Latin America. 3D tools have made a breakthrough in recent years, but they are still inaccessible to most designers due to their high cost and extensive training required to learn the complicated techniques. However, using 3D in 2D workflows adds flexibility to the design work you're already doing and offers better production options for interactive websites, game content, video, and 3D printing.
Our research indicates that one of the most in-demand skills for designers is 3D mastery, but using it is very complicated with current tools and technology. We've been working to bridge the gap between power and usability, something that started last year when we announced new Photoshop features that make composing and 3D printing much easier.
Today we are taking another step toward unleashing the power of 3D for designers by announcing the acquisition of Mixamo, a San Francisco-based company that allows designers to create and customize a wide range of high-quality 3D characters and animations, which will bring significant benefits to the design community, among which are:
- Increasing productivity by reusing assets that can now be easily customized in 3D
- Greater flexibility to make changes to lighting, environment, perspective and materials
- The generation of more realistic scenes in projects with lighting, reflections and natural shadows
- Producing better output options whether fixed or moving
- Creation of packaging, product concepts and realistic prototypes before manufacturing
Currently, designers are using Photoshop to produce a wide variety of 3D productions, but we'll increase what you can do with Photoshop and 3D content while making it easier for more people to take advantage of those benefits. We plan to integrate Mixamo's technology into Photoshop to allow designers to create, customize, manipulate, equip and animate 3D content, as well as take advantage of the tens of thousands of high-quality 3D models that are ready to be used, starting with characters in existence that can be easily used in projects.
Designers are most often asked to create photorealistic scenes that don't exist in the real world. And while this can already be done in Photoshop, we can push the boundaries by allowing for a level of accuracy like never before, and making it simpler for everyone to use. This is thanks to the fact that there is a confluence of changes in 3D technologies that will make this much easier in the near future.
First, the emergence of 3D scanning technology will generate demand for high-quality 3D content that is already available. Second, hardware improvements make it much easier to work with 3D content on standard devices, even tablets. Finally, we see the union of high-quality content and powerful tools designed for graphic designers that make working with 3D more accessible than ever. Mixamo helps us meet these market demands and the current challenges of working with 3D.
Characters or characters are one of the fastest growing categories of 3D content and therefore we see interesting use cases for graphic design. For example, we made this video using Photoshop to create an animated Mixamo character over an image.
But this is only the beginning. From content to capabilities, Mixamo's integration into the Creative Cloud offers an incredible platform for further 3D innovation in the future. We are excited to be able to deliver greater value to our customers with this acquisition, while introducing a new way of working for our design community, which is looking to push the boundaries with 3D tools.
Text written by Winston Hendrickson
