Microsoft's Bumpy Road to Abandoning Paint 3D

Microsoft's attempt to replace Paint with Paint 3D was met with resistance from users who loved the classic app. Despite being marked as deprecated in 2017, Microsoft reversed course within a day and allowed Paint to continue alongside Paint 3D.

Paint 3D was ambitious, offering features like 3D object creation, texture changing, and conversion of 2D images into 3D art. However, users found it too different from Paint for casual use and not polished enough for serious 3D work.

Microsoft eventually deprecationed Paint 3D in August 2024 and removed it from the Store in November. The app's ecosystem also collapsed as Remix 3D shut down, Windows Mixed Reality faded out, and 3D Objects integration got pulled from File Explorer.

In contrast, Microsoft continued to invest in Paint, adding AI features like Generative Erase, background removal, and layers. It even partnered with Azure CTO Mark Russinovich to create a way to run DOOM inside Paint using the clipboard.