So first up, I personally have nothing to do with the company or software and never used it.
On looking over the website/videos: https://instamaterial.com/ I initially gets a very Designer/Painter feel for it. As a single, all in one application with ‘maybe’ good Blender support/integration.
Having only recently got the Steam version of Painter, this looks, on the surface, that it could be a 3rd viable option (along side Painter and 3DCoat Textura).
Now of course a lot of things could go wrong, from possible clunky workflows and UI, to endless crashing, poor performance, in ability to even adjust keyboard shortcuts/navigation, etc, etc.
As for licensing/cost, it’s possible it maybe have an OK balance point. While most of it is subscription based (at least at reasonable prices), there is an ‘Pioneer License’ option basically for free, that gives full software access with no real limits or I assume watermarks for hobbyists and small businesses.
That would allow one to always be able to open and work with ones files and even do initial commercial work.
At this stage one needs to be a business (have a business email) to be able to get early access once it goes public in a weeks time, but that should change moving ahead at some point.
Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this all works out and especially to hear from anyone that works with Painter and gets early access to the software.
At least there will no longer be a lot of “[insert app here] goes subscription only” threads (because a lot of newer companies now do not even bother with perpetual licensing). It also looks like the paid licensing will be among those that make you jump through hoops when you do things like upgrade to a new PC.
The Pioneer license meanwhile is not available yet according to the website, though what we already know is that some key features outside of the core functionality will be disabled.
Yeah, there does seem to be a little contradiction on the site. In one spot it says the Pioneer license is ‘without any feature cuts or limits’, while the comparison table which lists the ‘community edition’, I assume those are actually the same thing, doesn’t have the Pipeline, SDK or virtualization.
Tho to be fair, I don’t think the virtualization matters for an individual or small business, and likely for most the Pipeline and SDK wouldn’t matter, especially the SDK (as very few are likely to code stuff for it, maybe), but the Pipeline stuff, depending on exactly what that means could be a little annoying.
Ah, you beat me to it. Was just about to post this.
I think its really exciting, it looks pretty solid and well thought out, just based on the UI and the features available on release, unlike forr example armor paint, which looks good on the surface, but still lacks a lot of tools and workflows and basically expects you invest you in its future.
Or even quixel mixer, thats probably going EOL unless it gets integrated into Unreal Engine.
If they can deliver what the trailer promises, its gonna make a big splash, especially with the “free up to 100k” pioneer license
Just wondering if that really works out for a small new company, unless they have some big backers I´m unaware of, because most pros who NEED this kind of workflow have probably already adopted substance in their workflow and their boss is paying for it anyways…
Personally, I could never justify the price tag of substance, based on what my work requires, but I was always envious of it for my personal projects, where I could definitely use it a lot…
From what it looks like, again, just base on the trailer, I´m guessing the painting workflow isn´t quite as polished yet, hopefully I´m wrong!
Regarding pipeline: Looks like that is mostly stuff like running commandline to integrate into existing pipelines or creating new ones for mass creation of assets etc.
Integration with the big dccs is included though.
The more I look at the features, the more I´m wondering what the catch is:
-AI upscaling/Variations (probably creation too, or at least easy to integrate in the future)
-Udims
-Material from single image
-heightmap to mesh
-scattering meshes
-Full baking workflow
-triplanar mapping
Really looks like a one stop solution for material creation…
Without price its very questionable. Designer+Painter cost are really low for permanent steam license, and they both comes with priceless addition - huge userbase which already produce tons of materials from tutorials to ready-to-use smart materials.
“Pioneer” license only look suspicios for me. I saw such shenanigans it other software (GAEA as example) where yes its free to use, yes nothing was cut except some crucial things like amount of CPU cores which can be utilized or final export image resolution.
The Steam version cost me a couple hundred for a permanent license. Would I have liked something a bit cheap and ideally without all the Steam stuff, yeah, but as long as it keeps working for the next few years I"m OK with that. And it really does make a hell of a difference to the texturing process.
Yeah, based on the videos, etc it does all look rather impressive, but a lot of things can sound good and end up having a mass of issues.
Windows and Mac only at this stage, I think I read somewhere that Linux was planed, not sure.
It’s a pity that there aren’t prices… we’ll be able to weigh how much it costs our privacy… that “no Data Collection” is just for all but pioneer license.
I just looked into the company, they are based in germany and not to toot my own horn (as a german citizen) or to say that thats a guarantee, but at least it seems more likely that they´re not just showcasing something they can´t deliever…
Also, this didn´t come from nowhere, they developed “instalod”, which already has an impressive list of clients.
Anyways, there really is no free alternative and it at least doesn´t seem to have any fineprints about the free version as of yet, so for indie/personal project this is exciting enough for me…
$490 USD for a perpetual license does seem a little much, tho the revenue limits seem to have been removed, it does include everything and comes with 2 years of updates. So I guess for just under $250 a year, that’s not too bad. No idea on any future discount for a license renewal after that of course.
And one can still get the Pioneer License for free to start with of course.
To put it somewhat in comparison, the Painter Steam permanent license is/will be $200USD with a calendar year of updates. Mind you, Designer on Steam is that again, and it half looks like this is both Painter and Designer in one. So $400 for both on Steam with 1 year updates, vs $490 for this with 2 year updates.
You cant make comparison that easy because of regional prices.
Currently (at least for my region):
Painter cost approx. 102$
Designer cost approx. 77$
This is for permanent steam license.
Im personally was buying both years ago in steam and pay something like 100$ in total for both painter and designer cause they was on black friday sale iirc.
So for me currently (and by saying “me” i mean a huge amount of people with lower regional prices for steam and people who dont like subscribition models), instamat are something which:
cost almost x3 more! and bungled with features like zero user base, complete lack of learning materials.
Yeah, possible some area’s get ripped off more then others, tho at the same time I was comparing USD to USD as stated by each company, so that is a direct comparison.
No longer a thing. For the past year and I think 1 or 2 before that there was no sales for Painter or Designer on Steam. In fact this time around, there wasn’t even an upgrade discount for existing owners. Well in my region anyway, not sure if it applies to all, but given we are talking Adobe here, it likely does.
Still, if one happens to have a great local deal, then sure, it can be a big factor.
It looks very interesting and it seems to attempt to tackle a lot more than what other programs usually do.
I came to the conclusion that the combination of a procedural node network and a classic painting approach would sooner or later emerge out of the Substance Suite, but they seem to be more focused on remaining as they are, rather than pushing for an natural evolution (not surprising since they are owned by Adobe ).
I’ll keep my eyes on this contender and I am mildly optimistic about it.
More competition in this market segment is needed and it might change the static status quo for the better.
They’ve been around a long time. I was on the InstaLOD beta(which is their most famous tool) around 5 years ago.
I’ll stick with Substance, but I see no downside whatsoever to people using this that can’t afford Substance or are looking for an alternative. This looks to be the entire Substance texturing suite all in one. In fact, it looks pretty much like a 1:1 ripoff.
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