Adobe just dropped a massive Substance 3D Painter update

A big update has just dropped for Adobe Substance 3D painter, one of several apps in the creative software giant's suite of 3D programs. The latest update adds new support and time-saving features and comes on the heels of the introduction of Firefly AI tools in Substance 3D Sampler and Stager earlier in the year.

Painter now features support for native Adobe Illustrator files, a new text resource makes it easier to use custom fonts for decals and the 3D Assets Library is now accessible directly inside Painter.

On both Windows and Mac, designers can now drag and drop an Illustrator file into Substance 3D Painter’s viewport, the layer stack, or any Properties slot. The file retains its vector resolution allowing it to be scaled to any size without any loss of detail and all artboards remain intact and accessible after import, allowing fast work on multiple designs or variations.

Meanwhile, painter now lets you add text to your projects using any font on your system with the new Text Resource. You can drag and drop a font from the text category in the Assets panel onto your 3D model, and you have full control over text properties like alignment, line and character spacing, as well as custom font size and resolution. Settings will remain as you try out different fonts.

Another update is the addition of a new 3D Assets panel in Painter allowing access to the entire Substance 3D material and IBL libraries, including nearly 20,000 ready-to-use materials with dynamic parameters and presets. Materials can be downloaded on the fly and will be saved in your library, ready to be applied on your model.

Finally, Painter's layer stack is now exposed as part of the Python API. This can help technical artists create tools to manage layer stack properties in bulk. Examples cited by Adobe include changing tiling or projection settings for multiple layers with a single operation, randomising all the seed values in the different layers of the layer stack all at once, or automating the creation of material variants. You can learn more in Adobe's release notes.

For more on Adobe's Substance programs, see our Adobe Substance 3D Modeler review and our Adobe Substance 3D Stager review. You can see the best current prices of Adobe Substance 3D apps below.

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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.