Adobe is moving toward a non-destructive USD workflow and a new real-time path tracer.
Adobe has shared its plans for Substance 3D Designer in a recent live stream. The team announced a new Hydra viewport and native MaterialX support.
More specifically, the company is moving toward fully embracing a non-destructive OpenUSD workflow, so artists will see a new 3D viewport. Switching to Hydra means Adobe can use its own custom renderer that has path tracing and rasterization or an outside renderer that supports Hydra, such as RenderMan or OctaneRender.
Essentially, this should make Substance 3D Designer easier to implement in 3D workflows and let materials look as similar as possible in different software.
Image credit: Adobe
Another change is MaterialX, which will be supported natively. Authoring MaterialX directly in Substance 3D Designer will make it easy to export materials to other apps with MaterialX support.
The updates should come next year but probably not too soon. Adobe is working on quality-of-life changes for the next Substance 3D Designer version.
The perpetual license for the software costs $149.99, while subscriptions start at $19.99/month.
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