In 2023, Adobe introduced an exciting new AI-powered feature called Generative Fill into the beta version of Photoshop. Powered by Adobe‘s Firefly generative AI engine, Generative Fill uses advanced machine learning algorithms to intelligently interpret a user‘s text prompts and generate or modify visual content in seconds.
With Generative Fill, Photoshop users can quickly add, remove, extend or create entirely new visual elements in their projects, without the need for time-consuming manual editing or asset creation. It‘s a powerful new tool that can help creatives work faster, iterate ideas, and push the boundaries of what‘s possible in photo manipulation and design.
Incredible Things You Can Do with Generative Fill
Some of the amazing capabilities of Generative Fill include:
- Object Removal – Remove unwanted objects, people, or defects from an image and watch as Generative Fill automatically fills in the background convincingly.
- Content-Aware Scaling – Extend or expand an image beyond its original borders, with Generative Fill intelligently generating additional scenic elements that match the original‘s lighting, perspective, and style.
- Style Transfers – Dramatically alter the mood or aesthetic of an image by applying different artistic styles, such as transforming a photo into a Renaissance painting, pencil sketch, or neon cyberpunk scene.
- Element Generation – Conjure up entirely new assets from scratch, like unique textures, icons, illustrations, or graphic elements simply by describing what you want.
- Art Direction – Rapidly prototype creative concepts by generating multiple variants and design directions based on a prompt, offering new sources of visual inspiration.
When used creatively, Generative Fill can be an incredible sandbox for experimentation, a launchpad for exploring ideas, and a shortcut through tedious production work. Sounds amazing, right?
Help, Generative Fill is Missing!
It may feel magical when it‘s working – but for many eager Photoshop users, the elusive Generative Fill feature is simply nowhere to be found in the app. Searches through menus and buttons turn up empty, leaving creatives frustrated and unable to join in the AI fun.
If you‘re one of the many designers scratching your head wondering where Generative Fill is hiding, don‘t worry – you‘re not alone and there‘s probably a simple explanation. While Adobe is gradually rolling out Generative Fill to users, there are a few key reasons it might not be showing up in your particular install of Photoshop.
The good news is that in most cases, it‘s very quick and easy to get Generative Fill up and running once you know where to look. Let‘s troubleshoot!
How to Fix Generative Fill Not Showing in Adobe Photoshop
Check Your Version
The most common reason for Generative Fill not appearing is simply running an older version of Photoshop that hasn‘t been updated with the new feature.
As of [current date], Generative Fill requires Photoshop Beta version 24.6.0 (dated 20230520.m.2181) or later. You can easily check which version you‘re currently running by opening the "Help" menu and selecting "System Info." If the first line doesn‘t list version 24.6.0 or higher, it‘s time to update.
Adobe rolls out new features incrementally via the Creative Cloud desktop app, so it‘s important to keep Photoshop updated in order to access the latest tools and enhancements, like Generative Fill.
Here‘s how to ensure you‘re on the newest version of Photoshop with Generative Fill included:
- Open the Creative Cloud desktop application
- Click on "Updates" in the left sidebar menu
- Look for Photoshop in the list of apps with available updates
- If you see an update for Photoshop, click the "Update" button next to it
- Allow the update to download and install, then launch Photoshop
- If you see "(Beta)" in Photoshop‘s titlebar, you‘re on the right version
After updating, look for "Generative Fill Alpha" in the Edit menu. If it‘s there, you‘re all set to start playing with AI!
Check Your Subscription Status
Another gotcha that can block access to Generative Fill is not having an active paid Creative Cloud membership. Generative Fill is considered a premium feature, which means it‘s not available in the free trial version of Photoshop or with expired subscriptions.
If you‘re running Photoshop Beta 24.6+ but still can‘t find Generative Fill, double check that your Creative Cloud subscription is active and in good standing. You may need to renew your plan or update your billing info.
Verify Your Age
Because Generative Fill can realistically modify and generate images, Adobe has implemented an age gate that prevents access for users under 18. If your birthdate isn‘t specified in your Adobe account, or if you‘re under the required age threshold, Photoshop will hide the Generative Fill feature.
You can easily add or update your birthdate in your Creative Cloud account settings online. Click your profile icon, go to Account Settings, then enter a birthdate that meets the 18+ requirement.
Once your age is verified, restart Photoshop and Generative Fill should become available in the Beta version, assuming all other requirements are met.
Try a Clean Reinstall
In rare cases, botched installations, corrupt application files, or other software conflicts can interfere with access to new Photoshop features. If you‘ve double checked your version, subscription status, and age settings but still can‘t find Generative Fill anywhere, it‘s worth uninstalling and re-downloading a fresh copy of Photoshop Beta.
To do a clean reinstall:
- Open the Creative Cloud desktop app and go to the "All Apps" page
- Locate Photoshop, click the three-dot icon, and choose "Uninstall"
- Restart your computer to clear any temporary files or caches
- Return to the Creative Cloud app and reinstall Photoshop from the All Apps page
- Launch Photoshop and verify that Generative Fill is now available under the Edit menu
A fresh install from scratch eliminates any potential version mismatches or corrupted installs that might prevent Generative Fill from showing up correctly.
Still Stuck?
If you‘ve exhausted all troubleshooting steps and still can‘t seem to access Generative Fill, don‘t hesitate to reach out to Adobe‘s support team for further assistance. They can access your account and system info to pinpoint why you might not be seeing Generative Fill and resolve any underlying issues.
You can contact Adobe support through the official support site, community forums, or social media channels.
Generative Fill Basics & Usage Tips
Once you‘ve got Generative Fill enabled in your Photoshop Beta install, the fun of experimenting with AI-augmented creation can begin!
To access the Generative Fill workspace, simply go to Edit > Generative Fill Alpha in the top menu bar. This will open up the main Generative Fill window, which consists of a large text input area for prompts and a visual preview pane that displays the generated results.
Using Generative Fill is designed to be an intuitive process, but there are some helpful principles to keep in mind when crafting your prompts.
Prompt Engineering for Better Results
The key to getting great results with any generative AI system is learning how to effectively communicate your creative intent through text. This is often referred to as "prompt engineering" – the skill of designing prompts that produce desired outputs reliably.
With Generative Fill, the more specific, descriptive, and precise you can be with your prompts, the better the AI will be able to manifest your vision. Some tips for effective prompting:
- Use clear, concise language to describe the subject, action, and context
- Specify visual details like color, texture, lighting, camera angle, and composition
- Provide stylistic references, such as artistic movements, trending aesthetics, or known images as inspiration
- Ask for variations and refinements to control the diversity and evolution of outputs
- Incorporate commands like "Add [X]", "Remove [Y]", "Change [Z] to…" for targeted edits
- Experiment with different phrasings, structures, and lengths to learn what works best
Remember, Generative Fill isn‘t magic – it‘s a language model trained on millions of images and descriptions. The clearer and more detailed your prompts are, the more easily it can match them to relevant training data to cobble together a convincing result.
Integrating Generative Fill with Manual Editing
One of the powerful aspects of Generative Fill is how seamlessly it integrates with the rest of Photoshop‘s features and workflows. The content Generative Fill creates is not baked into the image, but rather exists on its own separate layer, preserving full editability.
This means you can easily incorporate Generative Fill-produced assets into your standard editing pipelines and combine AI and manual techniques. Some ways to make the most of this:
- Use Photoshop‘s masking and compositing tools to selectively hide, blend, and position Generative Fill layers
- Apply layer adjustments and filters to further refine and stylize the AI-generated content
- Employ the full suite of Photoshop tools to retouch, paint, and manipulate the generated pixels
- Iterate on initial Generative Fill outputs by adding them to new prompts as references to evolve your creation
By combining the speed and imagination of Generative Fill with the precision and control of manual editing, creatives can achieve results that are greater than the sum of their parts.
The Big Picture & Future of Generative AI
Generative Fill is just one manifestation of a broader paradigm shift towards AI-augmented creativity happening across the industry. Powered by rapid advancements in deep learning and the availability of massive datasets, generative AI models are becoming increasingly sophisticated at understanding and outputting complex media like images, audio, video, and text.
What was science fiction just a few years ago is quickly becoming reality, as AI systems become capable of generating highly realistic and diverse content from scratch, based solely on natural language descriptions. This has profound implications for creative professionals, who can harness these tools to augment their capabilities, streamline their workflows, and push the boundaries of what‘s possible.
As one of the world‘s leading creative software companies, Adobe is heavily investing in generative AI across its product lineup. Generative Fill is an early example of what‘s possible with the company‘s Sensei AI and machine learning framework, which underlies new features like neural filters in Photoshop and AI-powered masking in Lightroom.
With the recent release of the Firefly AI model that powers Generative Fill, Adobe has signaled its ambition to deeply integrate generative capabilities into more of its flagship products and revolutionize how creatives work with apps like Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects, Aero, and Substance 3D.
But Adobe is far from the only player in the generative AI space. Competitors like Runway ML, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and DALL-E are all offering powerful new tools for AI-assisted content creation, each with their own specialties and ecosystems.
As these technologies continue to mature and proliferate, it‘s important for creatives to stay informed about the evolving landscape and to proactively explore how generative AI can fit into their personal creative practices and businesses. Ultimately, these tools are not replacements for human creativity, but rather powerful aids to augment and accelerate it.
Challenges & Considerations
While the potential of generative AI is immense, it‘s important to understand that the technology is still young and rapidly evolving. Models like Generative Fill are amazing at quickly generating content, but the results can be unpredictable, inconsistent, and biased in ways that are not always immediately apparent.
Some challenges and considerations to keep in mind:
- Generative AI models can propagate social biases and stereotypes reflected in their training data, requiring extra scrutiny
- Intellectual property questions arise when AI enables the creation of derivative works and realistic forgeries
- The "black box" nature of deep learning can make it difficult to understand why models make certain decisions
- Over-reliance on AI generation can lead to homogenization and devalue traditional creative skills
- Legal and regulatory frameworks around generative AI usage are still immature and evolving
As a creative professional using these tools, it‘s important to approach generative AI with both enthusiasm and responsibility. Use it as an aid to augment and inspire human creativity, not replace it. Be mindful of potential biases and unintended outputs. Give proper attribution and respect intellectual property. Stay alert to new developments and best practices in this fast-moving domain.
Embrace the Frontier of Creativity
Generative Fill is a remarkable new addition to the creative toolkit that makes the power of AI accessible to millions of Photoshop users worldwide. By understanding how it works, how to troubleshoot common setup issues, and how to prompt it effectively, creatives can begin exploring a whole new frontier of AI-augmented workflows.
While hiccups like Generative Fill not showing up properly can be frustrating, these are typically easy to resolve issues stemming from Adobe‘s staggered rollout approach. In most cases, a quick version check and update is all that‘s needed to start experimenting with this cutting-edge technology.
As generative AI continues to evolve and integrate into more creative apps, it will have a profound impact on the way we create and communicate visually. Tools like Generative Fill are just the beginning of a new era of AI-augmented creativity that‘s poised to reshape the creative landscape in exciting ways.
By embracing these powerful new AI assistants, while remaining grounded in human intuition and artistic intent, creatives can stay at the forefront of this rapidly advancing field and discover new horizons of expression and innovation.
The future of creativity is here – and it‘s brighter than ever before. Happy generating!
