A host of new features ranging from a 3D Paint app to game broadcasting technology will be coming to the more than 400 million Windows 10 devices early next year, Microsoft Corp. announced Wednesday.

The free Windows 10 Creators Update, announced at Microsoft’s Windows 10 event Wednesday where the new Surface Studio and Surface Dial also were unveiled, brings various 3D capabilities to the Paint and Office apps, an easier way to share content with your favorite contacts, as well as game broadcasting.

Paint 3D

Microsoft has completely overhauled its much-loved Paint app with the introduction of Paint 3D. The company has made Paint 3D easy to use so anyone can create 3D designs. You can share your designs with the new Remix3D community and view your designs on desktop or in virtual reality on Microsoft’s HoloLens or one of its new VR headsets.  

At its Windows 10 event, Microsoft also announced that several hardware manufacturers, including Acer, Asus, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo will soon launch affordable Windows 10 VR headsets.

Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said “3D creation is difficult today and Microsoft is taking initial steps to bring it to the masses which Microsoft calls ‘3D for everyone’. 3D creation is a tough thing to simplify, but Microsoft’s attempt with 3D phone capture, Paint 3D and ReMix3D.com pipeline is the best effort I have seen to date. Office 365 integration was a surprise, HoloLens integration was a nice touch and I believe, even though Microsoft didn’t come out and say it, would support other phone platforms.”

Office apps: 3D support and inking features

Users will be able to add 3D models to PowerPoint presentations in Windows 10 with the ability to rotate the model to provide a different perspective. 3D support in Office apps will be available next year for Office 365 subscribers as part of the Windows 10 Creators Update.  

Ink Editor: The new Ink Editor feature in Word will allow users to use their digital pen to make changes in their document. Using a digital pen you will be able to strike through words to delete them, or circle words to select them and automatically highlight text. Available today in Word on Windows desktops for Office 365 subscribers in the Office Insider program.

Ink Replay control with Surface Dial: Microsoft introduced Ink Replay in August, which allows users to rewind and replay ink displayed in a document. Using the Surface Dial, which was launched together with the Surface Studio, users will now be able to easily control the Ink Replay and set the ideal replay pace.

Digital ruler: PowerPoint will soon get a built-in digital ruler allowing users to align objects and draw straight lines using a digital pen. The feature will be available for Office 365 subscribers in early 2017. There are plans to bring it to other apps like Word, Excel and OneNote soon.

Segment eraser: The segment eraser in PowerPoint will remove excess bits of ink, right up to the nearest line. The feature will be available as part of the Office 365 updates in November.

Office apps have also been optimized for the Surface Studio and Surface Dial, including a new large screen page view in Word, and various Office integrations for the Surface Dial.  

MyPeople

Another feature that forms part of the Windows 10 Creators Update is MyPeople, which allows for easy sharing of content. The MyPeople feature lets you pin five of your favorite contacts to the Windows taskbar and then you can easily drag and drop photos, videos or documents right onto your contact.  

“MyPeople is a nice adder [sic] to help simplify sharing and communicating with your top 5 people, between Windows users. Ironically, a lot of the functionality harkens back to some functions brought out with Windows 8,” said Moorhead.

Game broadcasting with Beam technology

With Beam technology being built into Windows 10 and Xbox One, Microsoft is making it easy for anyone to be a game broadcaster. Microsoft is also adding custom, gamer-created tournaments to Arena on Xbox Live.

Check out all the new features coming to Windows 10 users in the video below.

Images via Microsoft