As you may know, I have been thinking a lot about design for augmented reality and the growing relevance of 3D design across industries. The technology that was once limited to design for gaming, architecture, and physical products is now disrupting traditional creative segments like photography, video, and experience design. I recently learned that over 90% of car commercials are no longer shot on video, they are rendered on gaming engines like Unity and Unreal. Similarly, over 70% of IKEA’s catalog features products that were rendered as 3D objects rather than photographed. But this entire revolution is only possible if the objects and experiences are photorealistic. And future mediums like VR and AR will only feel real if they look real!
Ultimately, this comes down to textures and materials - and the physics of how the surface of 3D objects interact with light, and there is one team in the world that literally set the standards and built the products to create and apply texture and material design to 3D objects: Allegorithmic. Sebastien Deguy and his team started their work in Paris over 15 years ago and became true authorities in the space. I spent much of the last year getting to know the team and helping pave the way for them to join Adobe. We closed the acquisition last week, and Sebastien joins my team as VP of 3D & Immersive Design. I couldn’t be more excited.
Here’s a blog post about the acquisition and opportunity ahead. And below is an example of the kinds of objects (or alien skin) their products make possible across nearly all AAA games and many of your favorite movies. The future of 3D/Immersive Design is bright.