Substance 3D Designer, a mainstay in digital material creation for over 15 years, gets a major upgrade—introducing a new 3D rendering engine, scene-aware previews, and improved usability tools designed for artists of all levels.
Key highlights from the release include:
- New Unified 3D Renderer: Combines rasterizer and path tracer modes for higher-quality, consistent results across Substance apps. Enhancements include realistic shadows, performance gains, and future-ready architecture (e.g., MaterialX support).
- Post Effects Suite: Adds bloom, depth of field, and tone mapping (ACES, AgX), allowing creators to preview how procedural materials behave under real-world lighting conditions—all accessible from the camera menu.
- Scene-Based Material Design: Users can now load fully textured 3D scenes using USD or GLTF formats to preview materials directly on meshes, streamlining workflows and improving material context evaluation.
- Rich Tooltips for Atomic Nodes: Interactive tooltips include visual references and documentation links, helping artists—especially newcomers—work more efficiently.
- Broader Format Support & GPU Improvements: Includes support for formats like USDZ, STL, GLTF, and more, alongside GPU-accelerated baking for better performance.
This release reflects Adobe’s continued investment in tools that empower 3D artists with both technical depth and creative speed.
Credit : Adobe
