Iterative creativity with Generative AI in Substance 3D

Scene background generated by Generative Background in Stager.

Welcome to the Substance 3D blog for March.

This has been an amazing month for the Substance 3D collection with the introduction of Adobe Firefly powered generative AI tools into Substance Sampler and Substance Stager, as well as new tools, user improvements, and a whole new way for anyone to access Substance 3D Modeler as a beta software.

Substance 3D tools have earned a reputation as the go-to standard for material authoring and texturing in so many different workflows, from games and VFX to physical product design visualization. By bringing the power of Firefly to Sampler and Stager, Adobe is making it faster and more iterative than ever to create high-quality PBR materials or explore a variety of photorealistic backgrounds to stage 3D product models.

The new generative AI features have been launched in beta and are available to all our Substance 3D subscribers. Let’s take a closer look at these innovative new Substance features.

Text to Texture in Substance Sampler

Substance 3D Sampler 4.4 (beta) introduces a new Text-to-Texture feature, powered by Adobe Firefly — a significant advancement in the use of generative AI for 3D professionals. For artists and designers, the ability to turn text prompts into photorealistic textures, provides new opportunities for fast creative exploration without replacing existing workflows.

For example, you could generate unique textures and develop them without requiring a physical photo or scan or reference. It’s as simple as writing what you want in the prompt and generating a selection of image choices. The tileable generative textures can then be converted into parametric PBR materials using Sampler’s Image-to-material and continue to be developed using the familiar Sampler workflows. It’s the fastest way to explore and create unique PBR materials.

Learn more about Text to Texture

Generative backgrounds in Substance Stager

Substance 3D Stager 3.0 (beta) introduces Generative Background, powered by Adobe Firefly, enabling the creation of scene backgrounds from text descriptions. This opens so many opportunities to conceptualize ideas in different contexts, as well as experiment with the lighting and perspective of the generated background.

Now in Stager, designers can easily composite 3D objects and scenes in front of generated backgrounds without having to leave Stager or search for stock images. Once a background is selected, lighting can be matched or customized, and the perspective can be matched to the generated background, integrating the scene with the background to produce a great looking result. All of this makes experimenting with product concepts as well as review and approval of designs efficient and iterative.

Learn more about Generative Backgrounds

Sculpting, cameras and upresing in Substance Modeler

For those eager to explore the future of 3D modeling, a beta version of Substance 3D Modeler is now available at no additional cost to anyone with an Adobe ID. Through this beta, we will rapidly test and develop potential new features and functionality. It’s an exciting opportunity for users to test and give feedback on creative workflows in Modeler and contribute to the development process. However, for production use, artists should stick with the production ready version of Modeler available as part of the Substance 3D Collection.

Taking a deep dive into Substance 3D Modeler, there has been a big increase in feature development with a new Modeler release every month since January. The community interest and feedback has been very welcome and continues to lead the way in Modeler’s development.

Here are some of the big features we’d like to highlight in the current shipping version of Modeler 1.8.

Sculpting tool enhancements

There have been quite a few optimizations to the sculpting tools in Modeler that provide an overall better experience when modelling a design.

The Crease tool and Flatten tool now give you a better interactive experience and should feel smoother and more responsive when sculpting details on a 3d model. Detailing in general is also cleaner and more precise producing higher quality results.

The Buildup tool now includes a high level of customization and control whereby artists can import their own alphas to customize the profile of the Buildup tool or choose from a variety of the built-in alphas.

New camera features

With the addition of multiple cameras, you can now easily see the composition of your 3D models or scenes using different camera views on desktop and in VR. Now you can create static cameras in a scene for demo purposes, or more easily edit a scene by setting up specific fixed views. Camera controls also include field of view and allow switching between perspective and orthographic views. Modeler also allows artists to adjust the depth of field in Render Mode to focus on certain parts of a scene.

Continuous Warp Tool

The Warp tool now offers two modes for sculpting that gives increased flexibility and control when modelling organic shapes. One mode offers the ability where the warp follows your stroke. This enables more control over the warp direction for more dynamic shapes and gestures. This is an intuitive way to enhance both practical modeling needs and the creative flow of artists and designers.

Better model upres

When increasing the resolution of a 3D model, you get cleaner and smoother results and preserve the details and edges of your geometry. This has been achieved by increasing the voxel density of your model with an improved filtering algorithm.

There are lots more features in the current release of Modeler that can be found in the Modeler Release Notes. And remember, we also announced the availability of Modeler as a public beta to ensure that the community has access to helping us test and refine features that will guide the future of Modeler.

Substance 3D coming to NAB and FMX

March is also the start of some big events where you’ll be able to see Substance 3D in person and meet the team. We’ve just completed another GDC where we focused on the latest Substance tools for game making and in April, we turn our attention to motion design and visual effects.

Join us at NAB this April in Las Vegas to delve into 3D workflows with Adobe Substance and Adobe After Effects. We’ll also be hanging out with our friends from Maxon talking about all things 3D in motion design.

Later in April we’ll be at FMX in Frankfurt, where we'll showcase Substance 3D Painter and the Substance Collection's impact on visual effects, film, and animation. Both these events are perfect opportunities to catch live presentations, meet the experts behind Substance 3D, and hang out with the Substance community — see you there!