Adobe MAX 2016: Create stunning 3D art with Project Felix

Whether you’re a creative professional or the average Joe, Adobe’s yearly MAX conferences have always been something special to behold. There’s always something new and fascinating on display that manages to captivate us and one such project is Project Felix. Thoroughly embracing the 3D paradigm, Project Felix is set to bring the power of 3D to Adobe’s Creative Cloud. Project Felix aims to help compose images in 3D by giving designers access to tools like 3D lighting, context-aware object placement and more.

The idea is that even a 3D novice can create amazing artwork without needing to know the ins-and-outs of professional 3D software like CAD programs and rendering tools. Felix aims to make all of this better by bringing with it a library of 3D objects, materials, effects, etc., just like Adobe Stock. In a demo, Adobe showed how you could simply drag a bottle into a 2D scene, add 3D textures to the bottle, set lighting, material properties (glass and plastic reflect light differently), perspective, depth and more. All of this can happen in real-time and in a 2D scene of your choosing. In the demo, Adobe also showed off the ability to add effects like a 3D water splash and more. Adobe calls Project Felix’ rendering capabilities “state-of-the-art” and judging by the demos, it certainly seemed that way. To be clear, Felix is not something like a 3Ds Max or Maya alternative, it’s an editing tool that lets you create 2D scenes with 3D objects, and very good ones at that. There are other tools like KeyShot that do the same thing, but those tools cost a bomb and obviously, don’t come with the level of integration that Adobe offers. Project Felix will be available as a beta download “later this year” and soon after to everyone with a paid, Creative Cloud subscription.