GDC 2023: Adobe Substance 3D announces partnership with Epic Games to give creators new tools to create game elements and modify games — releases design and capture updates to Substance Tool

Adobe has been a proud supporter of the gaming industry as game developers and studios around the world are using the Substance 3D tools to bring their artistic visions to life. During our Substance Day keynote at GDC, we announced the latest updates to Adobe’s Substance 3D tools, helping game developers create unique, photorealistic or stylized content. Adobe additionally highlighted ongoing efforts to facilitate collaboration and creativity in the gaming industry.

We are excited to reveal our collaboration with Epic Games, providing game creators with powerful tools to modify games and develop their own distinctive creations using Substance tools. Furthermore, we are partnering with Autodesk to create cross-platform standards for 3D material models.

Powering the creator ecosystem with Epic Games bringing Substance to the new Fab marketplace

Today, we are announcing a partnership with Epic Games to deliver powerful Substance 3D tools for a new generation of game creators. In support of our shared vision with Epic, Adobe will make versions of Substance Modeler and Painter available to creators on Fab, a next-generation, unified digital marketplace from Epic Games launching later this year. The Fab marketplace will bring together a massive community of artists and developers, providing everything creators need to build digital worlds in one place, from 3D models, animations, visual FX, and more.

We’re also working together to launch a customized bundle and Fab plugin to enable even more creators to experience the magic of Substance 3D in the newly-announced Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). The seamless integration of essential Substance tools with Fab will make it faster and easier for aspiring and professional 3D artists alike to create their best work, raising the 3D content quality bar. In addition, Substance artists will be able to upload and sell their creations on Fab, opening up a new monetization opportunity in support of the creator economy.

Going forward, Adobe will work closely with Epic to help support a vibrant community of creative enthusiasts be featured on ArtStation.

Defining a new standard for 3D materials with Autodesk

Adobe also announced a new collaboration with Autodesk to create an open-source definition of 3D material models. The effort will evolve the current Autodesk Standard Surface and Adobe Standard Material into a new material model that can be used across Adobe and Autodesk products and be adopted by other industry players. Having a common material model will simplify interoperability of 3D assets helping artists and studios to work faster and more efficiently. As part of this collaborative effort to promote open standards and ensure maximum portability, Adobe and Autodesk are actively engaging with the MaterialX governance group to ensure that the new model can be integrated and fully encoded within a MaterialX node graph.

Expanding the future of the Substance 3D

Substance 3D tools make it easy for anyone from small game studios to AAA powerhouses to deliver breathtaking visual experiences and support the future of the industry. Trusted and being used in countless projects by smaller, independent studios, as well as in a wide range of AAA games created by Substance 3D featured presenters such as Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, CD Projekt Red, and Naughty Dog, Substance 3D offers a collection connected 3D design allowing for a consistent workflow from asset creation to texturing, allowing studios to deliver the highest-quality in-game experiences.

In addition to new partnerships, we’re continuing to explore advancements for Substance 3D tools to fuel creation. During the keynote, we announced new updates to the Adobe Substance 3D lineup including 3D curves in Painter, Portal nodes and loops in Designer, improved viewport and export workflow for Modeler and enhanced 3D Capture for Sampler. We additionally previewed new AI assisted kitbashing tools to help artists iterate on designs faster as Modeler will suggest and substitute rough shapes and primitives with matching pre-built assets. Adobe also unveiled a preview of the Substance 3D Sampler companion mobile app, designed to help users capture images for conversion to 3D assets, materials, HDR lights and 3D models. The interface will provide real-time feedback through on-screen (AR) guidance as users take pictures, making it easier for users to capture high-quality images for 3D scanning.

With these new updates, we’re proud to support all the outstanding developers and game studios at GDC 2023. If you’re interested in learning more about Adobe Substance 3D, click here.