Scientists at the software giant’s Microsoft Cambridge U.K. researchers are developing picture editing tools that can “automatically trace outlines, seamlessly cover marks or blemishes, and fill in backgrounds when pieces of an image are removed. The researchers are also working on similar tools that automate the editing of video clips.”

One tool called “jetstream” automatically draws contours around the most likely edges of an image. Another tool called “patchwork” seamlessly fills in the gap left behind when one part of an image is removed, by copying nearby texture. And another tool for editing digital home video footage follows the movements of one element in a video clip and modifies the footage to keep that element in the center.