Sunday, April 23rd, 2023 Posted by Jim Thacker

Download free 3D resources from Substance 3D Assets


Originally posted on 11 July 2021. Scroll down for news of the latest free resources.

Adobe has made a new set of free 3D assets available via Substance 3D Assets, its online library of resources for its Substance 3D applications, previously known as Substance Source.

The site used to host materials in Substance SBS and SBSAR formats, but with the release of new scene layout and rendering tool Substance 3D Stager, it has been expanded to include stock models and HDRIs.

The free assets are suitable for use in a range of projects, from visual effects and architectural visualization to game development and motion graphics.

Expanded from a library of Substance materials to include 3D models and HDRIs
Substance 3D Assets began life as Substance Source, a library of procedural materials for use in Subtance 3D Designer, Substance 3D Painter, and other DCC apps that support the SBSAR material format.

It has been regularly updated since launch, both by original developer Allegorithmic and Adobe itself, with a sample of the new materials being made available as free downloads each time.

With the release of the Substance 3D Collection, the site has had a change of name and URL to match that of the Substance 3D applications themselves.

And with the introduction of Substance 3D Stager, a new scene layout and rendering app aimed at the ‘virtual photography’ market, the library has been expanded to include stock models and HDRIs.

Download over 100 free materials, HDRIs and stock models
At the time of writing, the library includes 125 free assets, 70 of them previously available materials.

The new content includes five free HDRIs, all of them interiors, and most replicating real-world studio photography set-ups, supplied at 4,000 x 2,000px resolution in EXR and SBSAR format.

There are also 50 untextured low-poly models for dressing sets inside Stager, including furniture, machinery, household objects and clothing, supplied in FBX and GLB formats.



Updated 12 December 2021: Adobe has added five new free materials to Substance 3D Assets.

The collection comprises three rock materials, two of them for cliff faces; a ‘stylized balloon paper’ material – it looks like a present tied with string; and a game-style gold coins material.



Updated 6 March 2022: Adobe has added five new free materials and six new low-poly models to Substance 3D Assets, as part of a new set of food-themed resources.

The materials comprise blue cheese, salami, grilled salmon, nacho chips and orange skin; the models include ice cream cones, a burger, chocolate bars and fruit.



Updated 2 November 2022: Adobe has added 15 new free assets to Substance 3D Assets: 13 new cloth materials – all varieties of cotton cloth – and two new HDRI interiors: a warehouse and a domestic interior.



Updated 20 April 2023: Adobe has added a new set of free materials to Substance 3D Assets, including leaf materials from its new Herbarium Collection, plus apple, lemon and blueberry skin and cucumber flesh.

Pricing and availability
You can download free materials, HDRIs and models from Substance 3D Assets via the link below.

Materials are usually provided in SBS and SBSAR format, HDRIs in EXR and SBSAR format, and models in FBX and GLB format. The files are updated regularly.

Access to the full commercial library is available via Adobe’s Creative Cloud subscriptions to the Substance 3D tools, which start at $19.99/month for individual artists.


Download free materials, HDRIs and models from Adobe’s Substance 3D Assets library
(Requires registering for a free Adobe user account)