Thursday, January 30th, 2025 Posted by Jim Thacker

Adobe launches unmetered access to Substance 3D Assets


Adobe has changed its subscription plans for its Substance 3D applications, giving all subscribers unmetered access to the online Substance 3D Assets library.

Subscribers now have access to over 19,000 materials, 3D models and HDR lights with “no points [and] no restrictions”, for use in game art, VFX, motion graphics and visualization.

What is the Substance 3D Assets library?
Allegorithmic, the original developer of the Substance 3D applications, launched Substance Source – the precursor of the Substance Assets library – in 2016.

Originally a collection of parametric materials in in Substance 3D’s SBSAR and SBS formats, it was expanded to include 3D models and HDRIs in 2021.

The online library now hosts over 13,000 materials, grouped into Surfaces, Decals and Atlases; over 6,000 3D models in FBX and GLB format; and 99 HDRs in EXR and SBSAR format.

The assets are created by professional artists, either manually or based on 3D scans: Allegorithmic used to regularly commission leading artists to contribute to the library.

How did artists previously access the library?
The library originally operated on a system of download points, with users accumulating download credits as part of subscriptions to the Substance software.

After Adobe launched its current Substance 3D subscription plans in 2021, they included a limited number of downloads per month.

For individuals, Substance 3D Texturing subscriptions – Substance 3D Painter, Substance 3D Designer and Substance 3D Sampler – included 30 materials downloads per month.

Substance 3D Collection subscriptions – which also include Substance 3D Stager and Substance 3D Modeler – included 50 downloads per month.

Teams subscriptions included 100 downloads per month.

How has access to the Substance 3D Assets library changed?
Adobe has now introduced unmetered access to the Substance 3D Assets library, with all subscribers able to download any of the assets “without managing points”.

At the time of writing, Adobe still lists download limits on its website, but it has confirmed to CG Channel that these no longer apply, and that the website will be updated “soon”.

Substance 3D Product Director Jérémie Noguer tweeted that the change means unlimited access for all subscribers:

The assets can be downloaded from the Substance 3D Assets web portal, or directly within Substance 3D Painter.

Can I download Substance 3D Assets for free without a subscription?
For artists with free Adobe accounts, but no active Substance 3D subscription, Adobe makes a selection of the Substance 3D Assets available to download for free.

At the time of writing, 175 assets are available free: the selection used to be updated regularly, but this has stopped over the past two years.

How much do Substance 3D subscriptions cost?
For individuals, Substance 3D Texturing subscriptions cost $19.99/month or $219.88/year; Substance 3D Collection subscriptions cost $49.99/month or $549.88/year.

For teams, Substance 3D Collection subscriptions cost $1,199.88/year.

Read Adobe’s blog post announcing unmetered access to the Substance 3D Assets library

Compare Substance 3D subscription plans online


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