Adobe Dimensions 2.0

Shared by: MR
On: 2014-04-14 23:05:01
Updated by: Amid
On: 2023-04-13 14:37:19
Other contributors: InkBlot
Rating: 0.00 Clarus out of 10 (0 vote)
Rate it: 12345678910


(There's no video for Adobe Dimensions 2.0 yet. Please contribute to MR and add a video now!)

  • Screenshot 
  •  

What is Adobe Dimensions 2.0?

Adobe Dimensions turns your 2-D art into 3-D without the price or learning curve of a 3-D graphics package. As with its previous version you can use it to add 3-D effects artwork created in standard drawing packages. And with its latest release, Dimensions has graduated into a stand-alone 3-D application, offering basic drawing tools and new time-saving features.

With the new pen and text tools, you can first draw source images and create text in the 2-D window and then move the images to the 3-D window and apply 3-D effects to them. The drawing tools aren't as sophisticated as those in Aldus FreeHand or Adobe Illustrator, but they do allow you to draw basic shapes and create headlines within Dimensions, often saving you from having to bounce between programs for every alteration.

The Art of 3-D

Working with Dimensions' 2-D and 3-D windows is fairly straightforward, although it takes a bit of practice to start thinking about how to create a 3-D design if you're unfamiliar with the process. To create a bottle, for example, you draw a profile of half the bottle in the 2-D window and dick on the Apply button to send the profile to the 3-D window. Then, in the 3-D window, you select Revolve from the Operations menu. In the ensuing dialog box, you set the rotation angle to 360 degrees and click on the Apply button. A 3-D black-and-white wire-frame bottle, ready for coloring, scaling, and positioning, appears in the 3-D window. Alternatively, you can extrude a 2-D image, such as text, into the third dimension by using the Extrude command and designating a depth.

One of Dimensions best features is the ability to automatically show changes you make in the 2-D window in the 3-D window. So if you shorten the neck of your bottle, its corresponding 3-D image will adjust accordingly. Change fonts, sizing, or even the words of text in the 2-D window, and you will instantly see the results in the 3-D one. Any changes you’ve made in the 3-D window to such aspects as positioning, lighting, and surface properties remain intact. Confusingly, however, changing the fill color in the 2-D window doesn’t affect the 3-D image.

You can create, name, and edit custom colors in Dimensions 2.0, either by mixing your own colors in CMYK or by importing custom colors from Illustrator documents. You can now also shade an object with any color; previously, you could use only black for shading.

Dimensions' 3-D effects aren't as rich as those you can create with more-expensive 3-D graphics programs, but on the other hand, Dimensions’ designs save in Illustrator format, so you are able to edit them in Illustrator, FreeHand, or Canvas.

Another new convenience in version 2.0 is multiple levels of undo, limited only by the amount of RAM you allocate to the program. Unlike other programs, which ask you to set the maximum number of previous designs you want preserved in memory, Dimensions lets you set the minimum. If you run short of RAM, Dimensions will prompt you to save your design.

Selective Rendering

Rendering an image in any 3-D program is time-consuming. In Dimensions 2.0, you can render just a part of an image, to get a preview of what your surface will look like. You can also cancel the render at any point. And for those who have a Power Macintosh, the native version of Dimensions harnesses the PowerPC chip’s impressive processing power, for quicker image previewing and rendering.

Overall, Dimensions is easy to use, particularly for extruding 3-D text. In the 3-D window, you can choose from a variety of rendering levels, viewing angles, and perspectives. For other work, however, Dimensions’ interface can get cluttered and confusing. For instance, to change the text color and font on a bottle label you have to juggle the 2-D and 3-D windows and a pair of palettes and use the text as well as the selection tools.

Cryan, Shelley. (December 1994). Adobe Dimensions 2.0. MacUser. (pg. 60).


Download Adobe Dimensions 2.0 for Mac

(4.26 MiB / 4.47 MB)
/ compressed w/ Stuffit
124 / 2014-04-14 / 2023-04-13 / 1ea56ca15900e833b9a662df5413392fb7b845de / /


Architecture


68K + PPC (FAT)



System Requirements

From Mac OS 7.1 up to Mac OS 9.2





Compatibility notes

• 63030, 68040, or PowerPC® processor
• Apple System Software version 7.1 or later
• 12 MB of RAM available to Adobe Dimensions (24 MB of system RAM)
• 20 MB of free hard-disk space for installation


Emulating this? It could probably run under: Basilisk II





To date, Macintosh Repository served 2836097 old Mac files, totaling more than 571054.5GB!
Downloads last 24h = 1637 : 292895MB
Last 5000 friend visitors from all around the world come from:
13096 (Mac OS 7.5.3)
 
Let's chat about old Macs!