We have made some significant enhancements to the ‘3D and Materials’ feature which was released just a few months ago, at MAX 2021. These effects have now been fully rebuilt using modern rendering technology. Apart from being much more stable than the classic 3D, it also allows you to do a lot of new and exciting things. The list of noticeable improvements are:

Map art (decal) on 3D objects:
We have now added the ability to map 2D art (decals) over 3D objects created with the new 3D and materials effects. In the initial release of map art, you will be able to add any 2D object on the canvas to the list of Decals in the Materials tab. You can then apply that over 3D objects in a freeform way without worrying about constituent surfaces.
In future updates, we do plan to include support for surface level mapping and support for invisible geometry mode. Here are the steps to map art (decal) over 3D surfaces:
1. Create any artwork, then click on the (+) icon in the Materials tab.
2. Click on Add Decals, your Decal would be added into the ‘Your Decal’ Section.
3. Select your 3D artwork and click on Decal which you have added.
4. Decal would be automatically wrapped around the 3D object.
5. As soon as the decal gets applied, the rotation widget would be replaced by a decal widget.
6. You can scale/rotate and move the decal around the art with the widget.

Dynamic shadow bounds:
Shadows created with the new 3D and Materials effect will no longer get clipped as the effect bounds will automatically extend according to the size of the shadows.

Bevel both sides:
You can now apply a bevel on both the front and back surfaces of objects. This can help create symmetrical 3D objects and cylindrical splines.

Multi Rotation of more than one 3D object:
You can rotate more than one 3D object irrespective of their 3D properties both from the panel as well as from the Rotation Widget.
This will help save time in workflows that deal with mixed 3D appearance objects.

Revert to Real Time during Live Editing in Ray Tracing Mode:
In order to save time and avoid slow rendering in ray tracing mode, this feature would silently turn back to real time without affecting your art.

There are more features we’re actively working on to further improve these effects. There are also a couple of known issues which we are trying to fix asap. And as this is the first drop, there are likely bugs we may have missed - please report those if you encounter them. The team would love to hear your feedback on these improvements.