Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 16, 2015. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Substance Designer, the node-based texturing and baking tool for game artists, has been brought up to date for work on next-gen titles with version 5. Optimised for PBR and designed for work in large teams, artists can share assets with each other faster using an improved pipeline.
Key Features
As key features, manufacturer Allegorithmic names the improved Substance Engine 2.0 as well as a Pixel Processor node and the “Transfer Baker” function, which can be used to transfer textures from one mesh to another without having to worry about UV changes. Tri-planar Projection allows images to be applied seamlessly to meshes. The Dependency Manager asset-management system helps improve work in large teams, including across multiple studios. A new template system helps equip your own engines and pipelines with tailor-made templates.
Prices and Availability
Substance Designer 5 can currently only be pre-ordered, for both Mac OSX and Windows. The official release is scheduled for March 4. The price for the Pro licence is 590 US dollars (node-locked licence; floating costs 749 US dollars), while the price for an Indi licence increases from 99 to 149 US dollars with the new release. In return, the revenue limit has been raised from 10,000 US dollars to an impressive 100,000 US dollars.
Early-Bird Prices
However, it is still possible to buy or pre-order the new Indi version now for 99 US dollars before its release on March 4. Indie upgrades are also still available during this period for 50 instead of 75 US dollars. Pro upgrades are also available for 200 instead of 300 US dollars until the official release.
Until the release, however, you can already familiarise yourself with the tool’s possibilities – here is an overview using the current version 4:
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