This release brings major improvements to the lighting system, exports for augmented reality, and an updated render preview workflow.

Dimension now allows you to create multiple light sources and change their color, shape, and positioning to get the exact look you want. Use global lighting controls to adjust your overall lighting or isolate lights to focus on specific effects. Use the interactive light placement to position highlights directly on the surface of objects.

To learn more, see Create custom studio lighting with directional lights.

Export for augmented reality with Aero

You can easily see your Dimension assets overlaid into the real world with Adobe's new new augmented reality authoring tool. The Export for Aero option in Dimension automatically prepares your assets for viewing in AR. With Aero, you can easily add both 3D and 2D content to a project, add behaviors and animations, and share both interactive experiences or captured AR video.

To learn more about exporting Dimension assets to Aero, see Using Dimension with Aero.

To learn more about Adobe's new AR tool, see What is Adobe Aero.

New blended render preview

The new Render Preview mode in Dimension enables high-quality rendering effects like lighting and reflections directly in your editing canvas by blending from realtime to raytraced engines. This blended experience lets you make fast edits and quickly see the photorealistic render effects on the canvas.

To learn more about the See Render overview for more information.

GPU rendering (beta)

Delays in the creative process can be a real drain, so we’re pleased to announce Dimension's first GPU rendering integration. With GPU-accelerated rendering for both preview and final renders, you can work significantly faster to get the look you want and create final, photorealistic quality imagery.

For now, this beta feature is available for Windows nVidia cards only. See GPU rendering (Beta) for more information and a list of supported cards.

New universal Select tool

What's better than Move, Rotate, and Scale tools? A single Select tool that lets you move, rotate, and scale without having to swap tools. Our newly designed Select tool lets you do all of the major layout interactions and includes new functions for moving objects along the surfaces of other objects and anywhere in workspace!

See Using the Select Tools to arrange objects for more information.

Match Image updates for indoor backgrounds

In the latest update, we've made big improvements to our Match Image feature, powered by Adobe Sensei, which automatically updates the 3D lighting and camera perspective of your scene to match background images. Match Image will now generate multiple lights for things like windows or lamps, giving better results for indoor photographs.

See Using Match Image for more information on how to composite a background image into your 3D scene.

Other enhancements

• Home mode: The application now includes a Home mode which lets you return to the start screen at any time.
  

• Close command: Added a new Close command to the File menu to let you close your current document.

• Canvas snapshot: Added the ability to quickly export a PNG snapshot of your canvas. This will capture the canvas at the current visual quality.

• Edit Material action: Added a new action when an object is selected that will move you to the material editing view of the scene panel.

• File Revert menu: Added a new Revert option in the File menu to let you quickly return to your last saved state.

• Save Status indicator: Added a new indicator (the * symbol) to the document title to let you know you have unsaved work.