Better with Blender, together: Adobe partners with Blender on development fund and new plugins

Art by Casimir Perez.

3D design and animation has never been a bigger or more thriving industry than it is today, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Quite simply, 3D is the future — and as our field continues to grow, so does the community around it. At Adobe, we are dedicated to being open and connected to the 3D community — one of our core missions is to ensure our products, such as Substance 3D and Mixamo, are as accessible and available as possible to as many people as possible.

You can’t mention the “3D community” without also talking about Blender. A free and open-source 3D creation suite (providing everything from modeling to compositing and motion tracking tools), the organization has fostered a rich and dynamic community of 3D creators, and today, we can announce that Adobe is officially partnering with Blender.

First, I am thrilled to announce that we’re joining the Blender Development Fund to help ensure the longevity and success of this dynamic open-source community. Additionally, we are going to help creators work with the best of Adobe right in Blender by launching two new plugins — Substance 3D in Blender and Mixamo Auto-Control Rig Plugin for Blender (both now available, in beta).

A commitment to open source: Adobe joins the Blender Development Fund

At Adobe, we know we have an important part to play in helping grow the 3D & AR design communities. For us, joining the Blender Development Fund was the next natural choice — we want to do our part to ensure the survival and the growth of the project.

Supporting Blender’s open-source development is a passion for many members of our team at Adobe — there are many designers and researchers, in-house, working on Blender-related projects right now. With Adobe’s contribution to Blender, we hope we’re doing our part to help strengthen and improve this accessible suite of tools.

Access Substance 3D materials right in Blender

Right now, 3D artists across the world are creating exceptional video game assets, VFX, animation, and increasingly, automotive and fashion products using Blender. We wanted to bring the world of Substance materials to them, making it easy to access our rich and diverse library of textures and 3D assets without ever leaving the creation suite.

With the Substance 3D in Blender plugin, you can now use Substance materials (SBSAR files) in Blender. Tweak parameters and switch presets to iterate and reuse assets faster — optimizing your workflow in the process and allowing for unlimited creativity as you design.

Download the beta version of the Substance 3D in Blender plugin today.

Edit Mixamo animations in Blender

When it comes to 3D animation, Mixamo is an incredible free tool that helps you bring your characters to life quickly. Rigging a character for video games or in VFX has, traditionally, been very time consuming — Mixamo has been speeding this process up for creators for years, and now, Mixamo’s awesome ability to create a control rig on a biped character model can be accessed directly inside Blender for easy animating.

With the Mixamo Auto-Control Rig Plugin for Blender, you can edit free Mixamo animations in the tool in a non-destructive and simple way. Take full control of your character and apply more than 2,500+ motion capture clips to them (such as punching and jumping) to create something exceptional in Blender.

This new integration will also be considerably valuable for AR creators working in Adobe Aero, allowing you to animate characters within your AR experience with ease.

Download the beta version of the Mixamo Auto-Control Rig Plugin for Blender today.

A bright future for 3D and AR content creation

Blender’s user base is thriving, and its continued growth is a sign that the future is incredibly bright for creators working in 3D and AR design. We hope this latest step to bridge Adobe’s 3D products, such as Substance 3D, Mixamo, and Aero, and Blender will further empower and strengthen that growth.

In the end, it’s about providing the best tools for the job, and doing everything we can at Adobe to make sure those tools are available to the creators of the future.

To learn more about Adobe’s 3D tools and commitment to 3D creators, head over to Adobe’s 3D & AR homepage.