Thursday, June 7th, 2018 Posted by Jim Thacker

Allegorithmic updates Substance Source library


Originally posted on 3 November 2016. Scroll down for updates.

Allegorithmic has launched Substance Source, a new library of downloadable materials designed with physically based workflows in mind, provided in its own Substance format.

Unlike the existing Substance Share site, the materials have all been created by Allegorithmic and selected partners, rather than being uploaded by the wider Substance user community.

Download almost 600 high-quality materials in Substance format
At the time of posting, there are just under 600 materials in the Substance Source library, grouped in common categories like Ground, Fabric, Metal, Stone and Wood, and tagged with approriate keywords.

While some are based on scans of real-world materials, others – in keeping with the workflows of Allegorithmic’s Substance Painter and Substance Designer software – are hand-painted or proceduaral.

All are provided as Substance .sbsar files, and can be loaded into the Substance tools, or third-party applications that support the format, including 3ds Max, Maya, Unity and Unreal Engine.

Each contains “all the outputs needed for any workflow: Classic, PBR Metallic, Roughness, Specular and Gloss” and is capable of exporting texture maps at up to 4K resolution.

The listings for each indvidual material show the key texture channels, a rendered 3D preview, and – thanks to an implementation of Sketchfab‘s online model-viewing technology – an interactive 3D preview.

Pricing and availability
Downloads from Substance Source are free to users with a subscription to Allegorithmic’s Substance Live subscription plan, which starts at $19.90/month.

Usage is capped at 30 downloads per month for Indie subscribers – those with revenues under $100k/year; or 50 for Pro subscribers with revenues between $100,000/year and $5 million/year.

Pro subscribers can also buy a site licence for the library, plus 12 months’ updates, for a one-off fee of $1,490.

At the time of posting, 12 of the materials can be downloaded for free from the Featured Assets section of the library, including various ground and flooring textures, plus metal, bricks and fabric.


Updated 18 November: Allegorithmic has released its new Architecture Selection on Substance Source: over 200 new materials aimed at architectural visualisation work.

At the time of posting, six of them are free, including mahogany, slate, Cor-ten steel, concrete and marble.


Updated 16 April 2017: Allegorithmic has released its new Textile Collection, a further set of 150 materials, taking the total available on Substance Source to over 1,000.

At the time of posting, four of the new materials, including leather, spandex, denim and a quilted fabric, are available to download for free, along with a further eight assorted free materials.


Updated 27 May 2017: Allegorithmic has released a new set of 31 ground materials including asphalt, pavement, wood planks, gravel, sand, plus various types of rock and mud.

The files were created in collaboration with RDT, so they’re all paid-for assets.


Updated 20 July 2017: Allegorithmic has released a new set of 32 fabric materials replicating printed fabrics, one currently available for free.

They come with a variety of patterns, and roughness and metallic controls, plus an independent normal value for each color slot of the pattern, making it possible to recreate stitching and metallic ink effects.


Updated 24 September 2017: Allegorithmic has released what it describes as its first “cross-user material drop”: 100 new general-purpose materials aimed equally at videogame, visualisation and design work.

The materials all come with the source Substance Designer .sbs file as well as the compiled .sbsar asset, making it possible to customise them fully. At the time of posting, four are free to download.


Updated 6 October 2017: Allegorithmic has released 70 new ‘hybrid ground textures‘. The materials are procedural, but scan-based, each being built from an aggreggate of 60 to 200 source photographs.

Subject matter ranges from natural sand, rocks and vegetation to man-made materials like cobblestones and decking. At the time of posting, two are free to download.


Updated 11 December 2017: Allegorithmic has released a new set of materials based on those used in real-world 3D printing. You can find more details in our dedicated story on the current free downloads.


Updated 24 January 2018: Allegorithmic has launched its new Substance Source Signature Series: a series of collections of assets created by individual artists.

The inaugural set consists of 15 ground materials created by Bungie lead environment artist Daniel Thiger.


Updated 25 February 2018: Allegorithmic has released 30 new materials based on 3D scans of sportswear fabrics. Again, you can find more details in our story on the latest free downloads.


Updated 7 June 2018: Allegorithmic has announced its “most substantial update so far” to Substance Source – a collection of “almost 500” materials used in automotive design.

As well as more obvious materials like paints, composites, leathers and plastics, the set includes those used in prototyping cars, like plasticine, clay, polystyrene and even camouflage pattern films.

The assets are being released in batches, with future updates focusing on car interiors and exteriors.


Updated 28 September 2018: It’s a bit early for Halloween, but Allegorithmic has just posted a new pack of 18 creature skin materials on Substance Source.

Designed to make use of the support for subsurface scattering introduced in Substance Painter 2018.2, the pack covers fish, amphibian, reptile and zombie skins.

According to Allegorithmic, research for the zombie materials was pretty harrowing: “Browsing images of dead corpses all day long for references made us want upchuck more than a couple of times”.


Updated 16 November 2018: Allegorithmic has just posted a new set of 27 procedural ground materials on Substance Source, ranging from lava to leaf litter. The lava material is currently available free.

The firm has also released a new Cloud Viewer for Substance files, making it possible to adjust parameters for the materials and see the results update in real time inside your web browser.


Updated 14 February 2019: The latest addition to Substance Source is a set of 20 sports fabrics, ranging from fleece to polyester and woven mesh, all scanned from real-world samples.


Updated 10 May 2019: Allegorithmic has posted a set of new set of 69 skin micro detail materials, ranging from pores, hairs and fingerprints, to some rather ickier spots, moles and scars.

The blog post announcing their release includes a set of brief videos showing how to use them within Substance Painter, recorded by Framestore modeler Magdalena Dadela.


Read more about Substance Source on Allegorithmic’s website

Download free Substances from the Substance Source library