The following is an open letter I wrote with Theresa Jackson and posted recently on CreativePro.com. A number of others in the design community have added their names as signatories, listed under the original post.
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Dear Adobe,
We have been watching the Dimension community forum and the (vitriolic, for the most part) YouTube comments from long-term Substance users on the recent launch of Substance 3D. Howls of protest are par for the course whenever there is a major UI change, and the noise from the 3D authors will die down. For designers, it’s a different matter.
Project Felix was announced at MAX 2016 as a new tool “built specifically for graphic designers.” Felix promised a brand-new workflow for designers to preview and present their work in a 3-Dimensional, photo-realistic context—cutting turnaround time for design approvals, simplifying the design process for packaging and display, and opening new opportunities for product presentation. Project Felix was to be a tool for designers who were not 3D artists or experts.
After a rocky start, Dimension began delivering on that promise. As it matured it became faster, more practical, and easier to use. We could forgive frailties and missing features, knowing they were under active development.
Then, with Adobe’s acquisition of Substance, development on Dimension abruptly stopped, with no reason given at the time.
The Substance 3D launch made clear that it is for 3D digital artists: existing Substance users who are now Adobe customers. The intro video for Substance Stager, the app that Dimension should have become, begins with the words, “Creating 3D art is all about producing stunning visuals.” There was no ready-for-press production artwork anywhere in sight—not a fold, not a die line, not a spot varnish layer. There was no trace of the original Project Felix promise: “Built specifically for graphic designers.”
Designers may occasionally iterate a flat design by going back and forth between Illustrator and a 3D representation, but most of the time the process starts and ends in a 2D app, with exact dimensions and placement of artwork. Visualization in 3D comes later: client presentations, ad concepts, point-of-purchase or in-store displays. Zorana Gee recognized this in her 2016 presentation: “Let’s face it, working with 3D is really challenging … but we’re committed, and today we’re introducing a tool that balances power and ease of use for all designers, and this is Project Felix.”
This is an important distinction. 3D artists and 3D modelers create objects and scenes that are an end in themselves: the digital creation is the product. Designers create layouts and production-ready artwork destined for physical output, to be seen in real life, in store windows or exhibition halls. The only Substance tool of considerable use to a designer is Stager, which realizes the promise of Project Felix without the limitations that continue to frustrate Dimension users. Stager is what Dimension should have become.
The Substance 3D announcement included a blatant hand-wave: designers on Creative Cloud can continue to use Dimension. We are expected to believe that Adobe will finance the maintenance and development of two products with a heavy degree of overlap and very different underlying engines, using the same engineering team. Adobe has promised to keep Dimension around indefinitely, but currently the app installer is hidden from view for new users unless they turn on “Show Older Apps” in the Creative Cloud desktop app.
Dimension, then, is defunct. No amount of public relations spin can disguise the fact that it is now a zombie app. Its fragilities and important limitations will not now be addressed, ever. The promised upgrades went to Stager instead, and Stager is unavailable within Creative Cloud.
Stager is a far better tool for designers than Dimension. Its performance is superior, it has the features that were once on the Dimension roadmap, and even in pre-release form it was more robust. That only makes the decision to exclude Stager from a CC subscription even more baffling (or offensive, depending on point of view).
Designers now face the choice that confronted photographers when the original Creative Cloud subscription service launched: pay for a full suite to use a single point product or be stuck without upgrades forever. They do not wish to pay a premium subscription for multiple apps they don’t want, don’t need, and won’t use.
Adding insult to injury, there is a lower-priced Substance plan for users of Painter/Sampler/Designer (3D artists who don’t need Stager) but not one for designers wanting to realize the original promise of Felix who only need Stager. Dimension shows up in the CC apps under “Design” but not under “3D.” How condescending.
We don’t believe this is good for Adobe. From the customer viewpoint it is a broken promise and a betrayal of trust. For Adobe it throws away a potential upgrade market: happy Stager users might consider expanding into 3D authoring and subscribe to Substance 3D; ticked-off Dimension users, abandoned by Adobe, are more likely to dig in their heels.
The simplest and best good-faith move at this point is to drop the pretense that Dimension is a supported product and make Stager a dual-suite product operable under either a CC or a Substance 3D license.
In the end, customers value integrity in the companies they deal with, and an honest admission with a good-faith remedy goes a long way to repairing damaged customer relationships. Trust is a precious commodity, quickly broken, hard to repair. We don’t see any scenario in which Adobe recoups the lost customer goodwill other than the above approach.
So, Adobe, stay as loyal to your customers as your customers are to you. Keep your promises.
Alan Gilbertson, Designer
Theresa Jackson, Designer, Photographer, Trainer
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