InstaMAT Studio is out now – a layer-based painting and node-based authoring tool in the same general category as Substance 3D tools like Substance 3D Painter, Substance 3D Designer, and Substance 3D Sampler, with integrations into common DCCs and engines including 3ds Max, Blender, Maya, Unity, and Unreal Engine.

What changes in 2026 is the set of levers available for high-precision, iteration-friendly detailing. Curves Brushes move detail painting toward an editable, control-point workflow. Lazy Stroke helps freehand lines behave. Radial symmetry adds a new patterning tool. Masking and mesh filters expand geometry-aware selection and effects. The new toolbar and hotkeys aim to keep artists in flow instead of chasing settings panels.

And yes, your first experiment should probably be those curve-driven panel lines that always look great right up until the model changes. This time, the system is explicitly designed so the detail survives that upstream change.

Curves Brushes: strokes that stay alive

Curves Brushes let you create editable curve paths on the mesh, using control points rather than a one-and-done freehand stroke. Those curves remain editable after creation, including moving and refining control points, and transforming an entire curve as a unit by translating, rotating, or scaling the path.

A single curves layer can hold multiple curves, and their painting sequence can be reordered. Curves can also be set to erase instead of paint, and they can be closed to form continuous shapes from end point to end point.

Control points support different point types, including linear, symmetrical, smooth, and cusp, with a Joint Smooth setting to control how sharp or fluid the transitions are between segments. Each control point also supports per-point settings for radius, falloff, flow, and rotation, enabling effects such as tapering and gradual fading along the curve.

Curves can orient brush strokes along the path, so details follow the curve’s flow rather than fighting it. Curves also support dynamics for randomised size, flow, rotation, and position to add variation without manually wiggling your wrist into submission. The Curves workflow uses a GPU-accelerated 3D painting engine and does not rely on mesh UVs. The stated result is that curves remain intact even when topology or UV layout changes, which is framed as especially useful for repeating high-precision details such as panel lines, seams, stitches, and decorative elements.

Lazy stroke smoothing, now built in

Alongside Curves, InstaMAT 2026 adds Lazy Stroke, a brush-smoothing feature designed to dampen shaky-hand input and cursor jitter. When enabled, the brush follows the cursor with a delay set by a configurable radius, producing smoother lines for precision freehand painting. The feature is positioned for tasks such as smooth linework, organic patterns, and fine-detail passes where jitter becomes visible in the final maps. If you have ever zoomed in to paint one confident line and instead produced a seismograph reading, Lazy Stroke is aimed squarely at that moment. Try it, then decide if it belongs in production.

Symmetry upgrades: radial joins planar

Radial symmetry painting is new in InstaMAT 2026, enabling repeating brush instances around a central axis. The symmetry axis can be set to X, Y, or Z, the number of repeated instances is configurable, and the angle span can cover full 360 degree patterns or partial arcs. The plane origin is also customizable, allowing the symmetry center to be placed where it is needed on the asset.

Planar symmetry painting is also described as significantly improved. The symmetry plane can be offset to a custom position on any of the three world axes, plane visibility can be customised, and there is an option to mirror the brush on the opposite side of the plane. Symmetry accuracy is described as improved even when painting on meshes that are not exactly symmetrical, targeting the real-world scenario where characters and props have small asymmetries and deformations.

Masking: normals, submesh size, and raytraced AO

InstaMAT 2026 extends its mask set with new workflows aimed at isolating geometry features without hand-selecting everything. The new Mesh Normal Mask can isolate parts of a mesh based on polygon normals and an angle tolerance. The workflow is click-based: click a region, and the mask selects surfaces with similar normal directions. Multiple chosen areas can be defined within a single mask, and tolerance can be adjusted per point. The mask is described as UV independent and stable across topology or UV changes.

The Mesh Submesh Mask can mask submeshes by size and distance, targeting scenes with many similarly sized objects where manual isolation is tedious. There is also a Mesh Ambient Occlusion Mask described as using raytracing to generate occlusion-based selections for isolating crevices, corners, and recessed areas.

Mesh filters and nodes: mirror, bevel normals, drips, and smoothing

A batch of mesh-oriented effects and nodes are listed as part of the 2026 update. Mesh Laplacian smoothing arrives as an option in the Mesh Smooth node, described as producing a more unified surface while better preserving mesh volume compared to traditional smoothing methods that can shrink geometry. The described use cases include cleaning scan data, removing photogrammetry noise, and refining sculpted details while preserving silhouette.

Mesh Mirror can mirror decals, masks, and entire layers, and it can be applied to a layer group to mirror complex effect and mask combinations.

Mesh Bake Bevel Normals is a node for beveling low poly asset edges using a GPU-accelerated bevel normals baker, with procedural masking for selecting which objects or edges to bevel. The behavior is described as procedural, so bevel placement remains correct if the input mesh topology or UVs change.

Mesh Directional Blur is presented as a way to create leak and drip effects by blurring in a specific direction in 3D space, keeping directionality consistent across the mesh surface regardless of UV layout or texture resolution. It includes distortion and falloff controls.

Additional mesh features listed include Mesh Solidify for solidification to prevent rendering artifacts, Mesh Sharpen for definition and detail clarity, and a Mesh Stylized Filter for non-photorealistic texturing options.

InstaMAT UI and workflow: less hunting, more painting

InstaMAT 2026 introduces a dedicated painting toolbar intended to centralise common controls. The toolbar provides quick access to brush and curve settings, including radius, flow, rotation, Lazy Stroke radius, symmetry, and curve-specific controls. It is described as dynamic, updating based on the active layer type so only relevant options are displayed.

There is also a dedicated brush rotation hotkey, described as Cmd or Ctrl+Shift with a left-mouse drag, to rotate the brush, aiming to reduce interruptions during stroke work.

Viewport and gizmo changes include planar translation gizmos for moving a mesh, effect, or mask along two axes at once, plus custom viewport wireframe settings for width and color, and a viewport shortcut overlay that displays hotkeys while painting, using curves, and using the paint projector.

Mesh import settings add options to configure mesh up axis and coordinate system handedness for asset texturing projects.

Integrations: Blender, Unreal, 3ds Max, Maya

The release notes list updates for several integration plugins tied to the latest https://docs.instamat.io/en/Products/InstaMAT_Studio release.

InstaMAT_for_UnrealEngine lists support for Unreal Engine 5.7.3, plus fixes for crashes when creating invalid graph instances, and fixes for broken materials and mesh orientations for Scene outputs. Library previews are added for Mesh-type Graphs and Graph Instances.

Blender integration notes include support for the latest Studio release, improved performance when setting mesh as a graph input, improved performance when resetting graph instance inputs, and fixes for plugin stalls when creating faulty graph instances. Library grid UX is adjusted with fixed cell width, and search results quality is described as improved.

3ds Max integration notes list support for the latest Studio release and a fix for the plugin getting stuck when creating faulty graph instances, plus window icons changed to match the main menu.

Maya integration notes list support for the latest Studio release, improved mesh-as-input performance, fixes for plugin stalls on faulty graph instances, and a fix for incorrect exported textures when using the export dialog window.

InstaMAT Licensing and pricing: what the numbers say

InstaMAT licensing is split across tiers with revenue or funding caps stated for some options. The Pioneer license is free and fully featured with commercial-use rights, with availability limited to individuals or businesses with annual revenue or total funding less than 100,000 US dollars, and it requires attribution.

The Indie license is available for individuals or businesses under 250,000 US dollars in annual revenue or total funding, with an option at 8 US dollars per month billed annually, and a perpetual Indie price shown at 489 US dollars. For Pro, the pricing page lists a Pro subscription shown at 36 US dollars per month billed annually, and a perpetual Pro license shown at 989 US dollars.

If you are evaluating the tool for a pipeline, test it against real assets, real render targets, and real deadlines before it touches a production branch. New tooling should earn trust with results, not promises.

Finally, keep an eye on how the new mesh filters slot into your existing material graph habits. Directional blur for drips in 3D space, procedural bevel normals, and AO-based masking can remove steps that otherwise happen in separate tools. If it holds up, it reduces context switching. If it does not, at least you learned it on a duplicate branch instead of the hero asset.

Also, do not skip the boring step: validate exports, naming conventions, and texture packing against your engine ingest rules before you fall in love with a shiny new brush. The most dangerous bug is the one that looks like a style choice until delivery day.

InstaMAT Test: Painting, Procedurals and Pasta

The post Abstract ships InstaMAT 2026 Curves Brushes first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Manuel Kotulla.

For those who don’t know the tool: InstaLOD from Abstract is a geometry optimisation layer sitting between DCC tools such as Blender and engines like Unreal Engine. It turns CAD, scans and DCC exports into predictable, well-behaving real-time assets without asking you to babysit every mesh.

VR as a first class citizen

With InstaLOD 2026, Abstract adds a dedicated VR target inside Delivery Optimization. Instead of nudging triangle counts and texture sizes mesh by mesh, users can now choose VR as the destination and let the system evaluate scene-wide constraints. InstaLOD accounts for triangle density, material complexity, texture resolution and runtime constraints when preparing assets for immersive devices or web deployment. Delivery Optimization can still run interactively, as reusable profiles or as rule based batch operations.

The difference is philosophical as much as technical. Rather than tweaking assets one at a time, teams define a policy and apply it everywhere. For large libraries sourced from CAD, scans and assorted DCC exports, that shift is more than cosmetic. It is also a reminder that XR performance budgets do not care how lovingly a mesh was modelled.

Raytraced shadows, fewer surprises

InstaLOD Studio’s physically accurate viewport now renders raytraced shadows using its deferred renderer, enabled by default. Raytracing can be toggled in Viewport Settings under Raytraced Effects. This is not pitched as a final render solution, but a sanity check. Evaluating silhouettes, normal fidelity and shading response under raytraced lighting during optimisation reduces the need to bounce assets back and forth to an external renderer. Translucency, bloom and transparency handling have also been improved.

Full scene wireframe rendering, adjustable opacity for filtered selections, corrected bloom and depth behaviour, and updated gizmo controls push the viewport closer to a diagnostic tool than a passive preview. The deferred renderer stays on by default, raytrcaing is optional. Less guesswork, fewer late night re-exports.

UVs without the ritual

UV Unwrap gains primitive based projection. Users can project from planes, cylinders, spheres in several variants, or boxes. Projection can be fitted to selected geometry via Adjust To Selection or aligned to bounding volumes using Fit To Bounding Box.

The feature is available from the Mesh menu, as a dedicated window or embedded in scene rules. When executed as a mesh operation, the projection adapts per mesh without manual parameter tweaks.

For large CAD imports or scan datasets, this means repeatable UV layouts without a custom setup per object. It will not replace hero asset unwrapping but works greatly for primitive geometry so you don’t have to unwrap the same bolt for the fiftieth time. For more complex geometries, InstaLOD’s already-existing UV algorithms can be applied.

Fixing geometry before it bites

Abstract states that the tool can fully reconstruct face orientation rather than simply flipping detected backfaces. For anyone who has chased blank faces through a pipeline at 2am, that promise alone will be appealing. Whether it resolves every pathological import case still depends on asset testing. So, now the Mesh Toolkit expands with Mesh Smoothing and a reworked Fix Winding Order. MMesh Smoothing is most useful for fixing messy scan data, not so much for CAD.

Fix Winding Order is the most helpful one for fixing broken CAD data. Fix Winding Order introduces a new algorithm that recomputes polygon orientation when normals are inconsistent or flipped. It is accessible in the Mesh Toolkit, Mesh menu, CAD import dialogue and CAD Live Link panel.

Bakers that trade triangles for pixels

Two new texture bakers extend surface detail workflows. Disk Sampling Curvature replaces previous curvature sampling approaches. The vendor states that it provides more stable and accurate curvature maps across varying art styles and geometric densities. It is enabled by selecting the Curvature baker and choosing Disk Sampling in the Texture Output panel.

The Bevel Normals baker generates rounded edge information directly into a normal map. Instead of adding subdivisions, it simulates bevelled edges in shading space. For low poly assets heading into real-time engines, this allows visually softer edges without increasing triangle counts.

The principle is familiar. If detail can live in a map instead of the mesh, the GPU will usually thank you. The art director may also stop asking why everything looks razor sharp.

Animation stays intact

InstaLOD 2026 extends animation support across GLTF, USD and FBX. GLTF and USD now support skeletal meshes, blend shapes and both skeletal and object based animations. FBX export introduces more granular control over skeletons, animations and blend shapes, with improved compatibility across DCC tools. The headline here is preservation. Optimisation does not automatically mean animation loss. InstaLOD positions itself as a geometry processing layer that respects rigs and deformation data rather than flattening them into static meshes. That is a meaningful distinction in pipelines where animation is not optional.

USD

USD workflows support polygonal meshes without forced triangulation, improved handling of stage metadata such as metersPerUnit, and removal of the default USDRoot node in exports. Material handling has been corrected for cases involving emissive colours or naming conflicts.

Polyverse inside the tool

Deeper Polyverse integration brings a built in asset browser into InstaLOD Studio. Users can download and import original meshes and automatically generated LODs directly inside the application. Authentication tokens are stored to reduce repeated logins. Assets can be previewed or opened in a web browser from within the interface.

The practical effect is fewer open tabs and less manual file shuffling. Asset discovery, LOD retrieval and optimisation now sit in a contiguous workflow. It is not glamorous, but it is the kind of friction reduction that accumulates over long productions.

Formats and host apps covered

CAD support now includes DWG and DGN. SolidWorks configurations are supported with optimised retessellation. Winding order correction is available during import. OBJ import and export have been reworked. GLTF vertex colour support has been extended. USDZ embedded texture path sanitisation is included.

Plugin compatibility extends to Blender up to 5.0, Unreal Engine up to 5.7 with improved Nanite fallback LOD quality, Autodesk Maya 2026, Autodesk 3ds Max 2026 and Autodesk VRED 2026.1.

In 3ds Max, Abstract reports execution time reductions by several orders of magnitude, bringing performance closer to InstaLOD Pipeline. This claim is vendor stated and not independently verified at press time. Unreal integration removes deprecated API calls and addresses previous instability around Skeletal Mesh editors and hardware ray tracing. On macOS, the Pipeline build ships as a notarised DMG. The compatibility list reads like a checklist of common production pain points. If your DCC of choice is on it, that is one fewer integration hurdle to clear.

Small updates, fewer surprises

The release also adds machine translated UI localisation, an automatic update system, improved selection performance on high poly meshes, new export settings for animation data, improved material name preservation in Delivery Optimization and warning systems for unsupported DCC versions. Individually, these are incremental. Collectively, they aim to make the tool less likely to annoy you at inconvenient moments. In production, predictability often beats novelty.

For teams working across games, XR, enterprise visualisation and virtual production, that middle layer is frequently a patchwork of scripts and manual cleanup. Abstract is consolidating it into a unified environment.

InstaLOD 2026 is available now from Abstract. As always, new pipeline components should be tested on real production assets before being rolled into active shows. Even the tidiest mesh can hide a suprise if you do not look closely.

https://www.abstract3d.com

The post InstaLOD 2026 Targets VR and Animation Pipelines first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

InstaMAT has set out to become nothing less than the holy grail of the material and texture pipeline. To that end, it combines a layer-based painting system with a scalable node-based material and asset editor, adds a mix of innovative features, and builds on InstaLOD’s mesh-processing DNA. We are taking a closer look at this ambitious package to see whether it can earn a place in a real production pipeline, or whether the free version will remain its main selling point.

In the spirit of Substance Painter, we start by texturing an asset. The Element Graph, comparable to Substance Designer, will be examined in detail in a second part. We will not ignore it entirely here, as the tight integration between these areas offers too many interesting possibilities to leave aside.

For our demo workflow, we need a suitable asset. Which object combines all materials in one place? Exactly, the pasta strainer portafilter. Wood, plastic, metal, and something organic. Quickly modelled in Houdini and exported as USD.

PROJECT vs PACKAGE

A bit of differentiation is needed here. The welcome screen first offers the option to create a project, which then leads to a second level of choices. For the sake of simplicity, we loosely map familiar tools to the respective options, but this is only a rough orientation. InstaMAT is not restricted to these boundaries and lives from the interplay between its different areas.

Asset Texturing works much like Substance Painter, allowing you to paint directly onto a mesh or apply materials.

Material Layer Project is closest to Substance Sampler or Quixel Mixer, enabling the creation of a new material by layering pre-made materials.

Materialize Image uses AI-based methods to generate a PBR material from a photograph.

Element Graph operates in the vein of Houdini’s Copernicus or Substance Designer, providing a node-based environment for material creation. InstaMAT goes significantly further here, offering everything from automated mesh processing to terrain generation.

That said, this initial choice is not particularly critical. Afterward, you end up in the Package overview, where you can freely create additional projects and import assets. It is best to think of a Package as a folder structure that contains your projects, such as layer painting setups and node graphs, along with all imported meshes and assets.

UV Unwrapping

For our purposes, “Asset Texturing” is the obvious next step. Unfortunately, the modeller clearly had nothing but pasta on their mind and forgot about the UVs. According to InstaMAT, this is not a problem at all. This is where the mesh functionality inherited from InstaLOD comes into play.

We start with our first small Element Graph, created via File > New Project > Element Graph. The unwrapping itself happens inside this controlled node-based environment. Since we do not want to keep things too simple, we split our mesh into three UDIM tiles for the handle, the strainer, and the noodles. The USD mesh is added to the Package via drag and drop and from there into the still empty node graph.

During import, InstaMAT triangulates the mesh in the background. If issues occur at this stage, for example with non-importable NURBS geometry such as the noodles, it helps to pre-triangulate the mesh in the DCC application. The basic unwrap pipeline consists of adding a Mesh UV Unwrap node via the space bar, and that is essentially it. Different methods are available, including Organic, Hard Surface Axial, and Angle. In our case, we use Hard Surface Axial.

Noodles with UVs

Since the noodles already have UVs and we want to unwrap the handle and metal parts separately, we split the asset using the Mesh Extract by Submesh node. Submesh masks detect connected polygon flows within a mesh. This very useful node is also available in the Layer Painting context.

To generate UDIMs, we offset two of the node branches by one and two units respectively using Mesh UV Transform, then merge the three branches with Mesh Append. Finally, we export the mesh, now equipped with proper UV tiles, as FBX. Details on the export dialog and the rather central export button will be covered later in this article.

Orientation

We drag the FBX we just exported into our Package and can now create an Asset Texturing project. For new projects within a Package, there is a very prominent “+” button. In the project dialog, the key setting to watch is Type set to UDIM, and selecting the mesh from the Package. Templates can safely be ignored for now.

In terms of logic, the interface follows the conventions of established painting applications. You find your way around quickly and, more importantly, actually enjoy working in it. There are a few quirks, but after some quality time in InstaMAT, they stop standing out.

Interface

So we begin with the classic material brawl. We pick suitable materials from the library and happily mix them using all kinds of masks. A first plastic material is selected from the library on the left (A) and dragged directly onto the handle. Even though this is a single mesh, InstaMAT automatically and correctly masks the handle’s polygon flow using the same submesh technique, via Mesh Mask by Submesh. That is genuinely practical.

The library also contains grunge maps, decals, alphas, and similar assets. Navigation is quick, helped by various filters and view options. The additional tabs on the left, above the library, lead to the project settings. These include the UDIM setup, bit depth and colour space per channel, and the underlying mesh. There are also viewport settings, such as tone mapping, AgX in our case, lighting controls like HDR blur and saturation, and render settings. Thanks to optional ray tracing and global illumination, the viewport looks quite presentable.

As expected for this genre, the HDR can be rotated interactively using Shift plus right mouse button. The icon with the open package finally takes us back to the Package overview, listing all projects and assets. The bar above the viewport (B) acts as a quick access toolbar. It contains the baking and export dialogs, as well as a few, partly duplicated, commands for the layer view and the handy option for creating new projects.

The layer stack (C) itself is built in a very traditional way and holds no real surprises in terms of logic. Individual channels such as base colour, normal, and roughness can be selected, their opacity adjusted, masked, and enhanced with effects and generators. Things become more interesting with the “Reference” function, which we will come back to shortly, along with the two different layer types.

Below the layers palette are the layer settings (D). These include options such as projection type, for example decal, triplanar, and UV. More options will likely appear here in the future. This area also holds the material or brush settings, as well as channel mapping, provided the layer is based on an Element Graph. At the bottom, we find the Image Viewer (E) for checking textures, baked maps, and masks.

The Great Noodle Bake Off

Before we really dive into the materials, we need to handle baking. This is where the geometric details of our mesh are “baked” into 2D textures. This is essential because without maps like Curvature, Ambient Occlusion (AO), World Space Normals, or Position, the generators and masks would be groping in the dark later on. For instance, the rust effect used later relies on the Curvature map to locate edges.

The Baking Dialog (accessible via the toast icon in the toolbar) is easy to understand: check the desired maps, select the resolution, and fire up the oven. The finished textures land neatly organized in our Package and are automatically linked by InstaMAT, so we can get started right away.

Material Brawl and Layering

InstaMAT ships with around 1,000 procedural materials covering a wide range of use cases, and they look genuinely good. Additional materials can be created either in the Element Graph using nodes or via Photo2PBR. A few hundred more can be found on the in-house Polyverse platform, even though that ecosystem does not (yet) come close to the breadth of Adobe’s Substance Assets.

For the metal parts, we drag a nicely scratched, used-look material straight onto the mesh. Since all bundled materials are created in the Element Graph, they can also be opened there and adjusted down to the smallest detail. The black plastic is replaced with an oiled wood material from the library.

The materials already come with pleasing imperfections, but they are still a bit too well-behaved. Time to dive into generators, filters, effects, and masks. For the obligatory hint of rust found in any respectable kitchen, we first drop a Rust Iron material onto the strainer and select Edge Wear Mask directly under Mask. To avoid overly regular edges, we multiply in a grunge map using Mesh Project Mask. This workflow will feel familiar.

The Brush Engine

First contact with the brush engine happens through Mesh Mask Painting. Here, we can use a brush and repurposed decals as brush masks to add targeted stains. Once again, the interplay with the node graph becomes apparent. Under the hood, the stain decal is not a simple alpha image but a highly adjustable Element Graph. Parameters such as the number of splatters and the dryness at the core can be tweaked, and endless variations can be generated via the seed.

Need your own micro-scratch alpha? Then you build it in the Element Graph. Using the plus icon in the top bar, we create a new graph and, in fast-forward, turn a thin oval shape generator into a pattern with random rotation, scale, and opacity using the Guided Scatter node, controlled chaos, in other words. Warp and Slope Blur nodes handle distortion and edge bleeding for the individual scratches, driven by procedural noises and grunge maps. A final grunge map multiplies in extra detail, and the result is written out via an Output node to our Package under Paintbrushes and Masks, immediately ready for use in painting.

Proper Scratches

To properly scratch up the nice wooden handle, we create a new multichannel layer, also known as a fill layer, above the wood layer. We enable only the Height channel and set it to Subtract. On the wood layer, we paint a mesh painting mask using the brush we just created, accessed via the Asset Browser, and reference this mask on the new height layer using Mask Reference. Below the wood layer, we drop an Aged Wood material, so that lighter core wood shows through in the scratched areas. The principle is a familiar one.

 A Matter of View

Using the shortcut C, we cycle through the channels. With S, we activate solo mode for the currently active layer, including masks. By right-clicking on a layer and choosing Output for Current Channel, the channel opens in the 2D viewer. A few dropdowns would be welcome here. Viewing a more complex mask is also still a bit cumbersome. If we want to see the combined effect of an entire mask stack, we have to right-click the topmost mask layer and select View Composite Output. The well-established Alt-click on a mask would be preferable here.

That said, InstaMAT is still very young and developing rapidly. These quality-of-life features will likely be implemented sooner rather than later, especially since the team actively listens to user feedback and feature requests.

Multichannel-Element-Layer

In the layer palette, we find four fundamental layer types: Multichannel Layer, Element Layer, Multichannel Brush, and Element Brush. A Multichannel Layer acts as an almost omnipotent stem cell and can essentially become anything. Right after creation, it looks rather unassuming, showing only a colour in the base colour channel. This is where the range of possibilities starts to unfold. Instead of a flat colour (which applies to all channels), we can assign textures, procedural graphics, layer references, or full Element Graphs.

If we want to use texture maps from an external material inside InstaMAT, this is the layer to use. Once the maps are imported into our Package, we assign them to the corresponding channels on the layer and end up with zucchini noodles. Do not forget the mesh mask, we accidentally create the world’s first vegan portafilter. It is best applied to a folder rather than directly to the layer.

An Element Layer is simply an Element Graph applied as a layer on the mesh. Typical examples include materials and noises, but also more exotic options such as BezierCurve, which lets us draw a curve in a separate window and project it onto the mesh as a decal. Following this logic, the Element Brush allows us to paint directly onto the mesh using a material or any other Element Graph-based asset, while the Multichannel Brush represents the classic empty painting layer across all channels.

InstaMAT Unmasked

When it comes to masks, InstaMAT offers a wide range of options. The previously mentioned Mesh Projected Mask can be filled with more than just grunge maps or textures. Any graph, effect, or generator can be used, even those originally intended for something else. For exploration, it is worth typing “mask” into the search field and browsing through options such as Aged Paint or more unusual entries like Circular Scatter.

The Polygon Mask operates using a freely movable 3D cube or sphere in space. These masks can be modified with an arbitrary number of filters. Do not rely solely on the Add Filter menu. Browsing under Pick from Library reveals even more options.

The Volume Mask is a bounding box mask. It treats the entire object as a cube, can be moved freely, and allows for softened edges. A clear highlight is the Mesh Mask, which identifies connected polygon flows. For Houdini users, this corresponds to name attributes or USD paths.

King of Masks

The undisputed king of masks, however, is the Mesh Mask Builder. It allows the creation of highly complex masks within a single layer. It not only accesses baked mesh maps but also, as if internal references were set, picks up on effects previously painted onto other layers. The Layer Ambient Occlusion function, for example, incorporates existing scratches. Directional behaves like a freely positionable spotlight, or aligns itself to normals, and Curvature forms the basis for all edge wear effects. Grunge and scratch layers are then used to break things up again. This starts to look suspiciously like an Element Graph, and indeed, building custom masks of this complexity is entirely possible.

Additional masks can be found in the asset library. Examples include the Mesh Leaks Mask, which simulates dripping fluids, the Light Mask, which allows actual lights, such as area lights, to be positioned and used as masking tools, and the Layer Height Curvature Mask, which takes height information from all layers as curvature input.

And just because we can, we quickly build our own mask in the Element Graph. It generates a Voronoi pattern as a base and distorts it with a few nodes, exposing their sliders as parameters. Saved under Mesh/Mask, it appears immediately in the layer palette and can eventually be used for some painterly look, one day. The important part is that it works, and it opens up a large range of possibilities. This mask look can be extended further into a complex generator or even a full material as an Element Layer.

Generators and Effects and Filters

At their core, generators are practical Element Graphs designed to take the pain out of detail work. A good example is the highly configurable Scratches Generator, which can wreak havoc across low and high frequency damage, complete with per-parameter variation. Numerous additional controls, such as distort and warp, help achieve a more organic look. This should feel familiar from the Element Graph when we built our own scratches brush tip. Helpfully, each generator or graph displays a short description directly underneath it.

Effects and filters have close relatives in any image editing application. At first glance, you encounter the usual suspects like Swirl, Radial Blur, and Warp, along with Levels, Curves, and Saturation. Things get more interesting once we switch to Pick from Library. Here, a more adventurous set reveals itself. Channels can be mixed, HSL values randomised, film grain added, the previously mentioned Edge Detect used for mask refinement, or photoreal textures pushed into a stylised direction via Stylized filters.

Filters and effects are spread across the library a bit. It is worth browsing through different categories such as Image, Mesh, or Material and simply throwing what you find onto the asset to see what happens.

Decals

Logos, icons, bullet holes, and similar details are commonly projected onto a mesh as so-called decals. In InstaMAT, an image is simply dragged directly onto the mesh and positioned in Decal mode. Under the hood, this creates a multichannel layer, allowing us to add a separate roughness or height map, as well as additional masks.

It is also possible to project an entire folder structure containing materials and custom masks onto the mesh by using a Mesh Projected Mask set to Decal mode, effectively turning the whole setup into a decal.

Hand Painted … Look

When it comes to hand painting, InstaMAT distinguishes between actual hand painting and a hand-painted look, however that is achieved. The latter is easy to produce thanks to its procedural approach, with powerful masks and generators. In the most brute-force way, we could build an oil paint effect in the Element Graph and apply it directly on top of a PBR texture, or simply use the Stylize material effect. Conveniently, this need not even happen in the painting context. Everything can be done in the node graph, as effects and filters are accessible everywhere, making it easy to create variations.

So what exactly can the brush engine do right now, and what can it not do yet? At the moment, we have three tools: Paint Brush, Eraser, and Paint Projector. Artists who like to actually swing a brush can set brush size, rotation, position, and flow to be constant, random, or driven by pen pressure, which works very precise and smooth on my Wacom. There are also options for axis-symmetrical and path-oriented painting, along with fundamentals such as falloff and spacing.

For now, that is unfortunately all. Tools that are essential for serious hand painting, such as Smudge, Stamp, and Lazy Mouse, are already on the roadmap but not yet available. (Buuuuut: We were able to catch a glimpse of a preview build. It already features many improvements, like Lazy Mouse, mighty Curves for your seam needs, and Radial Symmetry.

The Paint Projector works in a familiar way, allowing us to paint a texture onto the mesh from a camera perspective using a brush, or alternatively apply it directly as a mask. At the moment, only 3D painting in the viewport is supported. 2D painting in the texture viewer is currently in development. The real strength of the current system lies in the ability to design custom brushes, masks, alphas, and effects in fine detail via the Element Graph.

Material Generation from Photos

What if the handle is made from kitchen tiles? Time to test material creation from photos. To turn a simple smartphone photo into a usable material, we once again start a new project via the “+” button, this time choosing Materialize Image and selecting our image. In the next step, we already get a preview of the resulting material. The input image can be cropped or upscaled using neural assistance. The Color Equalizer normalises the image, while Base Color Shadow Cancellation removes lighting influences from the photograph. Individual channels can be adjusted separately. For example, roughness can be broken up using a grunge map. Optional dust and dirt effects can be added directly.

Once the prominent Save button in the top bar is pressed, the material becomes available in both the painting context and the node graph. From this point on, we can freely switch back and forth between the Materialize and Texturing tabs to refine the result.

For more complex materials, the node graph comes into play. Materialize Image appears here as a node. Why does this matter? It allows us to process individual channels using the full power of the image processing engine, combine them with other materials, or push the look in a more stylised direction.

Mesh Changes

Just before finishing these lines, our modeller made a few changes to the mesh. Fortunately, we can simply drag our existing unwrapping graph into a new graph, which gives us a node with exactly one input and one output, and then add the updated mesh. Since the naming and number of submeshes have not changed, the unwrapping is effectively done at that point. We duplicate the project via File > Save Project Copy and replace the mesh in the Project Editor. Re-bake the maps once, and we are done.

But what happened to our hand-painted masks? Did they carry over in the same way as the generators? Thankfully, yes. This apparent magic is explained by the fact that every single brush stroke is stored in 3D space rather than painted onto the 2D UVs. As long as the mesh does not change too drastically, as in this case, the strokes are always projected onto the correct location. Only one decal needed a slight adjustment, which was to be expected given the slightly different mesh orientation. We will take a look at how to implement this in an automated and scalable way within the node environment at a later point.

Performance and Flow

InstaMAT runs pleasantly smoothly and feels modern, admittedly a subjective impression. In some places, you can sense the procedural foundation. Especially when opening a project, it can take a moment for everything to be recalculated, depending on complexity. Helpfully, the UI displays VRAM usage in the bottom right. In this project, four UDIMs at 4096 resolution with 16 bits per channel filled 24 GB of VRAM once, resulting in a crash. Paying attention to the red warning icon and restarting the application promptly would likely have prevented that. For performance optimisation, the project resolution can be changed at any time, for example, working at 2048 and exporting at 4096, or by disabling viewport ray tracing. Or even better: Limit VRAM usage in the settings. This leaves some memory for the system.

Export & Rendering

The Export button, centrally located in the top bar of the UI, opens a clear, well-structured menu. Here, in fairly standard fashion, we can set file formats, resolution, and bit depth, with the latter two configurable per UDIM. Desired channels can be added via simple toggles, and the entire setup can be saved as a template.

When creating a template, we can go a step further and fine-tune the mapping of individual channels and enable output converters. These can, for example, convert roughness into glossiness maps or allow us to choose between DirectX and OpenGL normal formats.

The export itself is quite fast, and the maps are easily picked up by Octane and Karma (and likely by every other engine, too). Here are some rendered examples, it was a lot of fun to noodle around with the maps, putting them through their paces in extreme close-ups and under various lighting conditions

Community and Tutorials

Help, information, and like-minded pioneers can be found on Abstract’s Discord. On YouTube, there is a growing number of tutorials and presentations created by the steadily expanding community and by Abstract and its founder.

Particularly helpful: the application ships with several well-documented example scenes that can be dissected, studied at leisure, or used as a starting point. These well-documented sample projects make it easier to get started and illustrate solution paths for more complex problems.

Good ideas and user feedback are always welcome; feature requests can be posted right here in the forum: https://community.abstract3d.com/c/instamat/features/67

Polyverse

Think of Polyverse as InstaMAT’s extended arm into the web and collaborative workflows. It doesn’t just execute InstaMAT on the server side. It simultaneously serves as a management, versioning, and review tool for assets and materials. This even includes direct download plugins for Unreal and Blender. Beyond that, assets and materials can be processed right in the browser. Tasks like file conversions or turntable generation can be handled directly online

Pricing and Availability

The good news first: InstaMAT is available as a fully featured Pioneer License for free, as long as your revenue stays below USD 100,000 and you mention the tool. Above that threshold, there is an Indie version for revenues under USD 250,000. This is available either as a perpetual licence for USD 489 or as a subscription for EUR 8 per month.
Wait, a subscription? Software development costs a lot of money and needs to be funded somehow. You have to keep in mind that Abstract is not a global corporation. It is a small German developer with fewer than 30 employees. Considering they poured a lot of private capital into InstaMAT, the price is actually more than fair.

Beyond that, there is also a Pro version that offers the same integration with game engines as the Indie license. The Pro license removes the 250k USD revenue cap and includes server-based services, such as a virtual machine for running InstaMAT.

One important detail: the Pioneer License is an always-on licence. When my Wi-Fi dropped out once, InstaMAT immediately followed suit because the licence could no longer be validated. Offline licensing is only available at the Enterprise level or higher. A compromise is the Indie and Pro license that only requires occasional connection with the internet.

Sneak Peak

Just before wrapping up these lines (again), I managed to catch a glimpse of an early preview build. I cannot go into too much detail, but plenty of great things are coming our way. The brush updates include Lazy Mouse, Radial Symmetry, and Curve Tools, alongside a new Mesh Mask from normal and new Materials. The release is already planned for Q1! (Since all brush operations run procedurally in the background, adjustable post-drawing deformers like jitter are also on the roadmap. However, they might not be ready for the very next version.)

Instalove? The Verdict

The seamless and immediate integration of Painting and Nodegraph makes InstaMAT a remarkably fast and flexible tool. The Element Graph is an incredibly powerful instrument with capabilities that extend far beyond pure image processing found in other tools (our journey of discovery promises, among other things, RBD sims, complex mesh processing, automation, and even terrain creation). It can be compared to Houdini: if we are missing a specific effect, tool, or setting, we can very likely build or adapt it ourselves directly in the Element Graph.

The decision to compute brush strokes in 3D space rather than 2D is a clever design choice that directly addresses the reality of changing base meshes and scalability. However, a few brush tools are still missing to fully satisfy dedicated hand-painting artists. Though those who primarily paint masks won’t find this particularly bothersome. Speaking of which, the masks are another major strength: clever generators and the interplay between masks (maps) make complex effects achievable very quickly.

Anyone familiar with the Substance ecosystem won’t take long to feel right at home in InstaMAT. I highly recommend trying out the free Pioneer License to see how you can integrate the tool into your workflow. It is well worth it and will lead to quite a few “Aha!” moments.

What I liked most:

• The integration of painting and node graph, with the ability to intervene and combine procedurally at any point
• The highly customizable masks
• Performance & Flow
• Brush strokes and basically everything else are calculated in 3D space, so its easy to change the modell oder make automatic texture processes.

Room for improvement:

• Channel/Mask viewing is still a bit cumbersome
• Direct brush & painting features such as Clone, Path, and Smear

With the new update on the horizon, many wishes are being addressed. Once released, we will take another close look at InstaMAT. We will also dive deeper into the terrain and scaling workflows then.

The post InstaMAT Test: Painting, Procedurals and Pasta first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Manuel Kotulla.

Abstract, the Stuttgart-based developer behind InstaMAT, has released the September 2025 update for its texturing software. The update focuses on two things production artists tend to care about most: performance and precision.

InstaMAT now supports sheen and clearcoat shading models. These enable artists to simulate realistic fabrics and layered car paint directly in the viewport. Shading models are automatically matched to active channels, and a status bar readout makes it easier to see which mode is currently applied.

The company claims performance gains in its GPU-driven layering and painting engine. A structural change prevents newly added channels from being retroactively enabled across all layers, avoiding unnecessary processing of texture data not in use.

Terrain Generation With Actual Erosion

The Paint Projector, a common tool for projection painting, has been overhauled. It now supports W, E, and R hotkeys for translate, rotate, and scale: the same shortcuts used in DCC software like Maya. A reset option restores projection alignment instantly, and new toggles clamp or tile the source image during projection. These refinements target VFX workflows such as digital double creation, where matching reference images to geometry demands precise projection control.

InstaMAT’s GPU-accelerated terrain erosion now outputs more consistent results across resolutions. Artists can work at lower resolutions for iteration speed, then export higher resolution terrains for final use. Combined with the Element Graph, which merges images and meshes in a single node graph, erosion tools allow environment artists to generate and texture natural landscapes inside one project.

Transparency Without Guesswork

Viewport transparency has been refined. Glass, water, and other translucent surfaces display more accurately with improved rendering quality. Partial translucency is now better handled, which should make material look-development closer to final renders. Two new tonemap operators have been added: AgX and PBR Neutral. These options align viewport colour with pipelines that depend on specific tone-mapping, such as Unreal Engine or custom render setups.

Masking Gets a Submesh Upgrade

The new Mesh Submesh Mask provides an alternative to the older Mesh Mask. Instead of requiring pre-split geometry, it identifies sub-components within a combined mesh using polygon adjacency. This allows artists to isolate areas of a model for texturing without breaking it apart first, reducing roundtrips to modelling software.

New Grunge, Same Grit

The update adds two grunge maps, Plastered and Rampage 3, as well as a Clouds Spots noise function. Plastered is tailored to architectural surfaces, Rampage 3 extends the Rampage family with more micro details, and Clouds Spots can be combined with the Iterate node to generate spot-based surface variation.

Performance at Scale

According to Abstract, the combination of GPU optimisations, smarter projection, and shading refinements makes large-scale production more efficient. Artists should be able to build lighter, faster projects without compromising fidelity. To coincide with the release, Abstract is offering a 30% discount on InstaMAT seat subscriptions from 10–15 September 2025. The discount applies at checkout on subscription plans.

Test Before Production

As always, testing new software versions before integrating them into active production pipelines isadvisable. Features may work differently across studios depending on GPU hardware, project scale, and existing workflow dependencies.

InstaMAT 2025 Graduates: Terrain, Ray Tracing, and Polyverse. Now That’s a Release!

From Concept to Play: Streamlining Asset Pipelines with InstaMAT’s Scalable Workflows

The post InstaMAT Gets Smarter: September 2025 Update Sharpens Shading, Painting, and Performance first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

InstaMAT is finally leaving early access with its 2025 release scheduled for 22nd July. This means it’s an excellent time to look at the breakthrough new features slated for this release, from AAA quality terrain generation, artist-friendly curve painting tools, layer references, and a massive improvement to the real-time viewport with raytracing. Packed with over hundreds of additions and improvements, InstaMAT 2025 continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible for generative 3D asset creation for all industries, from games to VFX.

Studios face mounting pressure to deliver expansive, visually stunning games on tighter schedules, all while supporting multiple platforms from high-end PCs to mobile devices. InstaMAT streamlines 3D asset texturing with scalable generative workflows for faster game development.

In the fast-paced world of game development, speed and scalability are paramount. A key bottleneck in this process is the asset pipeline—creating, texturing, and optimizing thousands of 3D assets like environments, props, and characters. Traditional workflows, reliant on manual texturing and iterative adjustments, are too slow to meet modern demands. InstaMAT, developed by Abstract, revolutionizes this process with its procedural, scalable workflows, enabling studios to streamline asset creation and move from concept to play faster than ever.

The Challenge of Modern Asset Pipelines

Game development has evolved dramatically. Open-world titles like Cyberpunk 2077 or Elden Ring feature thousands of unique assets, each requiring detailed textures and platform-specific optimizations. With increasing production complexity AAA production targets become increasingly difficult to meet while staying with the budget. Meanwhile, indie studios and mid-sized teams must compete with AAA quality on leaner budgets. The asset pipeline, which encompasses modeling, texturing, baking, and optimization, often consumes weeks or months, with repetitive tasks draining resources. Scaling a single asset category, such as environmental props, into dozens of variations (e.g., different wear levels or materials) is labor-intensive. Additionally, ensuring assets perform across diverse platforms without sacrificing fidelity requires complex, manual adjustments.

These challenges highlight the need for scalable, automated workflows that maintain creative flexibility while reducing production time. InstaMAT addresses this need with its intuitive layering and node-based systems, designed to scale across asset categories and automate repetitive tasks, empowering teams to deliver high-quality games efficiently.

InstaMAT’s Scalable Workflows

InstaMAT is a breakthrough generative asset design and texturing tool that transforms production pipelines by prioritizing scalability and automation. Its layering and node-based workflows allow developers to create, iterate, and optimize assets at scale, seamlessly integrating with game engines like Unreal Engine and Unity. Unlike traditional tools that require manual edits for each asset variation, InstaMAT enables teams to build flexible, reusable systems that adapt to entire asset categories and automate complex processes.

Layering Projects for Category-Wide Scaling

InstaMAT’s layering system offers a non-destructive, artist-friendly approach to texturing, resembling familiar layer-based image manipulation and compositing tools but tailored for 3D assets. Designers can stack effects such as base materials, wear patterns, decals, or dirt in layers, adjusting parameters to create variations without starting from scratch. This system is ideal for scaling textures across an entire asset category, such as props, vehicles, or architecture.

For example, a single layering project for a set of sci-fi containers can define a base metal texture, procedural scratches, and dirt masks. By tweaking layer parameters (e.g., rust intensity or polish level), artists can generate dozens of unique boxes, machinery and other props from one template. These layers are resolution-independent, ensuring textures scale from high-res consoles to lightweight mobile platforms. The result is a unified, visually consistent asset category produced in a fraction of the time.

Node-Based Projects for Workflow Automation

For technical artists and larger teams, InstaMAT’s node-based system provides powerful automation capabilities. This workflow lets users build custom pipelines by connecting nodes that define material properties, texture maps, or optimization steps. Once created, these graphs can automate repetitive tasks across hundreds or thousands of assets, streamlining production.

For instance, a node graph for environmental rocks can automate the creation of normal maps, ambient occlusion, and diffuse textures, with parameters for size, erosion, and moss coverage. Applying this graph to a library of rock models generates unique variations instantly, each optimized for specific platforms. Nodes can also tap into powerful geometry processing technology from InstaLOD (Abstract’s end-to-end asset optimization and creation software) to automate LOD (level of detail) generation, ensuring assets are game-ready without manual intervention.

In the following video, you see how the layering project for sci-fi containers was used in a node-based workflow, simply by dragging the project into the workspace. This enabled the artist to build on the project to add more procedural logic and functionality, such as performing an automatic retopology, uv-unwrapping and baking. The result is an end-to-end asset pipeline that enables dramatic cost-savings whenever applied.

Integration and Optimization

InstaMAT’s workflows integrate with Abstract’s ecosystem, including InstaLOD for automatic retopology and asset optimization, Polyverse for cloud-based asset management and RSX Engine for real-time collaboration. Textures created in InstaMAT are exported in standard PBR formats (e.g., base color, metalness, roughness), ensuring compatibility with major engines. Projects and materials are instantly be uploaded to Polyverse for cloud-based execution, shared collaboration, and organization between project members, while assets can be optimized and processed in the cloud making it a versatile solution for large and small teams alike.

Use Case: Scaling a Sci-Fi Prop Library with InstaMAT

Imagine a mid-sized studio developing a sci-fi shooter with a sprawling space station environment. The art team needs to create 200 unique props—crates, panels, and terminals—with varied textures (e.g., clean, rusted, battle-damaged) optimized for PC, console, and mobile platforms. Traditionally, this would require weeks of manual texturing and optimization, with artists painstakingly crafting each variation. With InstaMAT, the studio streamlines the process:

Step 1: Layering Project Setup

Artists create a layering project for crates, defining a base metallic texture with layers for paint, scratches, and decals. Parameters like rust intensity and decal placement are adjustable, allowing one project to generate 50 unique crate textures.

Step 2: Scaling Across Categories

The team adapts the layering project for panels and terminals, reusing shared layers (e.g., rust, dirt) while adding category-specific effects like holographic displays. This scales the workflow to cover all 200 props with consistent quality.

Step 3: Pipeline Automation

Leveraging InstaLOD nodes in InstaMAT for automatic retopology, baking and LOD generation; technical artists build a node graph to automate asset processing: low-poly generation, texture map generation (normal, roughness, metalness), texture application, and LOD creation. Using InstaMAT Pipeline to process all 200 props in a single batch, creating both texture LODs (4K/2K/1K for PC, 2K/1K/512 for mobile) and geometry LODs (100%/50%/25% polygon reduction) with platform-specific settings.

Step 4: Project Syncronization

InstaMAT integrates with Polyverse to provide all project members with up-to-date assets and workflows. Using Polyverse Sync, all assets are syncronized across all artists’ and developers’ workstations ensuring consistent versioning and material updates across the entire development pipeline.

Step 5: Collaborative Iteration

Using RSX Engine’s real-time collaboration functionality, the team reviews the props under different light conditions, in difference scenes while tweaks material shaders collaboratively, finalizing the prop library in days.

The outcome is a visually diverse, optimized prop library completed in a fraction of the usual time. The studio delivers a polished game on schedule, with assets that perform seamlessly across platforms, enhancing player immersion.

In the following video, you can see how it all comes together. With RSX Engine, running in a browser, the props are directly downloaded from Polyverse and a scene is assembled collaboratively with other users. The props can be reviewed with full interaction using component logic of the game project. Next, you can review the prop library, using the Polyverse web application.

How Game Developers benefit from InstaMAT

InstaMAT’s scalable workflows address critical industry needs:

• Efficiency: Layering projects reduce manual work, enabling rapid iteration and scaling across asset categories.
• Automation: Node-based pipelines eliminate repetitive tasks, freeing artists to focus on creativity.
• Cross-Platform Support: InstaLOD technology integration ensures assets are optimized for any platform, from VR to mobile.
• Accessibility: Free Pioneer Licenses make InstaMAT accessible to indie and student developers alike, leveling the playing field with larger AAA studios.

As games grow in scope and complexity, InstaMAT empowers developers to build richer worlds faster, without compromising quality. Its procedural approach not only accelerates production but also fosters creativity, allowing teams to experiment with bold designs and deliver unforgettable player experiences.

Get Started with InstaMAT

Ready to streamline your asset pipeline? Sign up for a free Pioneer License or request an evaluation to explore InstaMAT’s full feature set. Join the Abstract Community forum to share workflows, learn from peers, and stay updated on the latest tools. From concept to play, InstaMAT is your partner in crafting the next generation of games.

About Abstract

Abstract is a deep-tech company pioneering 3D and AI technology. Its products empower game developers, VFX and film, enterprise, XR, and metaverse industries to deliver efficiently with massive cost savings. InstaLOD converts CAD to 3D, optimizes geometry and automates 3D pipelines, InstaMAT introduces generative materials and scalable texturing, Polyverse enhances cloud-based asset management and 3D data processing as a service, while RSX Engine enables real-time collaboration and cloud synchronization when building 3D applications and games. Abstract is driving breakthrough innovation in 3D and AI across industries.

The post From Concept to Play: Streamlining Asset Pipelines with InstaMAT’s Scalable Workflows first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Advertorial.