Adobe Firefly’s video editor can now automatically create a first draft from footage

The video editor in Adobe Firefly is getting a new feature called Quick Cut that uses AI to edit footage and B-roll to create a first draft of the final video based on user instructions.

Typically, you have to upload your footage and B-roll into a video editor, and manually arrange transitions. With Quick Cut, users can describe what they want the video to be in natural language, and the tool will automatically edit out irrelevant parts of the footage, and put together the different takes while using appropriate footage to make transitions between cuts.

Users can also pick frames from the B-roll and use one of the video models available within Firefly to create short transitions.

You can use the prompt box within the Firefly video editor to specify settings like aspect ratio and pacing between transitions, or add optional B-roll footage. Users can apply Quick Cut to the entire project, a particular timeline, or selected clips.

Adobe stressed that the aim of Quick Cut is to deliver a first draft, so editors will still need to adjust elements, paste takes together, and work on transitions to put together the video.

“As we talk to our users, who are creators and marketers, the biggest problem they actually communicate is the need for fast turnaround, the need for time-saving techniques that just let them get to their creative vision as fast as possible,” Mike Folgner, product lead for AI and next-generation video tools, told TechCrunch.

“One thing we do know is that some of the mundane parts that come with video [editing], like just getting the selects in order, that’s not really where they find joy and difference. They find joy in putting their spin on it. So Quick Cut is meant to help creators who have a set of media find the story very quickly and just get to a story cut as fast as possible,” he added.

Adobe has been pushing regular updates to its video-related tools. In December, it rolled out a new timeline-based video editor that brought layers and prompt-based editing — the editor treats different objects as layers and allows you to edit them using prompts, or use tools like resize and rotate.

The company has also added prompt-based editing capabilities to Firefly, letting users tell the video model how to edit video elements, colors, and camera angles, as well as a timeline view that lets you adjust frames, sounds, and other characteristics easily.