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Substance Painter UI Gets Refreshed with Help from Users

Shelf loading now up to six times faster, improved painting options for mouse and tablet.

CLERMONT-FERRAND, FRANCE -- Allegorithmic has released the first update of 2018 for Substance Painter, bringing with it a new user interface and performance enhancements. The new look simplifies the painting experience, offering 15 major improvements targeting everything from toolbars and windows, to the amount of viewport space.

“Painting is a creative process, so any update to Substance Painter needs to enhance that experience,” said Dr. Sébastien Deguy, founder and CEO of Allegorithmic. “With the help of our users, we’ve created a new, slimmed down UI that provides more space and less clutter, so artists can really zero in on what they are doing.”

As 3D painters often paint from varying degrees of closeness, the new UI can be scaled up to 90 percent of the viewport, allowing artists to customize the interface according to their creative preference. As they work, new toolbars, widgets and windows will help them be efficient, providing easy access to shader parameters and tool settings. Defaults have also been installed to make the UI more intuitive to users of every skill level.

Performance improvements will affect the entire creative process from start-up to save. Shelf loading sees the biggest gains, helping users load smart materials, brushes and presets as much as six times faster.

The experience of tablet painting has been enhanced, ensuring a higher fidelity transfer of external gestures. In order to improve the efficiency of the process, new sliders and color-grayscale bars developed for tablets have also been added, a move that mimics a general principle of the release where all tools -- for tablets or otherwise -- will now be accessible with a simple click.

Allegorithmic Integrations Manager Wes McDermott will host an online walkthrough of the new interface March 16 at 11 a.m. PDT. To see the livestream, click here.

GDC attendees can also see the new Substance Painter in person at the Allegorithmic booth (#1709), located in the Moscone Center South Hall. To see a demo or schedule a meeting, please contact: contact@allegorithmic.com (link sends e-mail).

Source: Allegorithmic

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Tom McLean has been writing for years about animation from a secret base in Los Angeles.