Adobe announced new 26.0 versions for Creative Cloud video apps in the run-up to the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. That’s just part of Adobe activities (more) at the festival, which includes some new partners.

The AI-powered Object Mask is the big What’s New in Premiere 26.0.  Object Mask makes it easier than ever to create, refine, and track precise masks of complex moving subjects with a simple hover and click, while redesigned shape masks that track up to 20× faster turn masking into a creative superpower.

Kyler Holland posted the detailed yet succinct This Masking Update Is WILD.

Cut to the Point says that Object Mask in Premiere Pro 26.0 is a Game Changer in his video. And the ever-reliable Jeff Greenberg posted related guidance in Tool Tip Tuesday for Adobe Premiere Pro: 2026 Mask Tool Changes to know! here on PVC. Also, though there may be small changes, see Unlock the Future of Masking in Premiere Beta by VideoRevealed. We also look forward to fine-grain user assessments comparing Rotobrush in After Effects.

John The Video Guy looked at the bigger features in Premiere Pro 2026 NEW Features – We NEEDED These Updates…: Mask Tools, Film Impact Effects & Transitions, Video Transition Handles, and Filter Censored Words. For all the features, again see What’s New at Adobe.

Note that Premiere Pro is named just Premiere now, reflecting common usage!

Improvements in storyboarding, filling b-roll gaps, and creative collaboration is also now more streamlined with the new Firefly Boards importing into Premiere. Overall these updates open new ways to tell stronger stories with effects — to relight a subject, blur a background, isolate a color grade, or design custom effects. The new features complement Adobe Stock panel features and over 90 effects, transitions, and animations recently added to Premiere. In addition, a new Frame.io V4 panel is now inside the Premiere beta app.

And of course Adobe Premiere is now seamlessly connected with the Adobe Firefly app, delivering the latest AI models from Adobe and partners, including Google, OpenAI, Runway, and more to power collaborative brainstorming. Recent AI innovations include new precision controls with prompt-based edits and camera-motion refinement; the public beta of the Firefly video editor, a lightweight creative assembly space that lets creators combine generative clips, footage, graphics, and audio into polished stories directly in the browser. There’s also a multi-year partnership with Runway to deliver next-generation AI video models across Adobe workflows.

After Effects 26.0 might be an even bigger release. Adobe shared  a summary of What’s New in After Effects | 2026 Updates (and what’s new documentation).

The new features have been covered for months in beta versions, so there’s a wealth of backround information in previous AEP roundups. Official new features include:

• Native Parametric 3D meshes
• over 1300 free Substance 3D materials with controls (fun and effective)
• Spot and Parallel light shadows in Advanced 3D
• Variable font animation
• Enhanced Vector Workflows with SVG import
• Retain gradients and transparency when converting Illustrator layers to shape layers
• Unmult effect
• Three new audio effects (Distortion, Compressor, Noise Gate)
• Lossless compressed disk caching
• WinARM native support
• Refreshed Preferences panel
• Crop Comp to Layer Bounds command
• Rotation snapping behavior improvements
• New property methods and accessible dropdown strings in expressions & scripting
• Unicode backend (run AE in a language other than your OS’s)
• Numerous bug fixes

Eran Stern provided an updated summary in After Effects 2026 Just Leveled Up.

Jake In Motion added After Effects 26 Changes EVERYTHING, and flomotion added NEW FEATURES in AFTER EFFECTS 26. Later, Justin Serran added Exploring After Effects 2026’s AMAZING New 3D Workflow! (though others found old 3D solutions helpful).

Update overview videos did get posted, but yes, there were some from the beta phases. Jake In Motion looked at the top features from the beta phase in the BIGGEST After Effects Update EVER! Eran Stern also had a candid look in The BIGGEST After Effects Update in Years | Mind-Blowing New Tools, as well as earlier looks at individual beta features.

There’s a bunch more videos on individual features by a host of others too, as often detailed in monthly AE roundups.

~