Does X7 have a better 3D feature yet similar to Adobe Illustrator?

Lest anyone misunderstand, Technical Suite is not a substitute for what this thread is about.  timid1971 is talking about a built-in vector-based basic 3D modeling feature which also provides for mapping artwork (both raster and vector) to the 3D model.

The video copied in Stefan's post demonstrates something entirely different: Technical Designer's feature which allows one to open a 3D model file which originated in a CAD program in a preview window, rotate it to the desired orientation, and then flatten it to normal 2D artwork which can thereafter be enhanced in Technical Designer using ordinary 2D drawing features.

That is by no means a substitute for Illlustrator's 3D Effect, a built-in (actually plug-in) 3D modeling feature for creation of basic 3D operations (extrude, lathe, rotate, bevel) which then render to 2D vector artwork. 3D Effect is rudimentary in terms of 3D geometry. It merely does extrusion and lathing. AI users frequently complain about how limited it is. It's a severely crippled sub-set of the long discontinued Adobe Dimensions, which I suspect was acquired by Adobe from an even earlier program marketed for a short time as Satellite 3D. (I still have a copy of the original disk and package.)

In its day, Dimensions didn't sell well enough for Adobe's liking, because--in its day--it was poorly understood. Adobe should have updated Dimensions for then-current OSes and simply bundled it with Illustrator; but instead decided to create a plug-in with an extremely limited subset of its functionality so it could be treated as another "live effect" in Illustrator.

The claim-to-fame of Satellite 3D and later Dimensions is that they rendered to vector paths, not to bitmap images. Moreover, they rendered to paths more reasonably similar to what one would actually draw in 2D; outline shapes of visible surfaces and interpolated blends, which are reasonably practical for further editing after they are generated.

So even rendering to 2D vector results is not the whole matter. There are other programs which do that, too; Swift3D, for example; and there was a vector-based plug-in for Cararra. But those programs resort to rendering shading as a "mesh" of vector polygons (triangles or distorted hexagons--don't confuse with mesh grads--something else entirely).

Illustrator's 3D Effect was its answer to the common extrude tools that existed in most other vector drawing programs (including Draw), and even in ordinary office applications for creating cheezy "superman" text headlines and such. Remember, just as in many other areas, Illustrator provided nothing in that regard for a very long time. (Just as today it still lacks now-commonplace dimension tools, connector lines, callout tools--even proper live shape primitives (!?). In that sense, being based on Dimensions and given its ability to do decent mapping of vector or raster artwork (also limited) makes it more versatile than the ubiquitous extrude effect.

But being based on a severely crippled subset of Dimensions's functionality makes it geometrically lame. For example, it can only model the input paths the same way; you can't, for example, give one path a different extrusion depth from another. You can't rotationally orient one object differently from another in the same coordinate system. Dimensions could build multiple objects in the same coordinate system, perform Boolean operations between them, etc., etc.

Nor are the 3D effects of Xara Designer Pro and other drawing programs equivalents to Illustrator's 3D Effect. Those yield better shading because they render as mere raster images, not as editable vector paths. And they are typically limited to extrusions (with bevels) only; not even offering lathes (what Illustrator calls "Revolve").

So yes, this does indeed represent an area of opportunity to competitively up Adobe's ante. But instead, we see still more ho-hum "catch-up" and "me, too" features (push, smear, twirl, etc., etc.--gag me), as if Adobe Illustrator is forever the program to emulate, rather than outperform in areas of no-nonsense, serious-business 2D vector drawing capabilities.

This is why I say Adobe's continued market dominance has actually retarded serious development of 2D vector drawing by decades. With Adobe's take-it-or-leave-it rental-only arrogance, competitors are now provided a window of golden opportunity to at long last break Adobe's stranglehold (at least Illustrator's). Yet instead we still see them playing copycat--even flirting with copying that ill-conceived marketing scheme.

Yeah, I'll no doubt end up buying the upgrade to X7, just because I'm not going to pay Adobe rent. Ever. But I'd sure much rather feel at least a little excitement over another couple hundred bucks spent on a new version.

(And fercryin'outloud, I wish Corel would get its act together regarding some kind of version parity with Technical Suite. Every time a new version of Draw precedes a corresponding version of Technical, it leaves those of us who also shell out for Technical wondering what to do.)

What a pity. Really makes me sad.

JET