Microsoft is gearing up for a Windows refresh. The Windows 10 Creators Update will arrive on all Windows 10 devices for free in the spring of 2017. Today, Microsoft showed off all the new features coming to the multi-mode OS. Here’s the best of what will be coming to your Windows PC or Surface device.
Microsoft hopes to integrate 3D creation tools into every aspect of Windows 10’s suite of productivity tools. Central to this is Paint 3D, a new version of the classic MS Paint app that lets you build virtual models by cutting and pasting 2D images from photographs, doodling 2D images with the Surface Pen, or even 3D-scanning a real life object with your smartphone’s camera. Paint 3D is a software studio where you can make your own life-like images.
If you’ve made something cool in Minecraft, you’ll be able to send it to a 3D printer. It’s the one Microsoft property that’s seemingly made for this.
Wednesday’s 3D demo also included a 3D tree being dropped into a PowerPoint presentation. The tree spun and zoomed around as the presentation moved from slide to slide. Microsoft says support for 3D images and animations will be added to all of the big apps in Office. It’s a big 3D graphics push.
Microsoft still loves Hololens (there was a demo!) but with all of this 3D content pumping through Windows 10, its AR headset is about to get company. Hardware partners like Lenovo, Asus, Acer, HP, and Dell will be making VR headsets for both VR games and 3D experiences in Windows. Pricing starts at $300. These VR headsets appear to have positional tracking, a key differentiator that makes them more capable than smartphone-powered headsets like Gear VR and Daydream.
People love to watch games—they’re truly new spectator sport. With the next update, Windows devices (including Xbox) will be able to start streaming games in 4K with Beam.
Gamers will also be able to create their own custom tournaments so they can compete with their friends. Within Xbox Live, the tournament feature will keep score and run a bracket.
The built-in 4K Blu-ray player in the Xbox One S will soon support Dolby Atmos. If you have an Atmos-ready soundbar or surround system, movie night is going to take a big audio leap forward with Windows 10.
Back to desktop OS updates. Whenever you want to share a photo or a piece of content in Windows 10, you’ll be able to instantly send it to all of the most important people in your contacts—that group of friends and coworkers that appears in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen.
One feature that seems like a throw-away but that we guarantee you’ll soon see all the time is Shoulder Taps. With Windows 10 Creators Update, you’ll be able to send fun little emoji to your contacts. They’re basically 3D stickers like you’d find in a messaging app. The recipient sees the little graphic pop up at the bottom of the screen, springing to life just above the contact avatar of the person who sent it. Lord help us.
The Creators Update will be available for free on all of the roughly 400 million Windows 10 devices already out there. Microsoft says the update will come in the spring, but wasn’t more specific than that. It’s nice to see that no-cost updates for operating systems are still a thing—as they should be.