Substance 3D Sampler allows users to create and iterate on material collections by tweaking and mixing existing materials, or by extracting new materials from scans.
Adobe has released Substance 3D Sampler 4.0, a major update to its material authoring software, which was previously known as Substance Alchemist.
The update shifts Substance 3D Sampler towards being a more general-purpose 3D capture tool; therefore, an AI-assisted photogrammetry toolset for generating textured 3D models of real-world objects from photos has been added.
New AI-assisted photogrammetry toolset
As Adobe described the new photogrammetry toolset last year, it provides “fast, best-in-class reconstruction” and, crucially, a highly automated, artist-friendly workflow.
Users import a series of photos of a real-world object, with the option to have Substance 3D Sampler automatically generate masks isolating the object from the background, using an AI model.
Then a preview of the 3D scan as a sparse point cloud is generated by Sampler, including all of the reconstructed camera positions, with users able to select which region of the scanned volume to reconstruct in detail.
Not only can users generate a decimated, lower-poly model, but also they can use the point cloud and high-resolution scan – which contain “millions of polygons” and have up to 16K textures.
Software and formats
The software automatically bakes diffuse, normal, height and ambient occlusion maps from the high-res geometry, UV unwraps the decimated mesh, and applies the maps to the lower-resolution model.
Different formats such as USD, USDZ, glTF, GLB, OBJ, FBX or STL are available for exporting the mesh.
The non-destructive workflow ables the users to go back and change the decimation and other post-processing settings used.
New export options and workflow improvements
Now the users have the option to choose whether to export Substance materials in the general-purpose SBSAR format, for use in a range of software, or in SBS format, for use in Substance 3D Designer.
Workflow improvements include the option to swap, resize or stack 2D and 3D viewports.
Pricing and system requirements
Substance 3D Sampler 4.0 is available for Windows 10+, CentOS 7.0+/Ubuntu 20.04+ Linux and macOS 11.0+.
New perpetual licences, available via Steam, cost $149.99.
The Windows and macOS editions are also available via Adobe’s Substance 3D Texturing subscriptions, for $19.99/month or $219.88/year; or Substance 3D Collection subscriptions, for $49.99/month or $549.88/year.
The Linux edition is available via Creative Cloud for Teams, priced at $1,199.88/year.