What are the alternative applications available to create lighting effects?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
February 28, 2022
3 replies
7183 views

I realize Adobe is getting rid of their 3D and lighting effects as they move to a new engine.

I'd like to get ahead of this and find out which alternative applications I can use to create lighting effects and 3D now. Which of the Substance applications would be best for creating lighting effects? Can I buy just one of the Substance applications (they price all of them at $50/month!).

What other Photohshop alternative applications include lighting effects (this is what I need the most)?

Cross-app workflows

H

Helmut243151150cd5

Participating Frequently

Affinity Photo has a brilliantly implemented lighting effect!

I don't know why Adobe is stubborn to reintroduce the solution they had befor they thought it is a good idea to reimplement it based on their instable 3D engine.

The lighting effect is NOT a 3D feature and was part of Photoshop almost forever. It worked very well and did not require a 3D engine at all.

I don't know about the abilities of the Photoshop product management today but after John Nack left Adobe, they caused a couple of epic fails like changing the transform controls behavior or removing the line tool proving that they have not really a full plan how important single features are to the users. In these two examples the had to backtrack, let's hope they have too for the lighting effect. Until then I recommend Affinity Photo.

jane-e

Community Expert

The lighting effect is NOT a 3D feature and was part of Photoshop almost forever. It worked very well and did not require a 3D engine at all.
By @Helmut243151150cd5

The lighting effects used the 3D engine. Adobe recommends using Photoshop version 22.2 (from February 2021) if you need more stable performance with Photoshop’s 3D features, including lighting effects.

I don't know about the abilities of the Photoshop product management today but after John Nack left Adobe...

By @Helmut243151150cd5

John Nack, Principal Product Manager, returned to Adobe three years ago in 2021.

Jane

H

Helmut243151150cd5

Participating Frequently

That's true Jane, but he is not responsible for Photoshop anymore. He worked on Sensei and now on Adobe Firefly.

steve D

Participant

Its really frustrating to lose a much loved, and well used, piece of functinality. I wish Adobe would give a clear indication if and when the Lighting Effects filter will be returned. Meanwhile, I would consider switching to another programme that has a similar function - if I can find one....

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

This not exactly an alternative for Lighting Effects, but the email we got from Adobe Creative Cloud on the 19th Jan 2023 had some useful give-aways including a lighting effect. There was also a rain covered window effect and some arty strokes effects. It comes in a number of image overlays that live in CC Libraries. You chose one, add it to your project and try different blend modes (probably Screen) for the lighting effect.

https://creativecloud.adobe.com/cc/discover/free-assets/