask completely transforms the selection and masking process, making tracking complex subjects drastically faster, simpler and more intuitive for video editors.
Shape masks have also received a significant upgrade, offering up to 20 times faster tracking speeds and more creative control through redesigned ellipse, rectangle, and pen mask tools with Bezier curve refinement. This evolution makes effects like face blurring and selective relighting faster and more precise.
Premiere is also better integrated with Adobe’s AI ecosystem through Firefly Boards, which facilitates creative collaboration and asset generation within project workflows. Alongside this, Stock Panel integration grants seamless browsing and licensing of millions of clips directly in Premiere, helping editors stay focused without app-hopping.
After Effects 26 Expands 3D and Typography Horizons
After Effects 26 pushes the bar further for motion design with native support for 3D parametric meshes, enabling artists to create and customize complex 3D shapes and lighting effects natively. This includes new shadow types that add realism and depth to both stylized graphics and photorealistic assets.
Additionally, the introduction of over 1,300 free Substance 3D materials expands creative options with animatable properties, letting users add sophisticated textures to meshes with ease.
On the typography front, variable font animation enhancements offer flexible and dynamic control over text via keyframes and expressions, making titles and templates more eye-catching and refined. Vector workflows also improve with SVG import now preserving Illustrator gradients and transparencies, allowing for smoother animation setups.
Enhanced Workflow and Performance
Premiere’s Effects panel has been reorganized by task categories such as Blur, Color Correction, and Stylize, streamlining effects discovery. Support for new camera formats like Nikon R3D NE elevates raw color grading directly within the app.
While still in beta, the updated Frame.io v4 panel integrates review and versioning feedback right onto the timeline, keeping collaboration and editing in sync without disrupting the creative flow.
Conclusion
With Premiere 26 and After Effects 26, Adobe delivers a powerful suite of features that enhance both creative control and efficiency. From lightning-fast AI masks and Firefly Boards’ collaborative ecosystem to new 3D tools and typography animations, these updates equip creators and businesses to produce professional-grade content faster and more intuitively.
To get started, explore Adobe’s official Creative Cloud offerings and consider how these tools can revolutionize your workflow today. For deep insights into creative software, check out RedShark’s detailed coverage.
