Generative expand in Illustrator?

[gloofer]

Does anyone know when the feature "Generative expand" (or as the guy at the keynote calls it, "Vector expand") is coming to Illustrator? Seen at 01:01:00 in the keynote video here: https://www.adobe.com/uk/max-london.html

I've just installed Illustrator 2025 and 2025 beta and can't find it.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

Nobody will be able to tell you whether that feature will come or when it comes.

If you want to know ahead of of time about features that are in the working and want to help shape them and clear the bugs, you could apply for prerelease.

[gloofer]

Well, I must confess that I didn't watch the whole keynote, but it is presented as it is already implemented or at least just around the corner. And the keynote was half a year ago. Why even bother to demonstrate features that might not be implemented att all, or lays far in the future, one can't help but wonder.

[Monika Gause]

There is a long presentation of emerging technology at MAX each year, which most of the time never sees the light of day and people enjoy the engineers' creativity. 

[gloofer]

Ah, smoke and mirrors. Why am I not surprised. 😂

[Monika Gause]

You are working in the design business and are complaining about people showing awesome stuff?

[gloofer]

Not att all. I just needed this function badly and thougt I had it already. So, just a bit of disapointment I guess, and no more. Thanks for taking the time to reply and clearing things out for me though. (no sarcasm) 🙏

[Monika Gause]

What you can do: 

Make a screenshot of the vector illustration.

Open the screenshot in Photoshop

Use generative expand (Photoshop can do that)

Copy it back into Illustrator and autotrace.

Basically that is what's happening behind the curtain anyway, because generative AI is inherently pixel based.

[gloofer]

Darn, that is a great idea! Why didn't I think of that? Maybe cause I'm an explorer and not an expert yet. 😅 I'll try it immediately. Big Thanks!

[Monika Gause]

As an Illustrator user you probably do it like me and prefer to not think of pixels more than necessary 😄 

[gloofer]

It is true that I prefer all the benefits of vector art, but I regularely work in both programs + InDesign. Unfortunately Photoshops Generative fill function couldn't handle my specifik Illustration very well. It is a city map seen from above, so I'll have to take on the tedious work of expanding it by hand. 😅

[Monika Gause]

InDesign also has Generative expand.

But you probably do not want Generative AI to invent roads for you.

[gloofer]

I just tried the function in InDesign, only works on jpg-files and alike (seems to be the same used in Photoshop), with the same lousy result. The problem isn't the invented roads (it is a fictive map anyway), but the expanded area looks like a really drunk artist tried to draw staright lines, and with unexpected blobs here and there. 🙄😊
I'm sure the feature will improve over time, but right now it has problems with this type of graphics

[Monika Gause]

Straight lines could probably stay a problem for generative AI. So there's hope that we won't all lose our jobs to it anytime soon.

[gloofer]

True, true. Let's see it from the positive side.  👍