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Adobe

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Adobe
Information
Industry Software
Founded 1982
Founder John Warnock, Charles Geschke
Headquarters San Jose, California, United States
Notable Personnel Shantanu Narayen (chair and CEO; executive chair from 1 December 2026), Anil Chakravarthy (president and CEO from 1 December 2026)
Products Creative Cloud, Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Acrobat, Substance 3D, Firefly, Adobe Aero (discontinued 2025), Adobe Substance 3D Modeler
Website https://www.adobe.com


Adobe (legal name Adobe Inc., formerly Adobe Systems Incorporated) is an American software company based in San Jose, California, and the maker of Photoshop, Acrobat and the Creative Cloud subscription service. John Warnock and Charles Geschke founded it in 1982.[1][2] In virtual and augmented reality, Adobe's work has mostly been creation tools: 360-degree and VR video editing in Premiere Pro and After Effects, the AR authoring app Adobe Aero (2019 to 2025), the Substance 3D texturing and modeling tools, and Adobe Substance 3D Modeler, which grew out of Oculus Medium. It has also released apps for Apple Vision Pro and Meta's Quest headsets, and was a founding member of the Alliance for OpenUSD in 2023.[3][4][5][6]

Adobe changed its legal name from Adobe Systems Incorporated to Adobe Inc. on 8 October 2018.[2] It reported revenue of 23.77 billion US dollars for fiscal 2025, which ended on 28 November 2025.[7] Shantanu Narayen, chief executive for eighteen years, said in March 2026 that he would step down once a successor was found. On 3 September 2026 Adobe named Anil Chakravarthy as its next president and CEO, effective 1 December 2026, with Narayen becoming executive chair.[8][9]

Reviewed 13 October 2026. Checked company basics, name change, FY2025 revenue, 2026 CEO transition, the SkyBox, Allegorithmic and Medium deals, Aero launch and end of support, Substance 3D Modeler, Quest and Vision Pro apps, and the OpenUSD alliance against the cited sources About review dates.

History

Company background

Adobe's own timeline describes its 1982 founding by Warnock and Geschke as an effort to "revolutionize printing and publishing with an all-digital approach." It lists the PostScript page description language (1985), the Portable Document Format and Acrobat (1993), the release of PDF as an open standard (2008) and the 2012 move to subscription software with Creative Cloud.[1] The company's legal address is 345 Park Avenue, San Jose.[2]

360-degree and VR video tools (2017)

On 21 June 2017 Adobe announced that it had acquired the SkyBox plug-ins for 360-degree video and VR from Mettle, and that it would build their functionality into Premiere Pro and After Effects "with the goal to make it available in the apps by the end of this year." Mettle co-founder Chris Bobotis joined Adobe as part of the deal.[3] CG Channel reported that the plug-ins became free for paid Creative Cloud subscribers and that Mettle continued as a separate company selling its other After Effects plug-ins.[10] Mettle later wrote that "as of October 18, 2017, Adobe has fully integrated the SkyBox Suite of plugins into Creative Cloud", where they appear in the CC 2018 releases as the "Immersive" tools; Mettle gave Bobotis's Adobe title as "Director, Immersive."[11]

Adobe previewed the resulting 360 and VR video workflow at IBC in September 2017. In ProVideo Coalition's account, Premiere Pro gained an Immersive Environment for reviewing and scrubbing the timeline in a head-mounted display while editing with the keyboard, plus orientation-based audio. After Effects gained a VR Comp Editor that turns equirectangular 360 footage into flat rectilinear views, and an Extract Cubemap tool for motion tracking and object removal. VR effects and transitions became native and accelerated by the Mercury playback engine.[12] A March 2018 article on No Film School, marked as sponsored content, said that editors could work in the Immersive Environment with an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive and export orientation-based audio as ambisonic audio for VR platforms such as Facebook and YouTube.[13]

USDZ and Adobe Aero (2018-2025)

On 4 June 2018, during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote that introduced ARKit 2, Adobe chief technology officer Abhay Parasnis announced that Creative Cloud would support USDZ, the AR file format Apple developed with Pixar. Adobe introduced Project Aero the same day; 9to5Mac reported that it "will allow designers to create content inside of existing tools they may already be familiar with."[14] Aero launched as a free iOS app on 4 November 2019, with the desktop version still in private beta.[15]

An Adobe support FAQ last updated on 7 August 2025 announced the end of Aero. The app was removed from Creative Cloud, the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store on 6 November 2025; users could still open it and download content until 3 December 2025, and user data was to be deleted from Adobe's servers on 16 December 2025. Adobe's FAQ said that "Aero was developed with the goal of eventually being used with mixed reality glasses" and that "the industry landscape for AR has changed since 2020," adding that Adobe was "continuing to explore mixed reality" while moving the team's resources to other areas.[4]

Allegorithmic and Medium (2019)

On 23 January 2019 Adobe announced that it had acquired Allegorithmic, the French maker of the Substance tools for creating textures and materials, used in games such as Assassin's Creed, Forza and Call of Duty. The price was not disclosed. TechCrunch tied the deal to Adobe's 3D work in Adobe Dimension and Project Aero, and quoted Stefano Corazza, Adobe's head of AR, on the importance of physically based materials for realistic AR.[16] UploadVR noted that Allegorithmic had shown a hybrid tool at Oculus Connect 5 that let creators switch between desktop and VR modes and use the same panels inside a headset, and that Adobe's press release described VR and AR as becoming "more critical" to brands.[17]

On 6 December 2019 Facebook announced that Adobe had acquired Oculus Medium, the VR sculpting app made by Oculus VR. The price was not disclosed. Adobe said it would align the Medium team with its Substance team to work on future 3D tools and said existing Medium users would keep the same access to the tool, which stayed on the Oculus Store.[5] Road to VR reported in June 2021 that Substance 3D Modeler grew out of Medium, and that Medium's lead designer, Lydia Choy, who moved to Adobe with the acquisition, had a leading role in its development. Choy described Modeler as "built on the foundations of Medium, but with a more ambitious vision that's geared for professional workflow."[18]

Substance 3D and the Meta collaboration (2021-2022)

Adobe announced the Substance 3D Collection on 23 June 2021, with Substance 3D Painter, Designer, Sampler and the new Stager. In the same post, chief product officer Scott Belsky said Adobe had "opened a private beta of an upcoming tool called Substance 3D Modeler", which "uses a VR interface to recreate the natural, organic feeling of sculpting clay with your hands" and can also be used on the desktop with a mouse and tablet.[19]

On 18 October 2022 Adobe made Substance 3D Modeler generally available and announced that it was working with Meta to bring Modeler to the Meta Quest platform.[20] An Adobe blog post that day described a Modeler version for Meta Quest Pro and "a forthcoming collaborative review app" for Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2, and called the work "early milestones in a multi-year collaboration."[21] Adobe also released an Acrobat app in the Meta Quest Store for viewing, sharing, commenting on and e-signing PDF documents from Quest headsets.[22]

OpenUSD (2023)

On 1 August 2023 Pixar, Adobe, Apple, Autodesk and NVIDIA formed the Alliance for OpenUSD (AOUSD) with the Joint Development Foundation, an affiliate of the Linux Foundation, to write specifications for Universal Scene Description. Guido Quaroni, Adobe's senior director of engineering for 3D&I, was quoted in the announcement.[6]

Apple Vision Pro apps (2024-2026)

In February 2024 Adobe released Firefly, its generative AI image app, as an app for visionOS. Users could generate images from text prompts and drag them out of the app window onto walls and desks; Adobe said wrap-around panoramas and 360-degree environments would come later. It also released Lightroom for the headset.[23][24]

At WWDC in June 2025 Apple showed a visionOS app from Adobe "powered by Premiere" for editing spatial video on the headset.[25] As of October 2026, the App Store listing for the Adobe Premiere app includes Apple Vision, with visionOS 26.0 or later required.[26] The French Apple news site iPhoneSoft reported the Vision Pro launch on 30 July 2026: the app is free with in-app purchases, puts the preview, timeline and media browser in separate windows, mixes flat and spatial clips on one timeline, and has a depth slider for titles and graphics. Projects with spatial clips export as spatial video.[27]

Products

The table lists Adobe products and acquisitions with a documented VR or AR role.

Product or deal Date XR role Status
Mettle SkyBox plug-ins (acquired) Announced 21 June 2017 360-degree and VR video effects, transitions and headset review in Premiere Pro and After Effects Integrated into Creative Cloud by 18 October 2017[3][11]
Adobe Aero Announced June 2018; iOS release 4 November 2019 No-code AR authoring and sharing Discontinued 6 November 2025[15][4]
Allegorithmic / Substance (acquired) Announced 23 January 2019 Texture and material tools; basis of the Substance 3D Collection Part of Substance 3D[16][19]
Oculus Medium (acquired) Announced 6 December 2019 VR sculpting app Team merged into Substance[5]
Adobe Substance 3D Modeler Private beta June 2021; general release 18 October 2022 Sculpting on the desktop or in a VR headset Available[19][20][28]
Adobe Acrobat for Meta Quest October 2022 PDF viewing, comments and e-signing in Quest headsets Released[22]
Adobe Firefly and Lightroom for Apple Vision Pro February 2024 Image generation and photo editing on visionOS Released[23]
Adobe Premiere for Apple Vision Pro Shown June 2025; launch reported July 2026 Spatial video editing on visionOS Released[25][27]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Adobe fast facts". Adobe. Adobe Inc.. https://www.adobe.com/about-adobe/fast-facts.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Adobe Inc. Form 8-K (change of legal name)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR). Adobe Inc.. 2018-10-09. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000796343/000079634318000168/adbe8k-namechange10082018.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Adobe Acquires Mettle's Skybox Plug-ins for 360-video and VR". Adobe Blog. Adobe. 2017-06-21. https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2017/06/21/adobe-acquires-mettles-skybox-plug-ins. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Aero End of Support FAQs". Adobe Help Center. Adobe. 2025-08-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20250812181832/https://helpx.adobe.com/aero/aero-end-of-support-faq.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Ben Lang (2019-12-06). "Adobe Acquires Facebook's 'Oculus Medium' VR Sculpting Tool". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/adobe-acquires-facebook-oculus-medium-vr-sculpting-tool/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Pixar, Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, and NVIDIA form Alliance for OpenUSD to drive open standards for 3D content". Apple Newsroom. Apple. 2023-08-01. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2023/08/pixar-adobe-apple-autodesk-and-nvidia-form-alliance-for-openusd/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  7. ↑ "Adobe Reports Record Q4 and FY2025 Revenue". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR). Adobe Inc.. 2025-12-10. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/796343/000079634325000135/adbeex991q425.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  8. ↑ "Shantanu Narayen Announces Decision to Transition as Adobe's CEO Once Successor is Named". Adobe Newsroom. Adobe. 2026-03-12. https://news.adobe.com/news/2026/03/leadership-update. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  9. ↑ "Adobe Announces Anil Chakravarthy to Become President and CEO and Shantanu Narayen to Become Executive Chair on December 1, 2026". Adobe Newsroom. Adobe. 2026-09-03. https://news.adobe.com/news/2026/09/adobe-announces-anil-chakravarthy-to-become-president-and-ceo. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  10. ↑ Jim Thacker (2017-06-22). "Adobe buys Mettle's SkyBox Suite of VR tools". CG Channel. https://www.cgchannel.com/2017/06/adobe-buys-mettles-skybox-suite-vr-tools/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Adobe Acquires Mettle SkyBox Suite". Mettle. 2017-06-21. https://www.mettle.com/adobe-acquires-mettle-skybox-suite/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  12. ↑ Rich Young. "Adobe Video at IBC 2017". ProVideo Coalition. https://www.provideocoalition.com/adobe-video-ibc-2017/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  13. ↑ "Dive into Premiere Pro: How Adobe is Helping to Mature VR Filmmaking". No Film School. 2018-03-07. https://nofilmschool.com/2018/02/premiere-pro-adobe-virtual-reality-tools. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  14. ↑ Michael Steeber (2018-06-04). "Adobe's Project Aero will let designers easily create AR content using existing Creative Cloud tools". 9to5Mac. https://9to5mac.com/2018/06/04/adobe-project-aero-arkit/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Frederic Lardinois (2019-11-04). "Adobe launches Aero, its AR authoring app". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/04/adobe-launches-aero-its-ar-authoring-app/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Frederic Lardinois (2019-01-23). "Adobe acquires Allegorithmic, makers of the Substance texture tools". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/23/adobe-acquires-allegorithmic-makers-of-the-substance-texture-tools. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  17. ↑ Ian Hamilton (2019-01-22). "Adobe Acquires Allegorithmic For AR/VR Creative Cloud". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/adobe-buys-allegorithmic/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  18. ↑ Ben Lang (2021-06-24). "Built on 'Medium', Adobe's New Substance 3D Modeler Aims to Bring VR Modeling to Pro Workflows". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/adobe-substance-3d-modeler-medium-vr-modeling-pro-workflows/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Scott Belsky (2021-06-23). "Announcing Adobe Substance 3D: Tools for the next generation of creativity". Adobe Blog. Adobe. https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2021/06/23/announcing-adobe-substance-3d-tools-for-the-next-generation-of-creativity. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Adobe Advances 3D, Immersive and Metaverse Experiences With New Products". Adobe Newsroom. Adobe. 2022-10-18. https://news.adobe.com/news/news-details/2022/adobe-advances-3d-immersive-and-metaverse-experiences-with-new-products. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  21. ↑ Francois Cottin (2022-10-18). "Adobe Substance 3D Creation and Collaboration Apps are Coming to Meta Quest". Adobe Blog. Adobe. https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2022/10/18/adobe-substance-3d-collaboration-meta-quest. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Adobe Acrobat Team (2022-10-18). "Acrobat enters the metaverse: Create documents and collaborate in VR". Adobe Blog. Adobe. https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2022/10/18/acrobat-x-meta-create-documents-collaborate-in-immersive-environment. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Michael Potuck (2024-02-02). "Adobe unveils Firefly AI for Vision Pro with limited-time free text to image creation". 9to5Mac. https://9to5mac.com/2024/02/02/adobe-unveils-firefly-ai-for-vision-pro/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  24. ↑ José Adorno (2024-02-02). "Adobe Brings Firefly AI Features To Apple Vision Pro". BGR. https://bgr.com/tech/adobe-brings-firefly-ai-features-to-apple-vision-pro/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 David Heaney (2025-06-09). "Adobe Is Making A visionOS App For Editing Spatial Video". UploadVR. https://www.uploadvr.com/adobe-making-a-visionos-app-for-editing-spatial-video/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  26. ↑ "Adobe Premiere AI Video Editor". App Store. Apple. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adobe-premiere-video-editor/id6742757464. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Alban Martin (2026-07-30). "Adobe Premiere arrive sur Apple Vision Pro pour éditer des vidéos spatiales". iPhoneSoft. https://iphonesoft.fr/2026/07/30/adobe-premiere-apple-vision-pro-editer-videos-spatiales. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  28. ↑ "Adobe Substance 3D Modeler". Adobe. Adobe Inc.. https://www.adobe.com/products/substance3d/apps/modeler.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
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