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Adobe acquires Allegorithmic, 3D texture and visual effects company

Image: Adobe

Adobe’s mission of offering top-notch tools for creative artists moves onward. A blog post by Scott Belsky, chief product officer and executive vice president, Creative Cloud, Adobe, announced that the company acquired Allegorithmic, makers of Substance, the industry standard for 3D textures and material creation in game and video post-production. Hardcore gamers may be familiar with Allegorithmic’s captivating 3D textures and graphics that are used in some of the world’s most popular video games.

According to an official Adobe press release, “By combining Allegorithmic’s Substance 3D design tools with Creative Cloud’s industry-leading imaging, video and motion graphics tools, Adobe will empower video game creators, VFX artists working in film and television, designers and marketers to deliver the next generation of immersive experiences.”

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Allegorithmic is a fascinating company, but how does this acquisition fit in the Adobe ecosystem?

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All-in on 3D and AR

Late last year, Adobe announced its intent on going all-in on augmented reality (AR) during its Adobe Max conference. Prior to this announcement, I can’t say I saw the need for this venture. However, after the demo I was convinced that AR (and Adobe’s Project Aero) can go hand-in-hand with Adobe and other tech giants, all while bringing (useful) AR and 3D to the masses and day-to-day life.

By acquiring Allegorithmic, Adobe adds more to its toolkit to aid in making AR and 3D more useful today. Adobe Dimension CC recently updated its 3D software with more features and cross-Adobe integration, which makes total sense. Using Adobe Dimension, creative artists can design not only 3D objects but also 3D worlds to create a truly immersive experience that could be applied to gaming, interactive art, or even the sales floor of your favorite merchant.

Inside of the Dimension software, artists can import image files to be used as textures or import existing textures found within the Adobe library to further enhance their 3D creations. For example, it’s fairly simple to create a sphere inside of this app, but creating a sphere with only a solid color and one drop shadow is pretty boring. Add a grid-like texture and now you have a child’s ball. Add a simple animation of the sphere moving within the space, and you have a more interesting dynamic with this ball. This is where Allegorithmic comes into play. 3D texture creation and use cases are taken to the next level.

Allegorithmic’s Substance Painter software package is currently available to artists creating awesome graphics and visuals that you are used to seeing in the gaming and entertainment industry. Pricing is available at $239 annually or $19.99 per month. But this was prior to the acquisition. What does this mean going forward?

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Going forward

Sure the Adobe Dimension software allows you to create 3D objects, but you can also import 3D objects from apps such as Substance Painter. I wonder if there will be an inclusion of Substance Painter into the Creative Clouds suite similar to how Cinema 4D Lite is integrated at no additional cost to the Creative Cloud subscribers.

“I know that the addition of Allegorithmic will further that goal and I’m looking forward to sharing more details about how we’re incorporating Allegorithmic’s Substance tools into Creative Cloud over the coming months,” said Belsky. In short, we’ll have to wait and see what this all means as far as the Creative Cloud package is concerned.

What are your thoughts on this acquisition? Does it excite you to see more tools being provided to you as a creative artist? To see more of the potential of the Allegorithmic acquisition, check out these Substance Painter projects on Behance. They’re absolutely amazing.

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Source: TechRepublic