Adobe seeks to establish itself as a 3D content creator and editor.

We looked at Substance 3D Stager when it was first released in July 2021. At the time, we summed it up as something between 3ds Max and 3D Photoshop—a 3D and visual creator and editor program that is well suited to the staging of virtual photography using 3D and 2D assets.

The expanding importance of 3D in our lives—from augmented reality (AR) to 3D scenes rendered into 2D—means that there is a greater need for more 3D graphic artist tools. The Adobe tools, however, seem to focus on virtual product photography/rendering. Prior to this, you could model imaginary monsters and muscle cars for gaming and entertainment, but Adobe seems to be shifting its focus toward the professional marketing market.

With Substance 3D, Adobe is joining developers that are more engineering and CAD focused with a platform for unified content creation that comprises multiple applications for various aspects of the creative process.

Adobe and the Metaverse

Adobe sees technology as being on the edge of a transformative introduction to immersive experiences of various and maybe even as-yet undefined kinds. Adobe wants to be ready and to be viewed as a leading content creator specifically for these target markets—games, movies, interactive next-generation Second Life kinds of experiences. All of these are or will be destinations where you might want to acquire or make your own virtual surroundings, furniture, clothing, virtual consumer goods and more.

“Smart brands are getting ‘metaverse-ready’ by growing their 3D and immersive content creation capabilities. That means that creative artists with expertise in 3D have a wealth of opportunities,” said Scott Belsky, chief product officer and executive vice president of Adobe Creative Cloud, speaking at a customer event in Paris. “These innovations provide new superpowers to the rapidly growing number of creative people using Substance 3D.”

Metaverse Research

Adobe Research is an Adobe organization where scientists, engineers and artists explore potential future applications of innovative technology with an eye toward developing new products and markets. Some of the research currently underway for potential use in the metaverse is:

• AR shopping tools available in brick-and-mortar stores to help extend the shopping experience and place products in environments that can’t be reproduced in a physical store.
• Optimized AR load time to prioritize content that is most likely to be used first. This helps address the immediacy demands of customers even when the data used in the technology is large and slow to load.

Free Access for Students and Teachers

In preparation for the demand the metaverse will create, Adobe is expanding access to its Creative Suite for students and teachers worldwide with free products and services. Universities that are already subscribers to the Creative Cloud All Apps plan already have full access to Substance 3D. Adobe is also engaging in selective partnering with schools to develop new 3D curricula.

A Substantial Update

This summer, Adobe announced major enhancements to its Substance 3D suite, which cover three main areas:

• 3D materials SDK
• Powerful new plug-ins
• Apple M-series chip support for Painter, Designer and Sampler

With Apple’s recent addition of the M-series chips, Adobe and other 3D content creation vendors have been able to add accelerated support in Painter, Designer and Sampler, each being components of the Substance 3D Collection. The high percentage of creative professionals who prefer Apple hardware requires developments like this to keep an edge over competing options.

Adobe has also made a new Substance 3D Materials SDK (software development kit) available for developers to write plug-ins and for scripted materials tasks through the Substance 3D Automation Toolkit. This is obviously for sophisticated users performing volume work and is more for professional rather than hobbyist use.

The SDK also allows developers to use the Adobe Substance 3D Materials and Model engine inside other applications.