Adobe Substance 3D Education Resource

In this document

Adobe Start 3D - The 3D Creative Process

New to 3D and feeling lost in the jargon? Whether you're just starting out or looking to sharpen your skills, these explainer videos break down key concepts like geometry, rigging, animation and more in a clear, beginner-friendly way. Perfect for anyone looking to understand 3D from the ground up!

  1. Start 3D
  2. Geometry
  3. Modeling
  4. Materials & Shaders
  5. UV Unwrapping
  6. Baking
  7. Texturing
  8. Rigging & Animating
  9. Staging & Rendering

Substance 3D apps are now included at no additional cost with the Adobe Creative Cloud plan for higher education and K12. Shared device licenses and feature restricted licenses. Substance 3D apps are currently available to shared device license and feature restricted license Creative Cloud plans in Higher Education and K12. Admin must repackage and deploy Substance 3D Painter, Designer, Stager, Sampler, and Modeler apps for users to access them through lab devices.

Free Student & Teacher licences

Producing a 3D image is usually a more linear process than creating a 2D illustration. To get from your initial concept to the final image, you need to go through a series of steps, each of which is generally completed before the next can begin. In this first video, we will look at the stages of a typical 3D workflow. We will explore each one in more detail in the videos that follow.

Artwork by Bri Nicol

Preparing the Classroom

To provide the Adobe Substance 3D students with the best experience possible we recommend the college lab or classroom provide the following:

  1. A computer that meets the hardware requirements: Substance apps are resource-intensive software that requires a capable computer with a dedicated graphics card. Teachers should check the hardware system requirements and ensure their computer meets them.
  2. Internet access for everyone enrolled in the class.
  3. Ability to download assets from the 3D Asset Library or the Community Asset Library
  4. The latest versions of Substance 3D apps installed. Teachers should ensure the software is up-to-date and ready to use.
  5. Basic knowledge of 3D modeling and texturing: While not necessary, having a basic understanding of 3D modeling and texturing can be helpful when learning Substance 3D.

Teacher Resources

Substance 3D Team

Substance 3D Tutorials (Italian)

Substance 3D Ecosystem

How to use Substance 3D materials (SBSAR) anywhere

How to use Substance 3D Painter in a 3D workflow with...

Adobe Substance 3D Sampler

Substance 3D Sampler allows you to create and iterate on material collections by tweaking and mixing existing materials, or by extracting new materials from scans (single or multiple images). A new set of powerful tools combining different technologies and creation methods (procedural-based, capture-based, AI-based and manual) will help you manage entire material libraries, and export them to other applications.

Get Started Adobe Substance 3D Sampler

HP Z Captis & Substance 3D Sampler

Adobe Substance 3D Painter

Substance 3D Painter is a 3D painting software allowing you to texture and render your 3D meshes.

Artwork by Vladimir Petkovic

Adobe Substance 3D Designer

Substance 3D Designer is primarily a 3D design software that generates textures from procedural patterns inside node-based graphs. Substance 3D Painter allows users to texture and add materials directly to 3D meshes in real-time.

Artwork by Garistyn Howard

Adobe Substance 3D Stager

Substance Stager is a 3D virtual studio aimed at helping artists, designers, and 3D professionals create realistic and visually stunning scenes by offering powerful tools to compose, light, and render 3D content.

Adobe Substance 3D Modeler

Modeler is a 3D modeling and sculpting application that helps you create across both desktop and VR. Modeler makes working in 3D as intuitive as working with clay in real life.

Project Neo

A new way to create stunning 3D artwork for brand graphics, illustrations, and more. With just one design, you can unlock endless variations, effortlessly.

Artwork by Sabrina Feist

Student Ambassador Program

Applications are now open for our Substance 3D Ambassador program.

  • 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 3𝐃 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞.
  • 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬.
  • 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐬.

The program is open to students of all majors and showcases the versatility of the Substance 3D suite across various industries. Note: 𝘊𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴.

Applications are now open for our Substance 3D Ambassador program.

Substance 3D Education Partnerships

Substance 3D Education Partnerships connect students with top brands like Hugo Boss and On Running through hands-on workshops. Collaborations with Istituto Marangoni and CREAPOLE have empowered students to explore digital fashion and footwear design, bridging the gap between creativity and industry innovation.

Adobe Substance 3D partnered with Creapole, a top product design school based out of Paris, to bring together professional footwear designers from On and 3D artists from Adobe. The participating product design students were provided with the Substance 3D Collection along with the insights needed to elevate their design. Students were given a base footwear model from On, and then used Substance 3D Painter, Sampler, and Stager to texture and render their models during a 3-day, See the result.

With the help and guidance of experts from Adobe, Hugo Boss, and teachers from Istituto Marangoni, students learned how to develop their skills and use the Substance 3D tools to create, ideate and share their designs. The final projects were presented at the Hugo Boss headquarters in Metzingen, Germany, and one talented student was selected for a six-month internship at the company. See the result here.

Adobe teamed up with ArtCenter College of Design and Rivian to launch a transportation design workshop like no other. See the result here

If you're interested in knowing more about how these types of partnership work then contact: Alwyn Hunt - Head of Education, Partnerships. 3D&I Adobe

Substance 3D Contest

3D contests like Meet Mat provide a hands-on, industry-relevant challenge that helps students build their portfolios, gain exposure, and receive feedback from top professionals. It encourages creativity, technical skill development, and problem-solving, while also connecting students to a global community of artists. Plus, participating in a well-known competition can boost their confidence and open doors to future career opportunities.

Substance 3D - Industry Articles

ARCHITECTURE

ARCHVIZ

FASHION

FOOTWEAR

PRODUCT DESIGN

RETAIL

CMF

MOTION DESIGN

What motion designers can learn from Substance 3D Motion design made faster: The impact of native 3D in After Effects From Substance to Cinema 4D: Hop Into the Creative World of Foam Digital Kit Bashing Using Adobe Substance 3D Assets Creative Design with Substance 3D for Google’s Pixel Arena

TRANSPORTATION

Substance 3D education: Transportation design workshop with ArtCenter and Rivian When Gran Turismo meets BVLGARI: From video game to reality Virgin Galactic: Designing Immersive Product Experiences 3D Aerospace Design: Creating Real-time Simulations of the Arianespace Missions From Sketch to AR: Creative Process for Aerospace Design How CMF Designers are Using Substance for Car Interior Design Automotive Design: Car Texturing with Radu from Invisive Behind the Scenes of the X-Taon Substance Show Car Substance 3D Assets in Automotive Onur Dursun Reinvents the X-TAON Showcar 3D Assets articles: Automotive Materials: Prototyping, Automotive Materials: Interior 2, Automotive Materials: Interior 1, Automotive Materials: Exterior 1, Automotive Materials: Exterior 2, Generating 3D Tires with Adobe Substance 3D

CPG/PACKAGING DESIGN

How to create a packaging design concept, from branding to 3D render How Moose Toys used Substance 3D Stager to transform their packaging design Parametric Monotype: From Illustrator to Substance, in Beauty Packaging Design Digital Coffee: a True Caffeine-Free Packaging Design Upgrade your Graphic Designs with Substance 3D Assets

3D Print

Vivid colors, sharp displacement: Mimaki 3D prints artists’ vision From Substance to 3D Printed Packaging Prototypes Substance & 4D_Additive Texture 3D Prints for Industry 3D Print Visualization, Beaming into Substance 3D Assets