Adobe Substance 3D Sampler is photogrammetry and material-capture software that turns photos and scanned images into 3D textures, materials, models and HDR lights. Its AI-powered Image to Material feature removes shadows and generates albedo, roughness, normal and displacement maps automatically. Tools for intelligent tiling, fold removal and surface detail produce realistic digital replicas of physical samples, with or without a scanner. It is available through the Adobe Substance 3D Collection plan.
3D artists, texture artists for games and film, product and packaging visualizers, and architectural designers are the typical users. Anyone already working in the Adobe ecosystem will find the handoff to Photoshop and other Substance apps straightforward. Beginners can start with foundational video tutorials that cover capturing photos and turning them into materials, models and lights.
A texture artist can photograph a fabric or stone surface, turn it into a tileable material, and then blend it with other materials using filters. Parametric effects add weathering, snow, moss or fabric patterns on top. Designers pair sampled assets with the Substance 3D Assets library, send them to Stager to build scenes or to Painter to finish surfaces, and use filters and generators from Designer. Lighting artists build HDR environment lights in real time from 360-degree images and enrich them with effects. Images can be sent to Photoshop for editing with direct feedback into Sampler, which speeds up iteration. The results export to other Substance apps, so a captured material can travel from a photo on a phone to a finished scene without being rebuilt along the way.
