Adobe releases Substance 3D Stager 3.0.2
Originally posted on 20 March 2024, and updated for the stable release.
Adobe has released Substance 3D Stager 3.0.2, the latest version of its scene layout and rendering software.
New features include Generative Background, a new system for generating background environments from text prompts, powered by Adobe’s Firefly generative AI toolset.
It was originally previewed in Substance 3D Stager 3.0, March’s public beta build, and is now available in the stable release.
The update also improves preview rendering, adds new tools for creating 3D text and physical lights, and makes the Select Tool more user-friendly.
An intuitive way for less specialist 3D artists to create virtual product photographs
Launched in 2021, Substance 3D Stager is a shot layout and rendering application.
Aimed at designers as well as specialist 3D artists, it is intended to provide an intuitive workflow for creating photorealistic brand visualisations and product mockups.
Users can lay out scenes using physics-based tools to place assets, and pick from libraries of readymade materials and ‘environment stages’ mimicking real-world studio lighting.
AI-based Generative Background system creates environments from text prompts
The main new feature in Substance 3D Stager 3.0.2 is Generative Background, a new system for adding a background to a scene without the need to find a stock image.
Powered by Firefly, Adobe’s suite of generative AI tools, it enables users to create a background image for the scene by entering a simple text description.
The result can be guided via an Openness slider, which controls the amount of empty space in the image, and via presets for Color and tone, Lighting, and Composition.
Stager’s Match Image system then automatically matches the perspective of the image to that of the camera, and matches the environment lighting to the image.
Stager automatically attaches Adobe’s Content Credentials to assets generated using Firefly, indicating in the metadata that they are AI-generated.
Better speed and visual quality in the real-time renderer
In addition, the update introduces interactive render denoising when editing a scene in Design mode, making it possible to see high-quality viewport previews more quickly.
The real-time rendering engine also now handles translucency better, displaying refractions when rendering objects like glass, plastics and liquids.
Other new features
Other new features include tools for creating 3D text and physical lights.
Updates to existing features include a redesigned Select Tool with a “screen-oriented bounding box design for easier compositing at lower angles”.
It is also now possible to group cameras, and to save custom scenes as templates.
Price, system requirements and release date
Substance 3D Stager 3.0.2 is compatible with Windows 10+ and macOS 12.0+.
The software is now rental-only, Adobe having discontinued the old Steam perpetual license at the start of the year.
It is available as part of Adobe’s Substance 3D Collection subscriptions, which cost $49.99/month or $549.88/year for individuals; $1,198.88/year for studios.
Read a full list of new features in Substance 3D Stager in the online release notes
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