Adobe announced the acquisition of Allegorithmic, makers of the Substance toolset for textures and materials.
Allegorithmic also built a hybrid VR tool demonstrated at Oculus Connect 5 that allowed easy switching between desktop and VR modes so that 3D content creators can easily get a look at their work in a VR headset with access to all the same panels and UI elements from the desktop version.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. A press release announcing the acquisition references VR and AR as becoming “more critical” to brands and that the Substance tools will be integrated as part of “new offerings” in Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite of subscription software tools.
“We are seeing an increasing appetite from customers to leverage 3D technology across media, entertainment, retail and marketing to design and deliver fully immersive experiences,” said Scott Belsky, chief product officer and executive vice president for Creative Cloud, in a prepared statement. “Creative Cloud is the creativity platform for all and Substance products are a natural complement to existing Creative Cloud apps that are used in the creation of immersive content, including Photoshop, Dimension, After Effects and Project Aero.”
Project Aero is Adobe’s AR authoring tool. The company also built 360 video tools into its Premiere editing product and has shown other experimental VR and AR tools.
Adobe’s creative tools are industry standard for many designers and artists, so if Substance becomes part of new Creative Cloud tools and software subscriptions from the company, the acquisition could play a part in accelerating VR and AR software creation.
