Substance Source: Physically-Based Material Library

Hello,

Substance Source is an ever-growing content library where you can find physically based, high resolution and tweakable assets for texturing. From fully procedural materials to physically based scans and hand-painted materials, Substance Source is the place to find assets suited to any type of 3D project. Substance can be used directly in Unity. Download materials every month with the Substance Live monthly payment plan, or make a one-time purchase of Substance Source access (includes 12 months of updates).

https://www.allegorithmic.com/products/substance-source

Cheers,
Wes

 

Hi Wes,

I have Substance Database and read on your forums that some of the substances from Database are in Substance Source. Will Substance Database be a discontinued product in the future due to Substance Source? What is the relationship between the two? Thanks.

 

Hi,

Yes, we will be discontinuing Substance Database as a product. However, we will support current database owners. You will always have access to the database from your account. Substance Source is replacing the database going forward for new users. We will not be updating the database further.

Cheers,
Wes

 

Substance ROCKS!! its cool you added the 30 downloads to Substance Live ... i will have to get Substance sometime, ive spent a couple months before with it, iam currently into coding alot, Substance is amazing!

its great the inclusion in Substance Live, i wouldve Never paid for Substance Database in the way that it was (or how i remembered it maybe).. just beyond my budget..

Cheers!

 

Hi Wes!

First of all, thanks a lot for the credits that owners of your other software got! I've found a lot of useful things in the library already, including many kinds of materials that I couldn't find in the current megascans archive. I'm feeling like I'm betting on the right horse when it comes to the substance ecosystem! Fantastic work! =)

A few questions. I read the licensing terms the day you announced the service, and while I saw a plethora of ways Allegorithmic covered themselves (understandable), I still wasn't sure what I'm actually allowed to do with files from Substance Source. E.g. I'm assuming I can use them to texture an asset in SP2 and sell the 3D model with the finished texture sheet on an assetstore, but afair nowhere in the license it said that this is something I'm allowed to do. And what about using textures directly in games? I found the megascans license terms to be a lot clearer on what I'm allowed to do with their stuff. Can we expect an update to that document in the future that gives some examples of what we can and can't do with the materials? I'm sure those are questions that a lot of artists are asking themselves right now. It is clear to me that you intend the content to be used by artists and developers, but the way I see it, legally the only thing that really matters are the licensing terms.

And, a little OT, but about the Substance Share licensing... a year ago Jerc said on polycount that you are working on a custom license that replaces the very ambiguous CC-4.0 license. This is the thread where it came up:
http://polycount.com/discussion/157560/substance-share-is-here#latest
How is the situation on this issue? I still think it would be better for all to either go full CC-0 or MIT, or make a simple and permissive custom license similar to the old one that cgtextures used to have (just a short list of things you can and can't do with the files, e.g. no resale on their own, but free for commercial use and resale when modified and used as part of a new texture for a model). Or let content providers on the site opt in to CC-0 if they want, like blendswap does it.

The main reason why I keep bringing up the licensing questions is that with the growing number of provider plattforms it is becoming harder and harder to keep on top of what asset has what license and what I need to do to comply with it. So if something requires attribution for example, I try to sort it out and just never use it, because I don't trust myself to keep track of all the little CC-BY things and who to credit for them.

Cheers and keep up the great work!

 

Now I'm curious.

I have painter and designer.
Substance Database was that big expensive material collection, right? And you said you're phasing it out.
What's the new business model for database's replacement?

 

You can still buy access to Substance Source like you could Substance Database but now Substance Live includes Substance Source downloads. I guess as further enticement to go with the subscription route.

If your Substance Painter and Designer are the latest versions, you should have 120 free Source downloads (60 each). I received 120 downloads for having Substance Designer and B2M3. My Painter version is still the first version so I did not get the free downloads for that.

 

So, the new model is subscription with some freebies for existing software owners?

 

If you buy Source you get one year of updates or you can subscribe to Live and get a certain number of free Source downloads per month.

 

Is a paid subscription for a standalone Source for indies planned or possible in the future?
I already have substance painter and designer, so the Live option would seem like i'm paying for things i already have.
A standalone subscription option would be perfect. If dropping the price for a standalone Source is out of the question, the price could stay the same but offer more assets per month.

I'm considering between Source and GameTextures. They have 100 assets per month for 30$ (their library contains 1500+ substances), which seems like a better option for those that already have Painter and Designer.

 

That was my first thought as well, but then I saw that I already had received 60 credits per program that I owned already, and 180 credits is going to last me pretty long. If I ever need more, then 20$ for 30 more substances a month seems like a fair deal considering I already got 180 for free.

GameTextures requires attribution, which I'm not so fond of. And it seems a lot of the interesting things in their archive are available in Substance Source too.

 

True, they offer 60 credits for each of the latest versions, so that's a good deal.
I have the versions before the current ones, so i didn't get credits. They still work for me, so i don't have the need to upgrade them.
I'll probably subscribe to Live, since 30 substances for me per month is probably enough, and having the latest software would be nice, but there should still be an option to have Source as standalone subscription. The Source offer they have for indies is a bit too small imo.

Yes it requires attribution, but they say you can credit them in the credits of the game, so it's not really a problem tbh.

 

...they require attribution on top of being paid site?

 

see here:
https://www.gametextures.com/commercial-license/

By my interpretation that means if I use FMOD, which afair I must credit rather prominently (but it's free to use on my scale of project, so that's only fair to give them free ad-space in return), I must credit gametextures next to them, equally prominent.

And this one I don't even understand:

But lets not derail this thread too much towards gametextures, since it should be about Substance Source!

 

HI Martin,

You can sell assets on the asset store that use Substance Source materials as a base. The issue is that you can't directly distribute the .sbsar file from Substance Source. Here are some examples.

You can:

1. Use the sbsar file in a custom substance to create a new substance. Here you are using the sbsar as a base material and modifying it to be your own material. You then publish your sbsar file which also uses the sbsar file from source. You can then sell your sbsar file anywhere.

2. Use the Source sbsar file to paint textures in Painter and then export maps for you assets to sell.

You can't:

1. Simply redistribute the sbsar file directy.

2. Use the sbsar without modification in an asset that you intend to sell. Here you are including the direct sbsar file from Substance Source.

We are working to simplify the EULA, so it's easier to understand the above conditions.
https://www.allegorithmic.com/legal/general-terms-and-conditions

Please let me know if you have questions.

Cheers,
Wes

 

HI,

Just to officially clarify, @GoesTo11 is correct. You can still buy Substance Source just as you could with the database. Substance Source is a new product that is replacing the Database. We are offering an upgrade for existing database owners to Source. This is working just like a new product upgrade. https://www.allegorithmic.com/buy/upgrade. Just log into your account and you will see Source as an upgrade option if you own the database.

However, we are also offering a new route which is through Live subscription. This is a bonus for Live subscribers as they didn't get database access before. We are still supporting the existing database users. You will never loose access to the database you purchased in your account.

Cheers,
Wes

 

Just to add, you can also have the option to purchase Source in full just as you could with the database. This way you are not paying a subscription. This is mainly for studios. It covers a year of free upgrades.

We wanted to add Source to subscription for extra value. But we also wanted to provide content for those who have also purchased our tools and are not on subscription. That is why we added the 60 points per software. It's only for SP 2, SD 5 and B2M3 owners. For source, 1 point = 1 material.

Cheers,
wes

 

That's actually very impressive and goes far above what I had hoped for! Thanks a lot!

Awesome, you guys rock!

1. Can I use the .sbsar files from Source as they are in a Unity project and sell the final build of the game on steam? In other words, does Unity sufficiently protect art asset in its archive format that get's distributed with the finished game? I'd imagine it's ok, but I also think it will always be possible to extract files, if someone tries hard enough.

2. Can you shed some light on the chances of going away from the Creative Commons license for Substance Share at some point in the future?

Cheers!

 

Hi Martin,

1. Yes of course. No problem here. You can use the sbsar from source without modification directly in your final build of the game you sell.

2. We are investigating this. No ETA at this time.

Cheers,
Wes

 

At the top of all the legal jargon, it should just say.. Can I use substances in a compiled game?.... YES!.

Substance source seems cool, thanks for the 120 freebies..! I just hope this time around there's a little more content, I subb'd to the library and cancelled due to lack of stuff / some of the .SBAR's quality wasn't amazing for the price.

This looks much better, so well done.

 

Yes, totally agree : ) It needs to get to the point.

With Source, the goal is to provide more content and of much higher quality.

Cheers,
Wes

 

Are the substances available in substance source .sbs files? Would we be able to open the graph and make changes as needed?

 

Hi,

We don't supply the sbs files for the Source content through the Live subscription. For customers who buy the standalone version, we do give the sbs files for the Substances that we own or created.

Cheers,
Wes