Allegorithmic spent months researching to bring it’s software customers a reliable mimic of 3D printed characteristics with full photorealism.

Allegorithmic offers visualization software for games, film, architecture, design, and education. The 3D texture and material creation technologies company has just introduced a 3D print collection for the software Substance Source.

The collection will enable designers to replicate 3D printed layers, marks and surface textures in designs.

In order to do this, the company mimicked visual characteristics of the ten most important additive manufacturing technologies and included 50 tweakable materials. The photorealistic results could help 3D businesses to previsualize their work.

“Product previews for 3D printing have been almost nonexistent until now… With this new collection, we wanted to offer designers the ability to experiment with a new sense of tactility through photorealistic renderings, so they can almost feel the object in their hands before they print it,” Nicolas Paulhac, Product Manager of Substance Source and CMF Designer at Allegorithmic, said.

In order to be able to mimic the look of the 3D printing process, Allegorithmic spent months researching, speaking to professionals and incorporating what they learned in their software emulation.

What can Substance Source do?

During their research, Allegorithmic cataloged common surface attributes found in 3D printed materials. The final digital materials mimic surface marks from certain 3D printing processes, replicate 3D printed layers or include surface textures.

Previews of the 50 materials and 10 printed meshes can be dropped onto a 3D scene. 3D digital artists can then manipulate and tweak their design until it’s ready to print.

Everything from slice shape to printer head variations has been thought of. In fact, each material included has a specific set of parameters. Therefore, a user can vary visual attributes from color to roughness.

Allegorithmic hopes that this will aid designers, businesses, and 3D artists from a range of disciplines. The company believes that as 3D printing makes its way into new industries, it’s important to have a “photorealistic way to incorporate real-world material characteristics and advanced sci-fi patterns into their designs and projects.”

Since the creation of Substance Source, it has grown to offer almost 1,300 tweakable materials. This technology is beneficial for designers, architects, and game and visual effects developers.

The latest materials are available for Substance subscribers. However, monthly pricing for 30 downloads and access to latest releases costs $19.90 (Indie plan) or $99.90 (Pro plan). Want to find out more? Visit the Allegorithmic website.

Source: Press Release