Introducing Adobe Substance 3D Stager and Dimension update!

[JMathews]

Hi everyone!  Jeanette here, lead product manager for Dimension.  It's been a little while since I've had an announcement for the community, but I'm very happy to be able to break the silence on some exciting news.

Today we launched a new application - Adobe Substance 3D Stager!  Stager is built by the same team that built Dimension with a shared foundation for some technology while also being a bit reimagined.  Where Dimension was a general purpose application that was intended for those new to 3D to learn, Stager is a dedicated scene staging application that is more powerful for professional 3D artists while retaining it's approachability for those learning 3D.

So what are some of the key differences between Dimension and Stager?

• Dimension was more general purpose where Stager is specifically part of the new Substance 3D Collection which offers multiple applications for an end-to-end 3D workflow including modeling, texturing, and staging.
• The rendering engine has been updated and reworked to the Adobe Mercury Rendering Engine.  This engine is multi-technique, including both real time and ray tracing in a single engine.  It is built with entire new infrastructure for modernizing techniques, improving performance and scaling to be available on more hardware.
• Stager's material system has been updated for a new version of the Adobe Standard Material definition with tons of new effects like displacement, subsurface scattering, dispersion, clear coat, sheen, anisotropy, and more.
• Stager includes a variety of general new staging features including collision based layout, multi-camera resolution outputs, physical lights, and much more.

What does this mean for Dimension?

• Dimension will continue to be available as part of Creative Cloud All Apps plans - there is no change to it's availability!  To see Dimension Creative Cloud desktop go to settings > apps > and enable "Show older apps" setting.
• Dimension doesn't have any major planned releases right now  - we'll be putting new features into Stager, but we will provide support updates for Dimension!
• You can open Dimension files in Stager to take advantage of all the new features - also try Stager out for a full 30 day free trial!

Want to learn more about everything?  Check out some of these resources:

• Adobe.com 3D & Augmented Reality page
• Adobe.com Substance 3D Stager page

We're really excited about the opportunity to build a new family of 3D applications that work seamlessly to provide an end-to-end experience for modeling, texturing, and staging 3D models and scenes and we hope you enjoy the new Substance 3D Stager app!

--

Edit: 8/17

Thank you all for the great conversation on Dimension and Stager.  It's clear there's a lot of passion and excitement for amazing staging apps, and I take my duty to the community seriously.  Please know that all of your concerns about pricing, confusion on the Dimension status, and Stager future, have been escalated to our leadership teams and we're working on some possible improvements!

Here's a round up of the latest information based on some questions and discussion that have happened in various threads:

Dimension

• Dimension is still part of Creative Cloud All Apps plan.
• Dimension is currently hidden by deafult on Creative Cloud Desktop.
• To see Dimension you must go to CCD > Preference > Apps > and enable "Show older apps"
• The "Show older apps" option may be disabled by administrators for education and enterprise organizations.
• We are actively working to REVERSE this so that Dimension is not hidden, as it is confusing and inaccurate.
• Update 8/19: This is now reversed!  Dimension is available by default and you no longer need to enable "Show older apps".
• Dimension is NOT end-of-lifed, but we are not working on new features for it (at this time).

Stager

• Stager is exclusive to the Substance 3D Collection plan. 
• There are currently not any single app plans for Substance apps - we are investigating this possibility!
• It is not currently planned that any Substance apps will be added to the CC All Apps plans.
• HOWEVER, the exception is that Substance 3D Collection is free for those with CC All Apps for Higher Education.
• HOWEVER, the limitation is that Substance 3D Collection for Higher Education is available for Shared Device Licensing (SDL) and Feature Restricted Licensing (FRL).  It is not yet available for Named User Licensing (NUL).
• We hope to work on Named User Licensing for Higher Edu support, but I don't have a clear timeline on that.  It's months at least.  Unfortunately there's little we can do to accellerate this.  Adobe licensing land is a bit complicated and we have people working on it!

As always I try to be as transparent as possible with the community, but there's limits to what I can say on a public forum.  Everything is subject to change, and I will do my best to communicate as we move forward!

[Joseph Labrecque]

If you are on a new M1 MacBook... then you are sadly out of luck. If not, check that you are showing older apps in your Creative Cloud prefs: 

[laurendrzata8]

Does that mean Dimension will not ever be compatible with the M1 chip?

[JMathews]

We are not sure yet.  Our team was working on the Stager launch which took all our time.  Now that it's done, we are looking at Apple Silicon support.  We'll do Stager first, then need to evaluate if we CAN backport that work to Dimension. They are based on the same tech, but they are two apps with divergent code bases.  So we will see!

[Ian Dack]

I have a very simple Dimension file which takes 2.5 minutes to render. I downloaded the trial of Substance Stager, loaded in the model and resaved it, and then rendered it. Without altering any settings, it took 46 minutes. I don't think I will be using this.

[ahazen1419]

Thank you, also. We need to submit replies that show some changes need to be made to the pricing structure.

[JMathews]

This sounds like perhaps you were using GPU rendering in Dimension and CPU rendering in Stager.  We have done significant benchmarking and Stager is faster for rendering across the board.

If you are on a Windows NVIDIA GPU

• Update to the latest NVIDIA GeForce Studio driver
• If you're on a laptop:  open the NVIDIA Control Panel > go to Manage 3D Settings > Program Settings > Select Adobe Substance 3D Stager as the program to customize > Set the preferred graphics processor to your NVIDIA processor
• Restart the machine
• Launch Stager and check the render settings (top-left of the viewport) and enable GPU rendering.

[Ian Dack]

I'm using a Mac. I don't see a CPU/GPU option.

[JMathews]

Ah GPU is only available on Windows, so that's very interesting.  If you're on a Mac and experiencing significant differences in performance that's very unexpected.   If you're able to send your saved .ssg scene to me at Substance3D-bugs@adobe.com I can take a look and see what's going on.  Thank you for the information!

[Ian Dack]

Thanks, just timing the renders and will email you results and files.

[Ian Dack]

I sent over files and timings yesterday. Not had any acknowledgment of receipt though.

[Ian Dack]

I sent the files and timings a couple of days ago but have had no acknowledgment of receipt.

[JMathews]

Hey Ian, I just checked in and I don't see anything in the email from you.  Can you try forwarding the email to me directly - jmathews@adobe.com

[Ian Dack]

No problem, I've just forwarded the email to you.

[Ian Dack]

Hi, did you receive the files okay? The trial will run out soon and at the moment the app is too slow for consideration. 

[Ian Dack]

Okay, I exported my Dimension file as an obj and loaded that into Blender which rendered it in seconds, so I guess I'll be going that way, sorry.

[itsMeJimmy]

I'm having trouble with this one.

First of all the article is written poorly. You go into a paragraph asking the question "So what are some key differences...", but then all the bullet points (except for 1st one maybe) don't really state they are different. They just give attributes...that could potentially be in both.

Secondly, I got excited when Adobe purchased Substance and was getting more excited with the evolving 3D space, but now none of the new stuff fits under our yearly subscription? I mean I understand more stuff is more stuff, but one of these is basically taking away Dimension (maybe not for now, but it sounds like its getting phased out). I know that overall the yearly subscription is pretty cheap for this powerful software, but some of us have also been here to support this growth and proudly pay to keep Adobe improving and growing. At least start offering a cheaper version if you add these new items to our already existing subscription. Glad you are doing new stuff, but overall disappointed with how this is playing out.

[duck9000]

I think it's fair to offer the 3D suite as a separate product line as long as Abode continues to enhance and expand the suite and its products. 

I like the idea of including addon pricing that would give subscribers to Creative Suite a break on the 3D suite.

For at least some of us. 3D is an extension of our skill set.

Adobe would be smart to consider addon pricing. 

[Josua5EC8]

3D is a must have for almost every designer nowadays....be it for TV, Movies, commercials (Food, Tech, clothes), product design, printdesign, online shopping....2D Mockups are long gone....even then, I could only understand it, if we would talk about 3D Designer, Painter and Sampler.....BUT NOT 3D Stager....because it is replacing Adobe Dimension, which will be sooner or later be removed from the CC. Adobe said it themselves...they will not develop both apps. They point is, Adobe takes away an App that is now offered and developed elsewhere (and on Steroids, compared to Adobe Dimension, because it didn't get new features and is now - as adobe named it - categorized as an older App).

[alw65609993]

Pretty much any serious media creative is using 3D rendering for at least some of their work these days.

Adobe risk an own goal by simultaneously excluding Stager etc. from Creative Cloud and discontinuing the development of Dimension. I suspect that many, like me, won't pay for the additional subscription which means if Adobe want the revenue stream to continue development of 3D rendering applications then it's going to have to come from existing CC subscriptions only.

[Ciellchan]

Exactly this. 
I'm an illustrator and a Designer myself I started working with 3D just a year ago. Every illustrator I know is using blender now and every designer I know creates products mockups.
I can understand - Not that I support it though- that Adobe pack the 3D apps on a different bundle yet Stager needs to be out of this because Stager is Dimension, it is replacing it. We were already using it and paying for it. 

Dimension became an older app in the moment Stager was out. Now we are being told on this same forum to roll all of our update ideas to Stager's forums as if it were the same app and we could use it without paying extra cash. This is extremely ill managed from Adobe's side. This is not okay. 

[default2iwa8mlx34mr]

I am so confused.  I am trying to buy Dimension but it isnt on Creative Cloud anywhere anymore? 

[bryanua]

haha welcome to the conversation @default2iwa8mlx34mr 

[bryanua]

Go to your Creative Cloud settings > Apps > Settings > Show Older Apps. 1. This assumes that you have a subscription to Creative Cloud. 2. I'd advise against investing much time into Dimension as this thread is all about the fact that Adobe is dissolving it in favor of a new line products (outside of your Creative Cloud subscription) called Substance; so Dimension will most likely be gone all together in the not too distant future.

[ahazen1419]

Don't change an additional fee for usage. It's turning a LOT of people off. Add a $5 charge to all monthly subscriptions...please!

[alw65609993]

This alternative approach has merit, and would likely provide Adobe with a lot more revenue if all CC subscriptions went up by a few dollars, than the much fewer number of people taking out the separate subscription.