Adobe Substance 3D Painter and 3DCoat are two of leading 3D modeling and texturing applications in the gaming and animation industries.
Whether you are working on a AAA game franchise or just passionate about 3D art and design, you will want to get to know these two powerful 3D tools.
When comparing Substance 3D Painter and 3DCoat it is important to examine several key aspects of each tool.
Reviewing the similarities and differences between the programs’ features, pricing, user support, and their pervasiveness throughout industries can help you determine which application is the best fit for you.
if you are interested in a breakdown of the best 3D texturing softwares make sure to check out this article: Best 3D Texturing Software
For now, we’ll take you through a brief analysis of 3D Coat and Substance Painter and help you identify which product comes out on top. Let’s get started!
What is Adobe Substance 3D Painter?
For artists and designers who know Adobe’s slate of digital imaging software (like Photoshop), you will have some familiarity already with Adobe Substance 3D Painter.
Adobe Substance 3D Painter is part of Adobe’s comprehensive 3D toolbox of applications that includes a library of assets, Substance 3D Stager, Substance 3D Designer, Substance 3D Sampler, and Substance 3D Modeler.
Painter is node-based compositing software that specifically lets users texture their 3D assets while allowing them to effectively and efficiently track and adjust models.
Substance 3D Painter has an easy to understanding UI and makes creating hyper-realistic, beautiful 3D models a streamlined and easy-to-understand process that even beginners can understand.
What is 3DCoat?
3DCoat is a 3D texturing and sculpting tool from Pilgway studio, which offers other 3D software like 3DCoat Textura, 3DCoat Print, and PBR Library.
If you want to learn 3D Coat check out this in-depth course – Link Here
What sets 3DCoat apart from other popular texturing and sculpting platforms is that it uses voxels. What are voxels you may ask? Voxels are essentially three-dimensional units that function the same as pixels would in a two-dimensional environment.
Substance 3D Painter vs. 3D-Coat
Now that you have a baseline understanding of both products, let’s dive into two both software’s key features, pricing, user support, and industry information to help you determine which platform will best meet your needs!
Substance 3D Painter Key Features
The best way to think about the practical applications of Substance 3D Painter is that it is a painting tool that has 3D capabilities—exactly what it says on the box!
Unlike 2D digital painting applications, Painter features a very powerful masking tool that gives designers the opportunity to achieve incredibly detailed textures that could not be accomplished with a less powerful tool like Photoshop.
Check out this course to learn Substance Painter – Link Here
Painter is really focused on allowing users to create dynamic, stunning visuals, featuring shading and lighting tools that are best suited for rendering complicated environments.
Other Substance 3D Painter features include:
- The ability to work easily across multiple Adobe’s other tools;
- Smart mask presets that allow users to design realistic, complex textures and images
3D-Coat Key Features
3D-Coat allows for sculpting, UV Editing, Physically Based Rendering (PBR) Texture Painting (which allows for 2D image mapping projected onto a 3D object), Retopology, and Rendering. 3D-Coat is essentially an all-in-one for 3D animators and game designers.
3DCoat allows for interfacing with other design platforms. Through Applink, 3D-Coat allows users to utilize its best tools combined with complementary functions across other platforms to create the very best design possible with the most powerful tools available.
Users have noted that 3DCoat is limited in creating detailed, dynamic visuals with lighting and shading tools that cannot measure up to Substance 3D Painter.
Other 3D-Coat features include:
- An extensive library of presets to help users get a jump start on any project.
Substance 3D Painter Pricing
Like other Adobe products, Substance 3D-Painter is downloadable through the Adobe Creative Cloud and is paid for through an annual or monthly subscription. To purchase the entire Substance 3D Collection, you can pay $24.00/month or $299.88/year.
3D-Coat Pricing
3DCoat offers monthly subscriptions starting at €19.85/month ($20.57/month) or €149.85/year ($155.32/year). Permanent licenses are available for a one-time purchase of €379 ($392.83). 3DCoat also offers a 30-Day trial to give you an opportunity to test the product.
3D-Coat Industry Use
Both platforms are used across the industry for animation and game design. Taking a look at the different companies that make use of these tools can help you inform which option might be best for you as you begin your own career or hobby.
3D-Coat is used by such companies as Ubisoft Entertainment which developed games like Assassins Creed and Far Cry, and Jagex which developed games like Runescape. While it is not as widely used in the industry as other 3D modeling and texturing platforms it is beginning to gain traction.
Substance 3D Painter Industry Use
Adobe is found everywhere throughout the industry across applications and Substance 3D Painter is no different. It is used by several major companies in gaming like Activision which has made classic games like Spyro and Call of Duty.
It is also used by Capcom, which produced franchises such as Resident Evil, Street Fighter, and Devil May Cry.
Substance 3D Painter User Support
Just getting started? Not to worry! Both platforms offer user support and customer service features that will have you on your way to creating beautifully rendered 3D models and environments in no time.
Adobe offers a comprehensive manual and troubleshooting assistance for Substance 3D Painter, all available on their website. Painter includes a library of tutorials that will walk users through the tool’s key functions and how to use them in a way that will work best for your specific project.
3D-Coat User Support
3D-Coat’s user support community is not as robust as Adobe’s but it does offer comprehensive tutorials that provide introductions and step-by-step processes for the platform’s various offerings.
3D Coat vs Substance Painter Comparison Table
Based on the four categories we have reviewed we created a short comparison chart so you can see which product ended up on top in terms of its features, value, pervasiveness in the industry, and user support.
| 3DCOAT | SUBSTANCE 3D PAINTER | |
| Key Features | Winner | |
| Pricing | Winner | |
| Industry Use | Winner | |
| User Support | Winner |
Note that this is just a brief overview of both tools. For more information be sure to check out their websites.
Final Thoughts: Choosing the Best Software for You
Bottom line: both Substance 3D Painter and 3DCoat are powerful 3D tools that can help you render stunning, dynamic 3D images.
With either tool at your disposal, you’ll have everything you need to jumpstart your career or hobby in 3D design in no time!