

Using a smart unwrapping feature, you can even see how the packaging will unfold.

Ultimately, Substance and these other programs this will incorporate Fantastic Fold into the mix, a tool will take your 2D dieline and artwork, automatically fold it up, and provide you with a 3D preview. But it will also start to have an incredible impact on the packaging design community, e-commerce, and augmented reality (AR).įor designers, 3D content creation will likely become an essential skill in the coming years, and if you look at a lot of the programs Adobe already has in their creative suite, like Dimension and Aero, you can see that they’re engineering an entire workflow. The beneficiaries of this software up to this point have been the gaming and film industry-it’s those textures that Substance can bring to life that make CGI as breathtaking and photorealistic as it is. Within the Substance ecosystem, you’ll find four different tools: Painter allows you to texture your 3D assets, Designer lets you create your own materials, Alchemist will help you combine or modify real-world substances or those from your own resources, and Source is a library featuring thousands of customizable elements.Īdobe is leveling up when it comes to 3D, it’s part of an organizational push to revolutionize the tools creatives have at their disposal, democratizing these processes so that users with zero knowledge can create materials and textures from the ground-up-or even adapt an element from Substance’s lengthy offerings of over 2,000 base-biometric materials. Think seeing fur or scales on a hideous creature in a movie that seems so realistic, you could reach across the screen and feel how soft or flaky they might be.

Last March, Adobe acquired Allegorithmic, and with their Substance portfolio of programs, designers can create digital materials and textures with precise detail, making them look like the genuine article. But if there’s one abundantly clear thing, designers and motion graphics artists are getting really, really good at these things, and it’s in no small part to some of the tools they now have on hand. You know what it takes to make great CGI or 3D design?ĭetail and lighting (it also helps not to look like Photoshop Rock from Mummy Returns).
