Canva unveils Magic Studio, an umbrella term used for a collection of AI capabilities in its design tool. It gives the ability to modify parts in an image but can also be used to transfer created designs to another format. In addition, the design platform announced a partnership with Runway ML, an AI video start-up.
Canva is celebrating its tenth anniversary with the unveiling of Magic Studio. Under this name, several generative AI solutions will become available, making the design tool accessible to professional designers and beginners.
Convert designs automatically
For professional designers, Magic Switch can be a huge time saver. This tool lets users transfer a finished design to any format. This can save time in case you are developing a campaign in which the same design is transferred to posters, email endings and social media posts, for example.
In addition to easily converting to different formats, a user can quickly convert the campaign to multiple languages. Magic Switch offers support for 134 languages and can also translate texts in real-time during the formatting of a campaign, for example.
The image used in the campaign can now also be created from your desk. Through the integration of OpenAI’s DALL-E and Google’s Imagen, any idea can quickly be turned into an image.
Read also: OpenAI links ChatGPT with DALL-E in DALL-E 3
If the rest of the campaign is also not yet in place, but time is starting to run out, Magic Design can be a useful tool. The tool starts from a text or image and lets the user choose a colour scheme to design designs that meet their needs. The tool is also available in the parts of the platform designated for creating videos and presentations.
Photo editing with AI
Familiar with Adobe Firefly’s AI capabilities? Then Generative Expand will not be unfamiliar to you. The tool effortlessly enlarges the background of an imported photo by letting AI fill in the space from the sides. Canva makes the same technology available under the name Magic Expand.
Another handy feature is Magic Grab. That allows the user to designate an element in the image that it would like to edit or move. To make it visual, there is a person on the left side of the photo, right in the place you want to put the text? Then you simply indicate the person with Magic Grab and afterwards, you move them to the right side of the image.
Do you not like the layout of the text, or are you missing a special effect to complete the picture? Then Magic Morph helps you adjust shapes and texts. Whatever you would like to create, give it to AI in an explanation and the technology does the rest. Moreover, the requested style can be easily transferred to multiple elements.
Finally, Magic Edit is there to adjust the photo’s objects or backgrounds. For example, if you want the person with the orange blazer from above to wear not an orange blazer but a purple one, simply highlight the area of the blazer and communicate your wish in words.
Runway ML collaboration
In addition, Canva announced a collaboration with Runway. That makes generative AI tools not only usable for photos but also for videos. The technology is available in the Magic media tool and allows users to bring an existing image or text description to life in an automatically generated video. Videos are available to share in the Canva community but can also be used offline in MP4 or GIF.
For Canva, Magic Studio is a handy feature to get a larger audience on the design tool. “We believe AI has incredible potential to boost the 99% of office workers who have no design training or access to professional design tools,” Cameron Adams, Canva co-founder and Chief Product Officer, told VentureBeat. That said, the technology also makes designers’ lives easier and eliminates more tedious and time-intensive tasks.
All that comes with a layer of security under the name Canva Shield. That puts a brake on creation that prevents unsafe content from being seen or generated. Also included are extras for business users. They get free AI freedom and the controls for administrators to decide which parts of Magic Studio become usable in the enterprise.
Furthermore, it has a creative solution for training proprietary models, as the design tool will reward designers who give up their work to train models. To do so, designers can sign up for the Creator Compensation Program. Participants will receive a bonus for signing up that will be followed up with a monthly payout for as long as they allow their creations to be used. Details about the payouts are not available.
Canva again shows that it wants to play a serious role in the field of design tools. Magic Studio follows shortly on Adobe’s general availability of Firefly across all Adobe services and the unveiling of GenStudio which simplifies the content supply chain for business users. Moreover, Adobe has greatly weakened Firefly’s services for free users, leaving them with only a few features compared to what Canva makes available for free users. Magic Write, Magic Design and Magic Edit will already become available to every user but may carry limits in the number of possible edits.
Also read: Canva open to developers: a powerful design tool in the making