Substance Painter 11.1, released on 18 November 2025, marks a technical milestone: the long-expected switch from OpenGL to Vulkan on Windows and Linux. The change brings the viewport renderer, texture computations, and baking to Vulkan, aligning all platforms with the Metal backend introduced earlier on macOS.

According to Adobe, Vulkan should improve viewport performance and shorten baking times. GPU raytracing now uses Vulkan-based compute, replacing both OptiX and DXR. This unifies GPU-based baking across AMD, NVIDIA, and Linux systems. However, users should verify GPU compatibility, as the new API may change hardware support requirements.

New Ribbon path tool

The central addition in Substance Painter 11.1 is the Ribbon tool, a new member of the path tool family. It repeats or stretches a texture seamlessly along any 3D surface, with precise control over start and end segments and options for sharp or curved corners. The Ribbon can lay down clean gradients, trim details, or even deform text along a path, useful for stitching, labeling, or placing ornaments around complex geometry. Adobe describes it as a “cleaner tool for more precise drawing with paths.”

Ribbon paths are compatible with symmetry, dynamic strokes, and come with blending modes for overlapping alpha, height, and normal channels. Artists can adjust size and opacity per vertex, decoupled from stylus pressure, giving finer control over variation along a stroke. Two new presets, Custom Ribbon Grayscale and Custom Ribbon Material, are provided to demonstrate advanced uses, such as multi-channel path strokes with dynamic ends and corners.

75 new presets and categories

Painter 11.1 adds 75 new Ribbon presets, grouped into new categories accessible from shortcut buttons in the Properties window. These include:

• Apparel: stitches, zippers, and fabric tears
• Basic: lines, gradients, and dynamic custom ribbons
• Grunge: surface cracks
• Hard Surface: panels, grips, welds, and mechanical seams
• Organic: bandages and wrappings
• Paint: brush-based gradients
• Text: text-along-path templates

Typing “ribbon”, “paint”, or “path” in the Assets window filters the relevant content. Switching presets no longer deselects the active path, streamlining iteration.

Symmetry for fill layers and effects

Symmetry now applies to fill layers and fill effects using 3D projection. Both mirror and radial symmetry are supported, activated via the contextual toolbar or the Properties window. Fill layers gain a new flip input resource option to mirror text or logos while keeping them legible on both sides. The symmetry UI has been reworked with dedicated sliders for each axis and a smaller radial display.

Physical displacement size

Displacement in Painter can now be defined using real-world units. Users can choose between Normalised, Scene-based, or Physical size (cm) units. This makes it easier to align displaced geometry across DCCs or game engines that expect physically accurate height values.

Vulkan raytracing and performance updates

Beyond rendering, the Vulkan backend modernises Substance Painter 11.1’s baking system. Raytracing via Vulkan replaces previous DXR/OptiX-based implementations, bringing GPU baking to AMD GPUs and Linux systems for the first time. Adobe notes faster render times, particularly at high resolutions. Performance has also improved when working with very large or elongated triangles, resolving earlier issues with low-poly meshes used for tiling texture creation. Shader compilation is faster, and the default brush shape has been updated for better roundness and hardness behaviour.

Smaller but useful updates

Substance resources in tools and fills now include a Resolution Override group. This allows changing the generation resolution (Auto, Texture Set, or Custom) with an optional scaling factor—useful for optimising quality or performance. The Substance Engine has been updated to version 9.2.5, and export presets now correctly handle grayscale mesh maps.

Fixes and known issues

Crashes during project loading and path snapping have been addressed, along with several interface glitches in the Path panel and tool properties. However, Adobe lists known issues with the new Ribbon system, including UV tile performance drops, tangent loops at corners, and instability with very long text paths. HDR colour conversion under ACES on Linux still clamps values, and the right-click menu remains undersized on HD displays.

Practical note

As always, production artists should test the Vulkan backend and new path workflows in controlled environments before using them in active projects. Hardware behaviour, especially for GPU-based raytracing, may vary depending on drivers and GPU vendor support.

Summary

Painter 11.1 is less a feature flourish than a structural overhaul. Vulkan unifies the graphics layer across all platforms, the Ribbon tool introduces precision path workflows, and displacement gains measurable units.
Together, these mark a shift toward more predictable, platform-agnostic performance in Adobe’s texturing flagship.

The post Ribbon Rules: Substance Painter 11.1 goes Vulkan first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Mike Kuhn.

Adobe has stirred the pot once more with the release of Substance 3D Sampler 5.0, adding a generous dash of new features to its already robust 3D material authoring and capture software.

Path Tracing in the 3D Viewport

The headline feature in this update is the introduction of path tracing within the 3D viewport. This advanced rendering technique allows artists to preview materials with greater accuracy, faithfully replicating properties such as coating, sheen, translucency, and subsurface scattering. The result? What you see is much closer to what you’ll get in the final render, reducing the guesswork and iterative tweaking.

Integration with HP’s Z Captis Material Scanner

For those with Enterprise and Teams subscriptions, Substance 3D Sampler 5.0 now offers native support for HP’s Z Captis material scanner. This integration streamlines the process of capturing real-world materials, enabling users to initiate scans directly from within the software. The captured data is automatically processed into PBR (Physically Based Rendering) channels, ready for immediate use in your projects. It’s like having a magic wand that transforms physical textures into digital assets.

Adobe Standard Material Support and Workflow Enhancements

In a move to promote consistency across applications, the update includes support for the Adobe Standard Material shader when exporting USD (Universal Scene Description) files. This ensures that materials maintain their appearance across different platforms and tools, reducing the need for tedious adjustments.

Additionally, the 3D Viewport has been enhanced with options to display shadows and reflections on the ground plane, along with a grid to indicate the scene’s origin. These visual aids provide better context during the material creation process, making it easier to position and evaluate assets.

Quick Actions and Redesigned Homepage

To further enhance usability, Adobe has introduced ‘Quick Actions’—presets that automatically populate the layer stack for common workflows. This feature accelerates the material creation process, allowing artists to jump-start their projects with predefined settings.

Pricing and Availability

Substance 3D Sampler 5.0 is available via subscription. Individual plans are offered through the Substance 3D Texturing subscription, currently priced at $19.99 per month or $219.88 per year, and the Substance 3D Collection subscription at $49.99 per month or $549.88 per year. The Linux version is accessible through the Creative Cloud for Teams subscription, priced at $1,199.88 annually.

Adobe has announced that, effective March 25, 2025, subscription prices for Substance 3D products will increase. The Substance 3D Texturing plan, which includes Substance 3D Designer, Painter, and Sampler, will rise from $19.99 to $24.99 per month, or from $219.88 to $249.88 annually. The Substance 3D Collection plan, encompassing all applications, will increase from $49.99 to $59.99 monthly, or from $549.88 to $599.88 per year. For teams, the annual subscription will go up from $1,199.88 to $1,439.88. Adobe cites continuous feature updates and product innovation as reasons for these adjustments.

As with any new software release, it’s prudent to thoroughly test these features within your existing workflow before deploying them in live projects. After all, even the most appetizing dishes benefit from a taste test before being served.

The post Adobe’s Substance 3D Sampler 5.0: Now with Path Tracing first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.