Adobe releases Substance 3D Sampler 3.1
Adobe has released Substance 3D Sampler 3.1, the latest version of its material-authoring software, previously known as Substance Alchemist.
The update adds support for SVG files, a new Color Picker and updated Crop tool, and improves interoperability with Adobe Illustrator and Substance 3D Stager.
Improved interoperability with other Adobe software
Substance 3D Sampler 3.1 is the first update to the software since Adobe rebranded the Substance tools, acquired with original developer Allegorithmic in 2019, as the new Substance 3D Collection.
As with Substance 3D Sampler 3.0 itself, a major focus of the update is improving interoperability with other Adobe applications, and with workflows familiar to users of Adobe’s graphic design software.
Changes include a new Edit in Illustrator command, making it possible to open source images for a material inside Adobe Illustrator, with any changes being propagated automatically back to Sampler.
In addition, shader settings for the new Adobe Standard Material are now exported in .sbsar or .sbs Substance material files, which Adobe’s blog post pitches as improving visual consistency with layout and lighting software Substance 3D Stager.
Support for SVG files and updates to the Color Picker and Crop tool
Other new features in Substance 3D Sampler 3.1 include support for SVG files. Suggested use cases include importing vector designs in SVG format for use in fabric materials.
The Color Picker has been redesigned, adding the option to save and manage colour swatches, to enter hexadecimal values for colours, and a new eyedropper tool for colour selection.
The eyedropper can also be used to pick colours from outside Sampler itself, as shown in the video above.
The Crop widget has been updated, getting a more standard workflow in which [Enter] is used to validate the cropped region, and avoiding image stretching when cropping non-square images into square textures.
Other changes include the option to set the normal map format used by the software – that is, DirectX or OpenGL – in Preferences, and a number of updates to Compound Filters, listed in the online changelog.
Pricing and availability
Substance 3D Sampler 3.1 runs on Windows 10, CentOS 7.0/Ubuntu 18.04+ Linux and macOS 10.14+.
It is rental-only, via Adobe’s new Substance 3D subscriptions. Substance 3D Texturing subscriptions cost $19.99/month or $219.88/year; Substance 3D Collection subscriptions cost $49.99/month or $549.88/year.
The Linux edition of Substance 3D Sampler is not available as part of individual Adobe subscriptions, only via Creative Cloud Plans for Teams priced at $1,199.88/year.
Read an overview of the new features in Substance 3D Sampler on Adobe’s blog
Read a full list of features in Substance 3D Sampler 3.1 in the online changelog