Adobe Firefly: everything you need to know about the AI image generator

Adobe Firefly comprises not one but several AI models that allow users to generate images and other assets using text prompts. You type the words or description and the model will generate images based on your input. It can be accessed directly in a web browser at firefly.adobe.com.

Unlike previous AI models you don’t need to have a Discord account or any knowledge of coding. You simply need to log-in or sign-up for an Adobe account. You can then choose to use a free plan or a premium plan. 

Access is also included in Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions, and some Firefly AI features are included in other Adobe programs, including Photoshop, Illustrator and Adobe Express. For example, Adobe has added Firefly-powered Generative Fill in Photoshop (read our Photoshop review, Illustrator review and Premier Pro review and our Adobe software list for more on the key products).

Firefly is not Adobe's first foray into AI. if you've already been using Adobe products for a while you may have heard of Sensei: Adobe's AI model that has been incorporated into Photoshop and other Adobe software to improve the productivity and remove some of the more complicated or repetitive tasks associated with digital art as well as video and photo editing.

Adobe Sensei has powered features like the Select Subject tool and neural filters in Photoshop (see our pick of the best Photoshop tutorials). At this time, this acts separately to Firefly.

At Adobe MAX in October 2023, Adobe announced some big updates to Adobe Firefly. These include a move to a new version of its image generator, Adobe Firefly Image 2. The new model has an improved understanding of text prompts and recognises more landmarks and cultural symbols. It also offers Prompt Guidance which teaches users to expand or reword prompts, and there are new Share from Firefly and Save to Library features.

Adobe's also added tools to give more creative control for text-to-image generation in the Firefly web application. These include Generative Match, which is intended to allow users to generate content in custom, user-specified styles. Users can pick images from a pre-selected list or upload their own to guide the style when generating new images with text prompts. This aims to allow users to follow brand guidelines or save time by replicating the style of an existing image.

Meanwhile, Photo Settings adds 'photography-style' image adjustments in the Firefly web app. Users can apply and adjust settings in a way that's compared to camera lens controls, for example, depth of field control and motion blur. Adobe's also adding prompt guidance to help users expand or reword prompts for better results.

Other new tools include the Adobe Firefly Vector Model, which can generate an array of editable vector graphics from text prompts, including scenes, subjects, icons, tile-able patterns and even gradients, all organised into groups and layers to make editing easier. There's also a new Firefly Design Model tool that can generate templates from text prompts. Incorporated into Adobe Express, it uses Adobe Stock images and Adobe Fonts and can generate templates in the most popular aspect ratios for print, social and web.

Another area where Adobe Firefly beats other generative AI art and design tools is in collaboration. The best art collaboration tools for designers include apps such as Figma, but Photoshop only enables people to work work on the same image or doc one at a time. Adobe Firefly's integration into Photoshop will enable multiple artists to work on the same image at once, a little like the excellent Magma. 

So, using Adobe Firefly you will be able to make real-time edits, offer feedback and share sketches all at once. This could become more important as you learn to create everything - from images, photos, video and even web design - all in one Creative Cloud app with Firefly connecting everything.

Adobe Firefly Generative Fill in Photoshop (see video above) This basically enables you to select areas of an image and then manipulate them or add in new content using text prompts. The tool is so powerful that it can match light and shadows in the newly generated content to the existing image. There is also a generative expand tool, which allows image to be expanded beyond their original borders.

One of the things that makes Adobe Firefly different to other AI art generators like Midjourney is that it was trained only on copyright-free images - either imagery where copyright has expired or content from Adobe Stock. Contributors to Adobe Stock will be compensated for use of their work and can opt out of their work being used to train the model. 

Users of Firefly itself can also apply the 'Do Not Train' tag to stop Adobe from using any imagery that they use with Adobe Firefly to train future models. The idea is that this all makes Firefly more ethical, although everything is relative. Some would argue that it shouldn't be necessary to opt out. There's still a debate on whether AI generators should be trained on any art and images without the explicit permission from the artists.

Adobe has also partnered with the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) and with Google's AI, Bard to verify the origins of images being used in Firefly; in theory this means Bard and Firefly will determine if images have been created by a human, AI-generated or AI-edited, and meta data is added to Firefly-generated images to identify them.

Adobe Firefly can be accessed using a limited free plan. However, like other AI image generators such as Dall-E 2 (and soon Dall-E 3), if charges uses credits for each image generation. The free plan includes only 25 generative credits. There is also a premium plan, and access is included in Creative Cloud, but again, users may need to buy more generative credits if they use the tool a lot.

As well as being powerful at creating realistic and unique imagery to inspire or use in your projects, Adobe Firefly has some interesting text and font creation uses. For some designers it could mean not needing knowledge of additional 3D software in order to create 3D text effects for print or animations.

With its integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud applications, such as Photoshop, artists can incorporate AI-generated images into their existing workflows. For example, you can create textures and fractals using Adobe Firefly and bring them into Adobe Capture to create 3D texture maps for models. (Discover more on how to use Adobe Capture.)

Adobe Firefly is set to add a tool that can turn simple 3D compositions into photo realistic images and quickly creating new styles and variations of 3D objects, but these are planned feature that have not yet been added. Many digital illustrators already use basic 3D models to decide perspective, but using Adobe Firefly you will eventually be able to devise lighting and bounce lights to reference and improve the detail of an artwork (Read our guide to the best 3D modelling software.).

Adobe Firefly is also working on text-based generative video editing. Adobe plans to  create functions that enable you to change the mood, atmosphere or colours in video clips. You will even be able to alter the weather and tone, adjust the density of rain, fog and snow. Adobe has already added some AI-driven features to Premiere Pro.