Adobe acquires the French company Allegorithmic, the world leader in 3D texture

Adobe has recently announced its acquisition of the French talent Allegorithmic, a reference in the creation of textures and materials for 3D models. In addition to the absorption of the Substance tool suite into Adobe’s Creative Cloud, this acquisition aims to accelerate Adobe’s growth in 3D creation, particularly for virtual and augmented reality.

The American graphic design giant Adobe announced on the evening of January 23, 2019, its acquisition of the French genius Allegorithmic. Adobe and Allegorithmic did not disclose the transaction amount. Based in Clermont-Ferrand, France, this small business founded in 2003 has established itself as the pioneer of 3D texturing and has quickly become the world leader in this field.

Pioneer and leader in 3D texturing

Almost all video game development studios now use its Substance software suite. Its founder, Sébastien Deguy, explained that Substance Painter had succeeded in supplanting Adobe Photoshop, a powerful but generalist tool, in this field, by meeting the particular needs of 3D texture creation. Following its success, Adobe became a shareholder of Allegorithmic two years ago.

While the video game industry was the first to take an interest, many others are now following. Allegorithmic tools are now widespread in Hollywood and movie studios have used for the films Blade Runner 2049 and Pacific Rim Uprising. The company also makes inroads into the world of architecture or product design. For example, its tools have been used by BMW since 2017 for its design reviews.

Allegorithmic’s 140 employees will continue to develop Substance tools, whose pricing will not change immediately. In the long term, they will obviously integrate the tool into Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite.

Adobe accelerates its strategy in 3D and immersive technology

This acquisition is in line with Adobe’s strategy of expanding into the world of 3D creation. The company is historically specialized in 2D production but became seriously involved in 3D a year ago with the announcement of Adobe Dimension. Sébastien Deguy will be responsible for continuing these efforts as Vice President 3D & Immersive at Adobe. One of the challenges is immersive creation, whether it concerns virtual reality or augmented reality.

Allegorithmic is ahead of the curve, as the company is the first partner officially announced by Oculus for its hybrid applications, capable of switching from 2D to VR mode on the fly. For its part, Adobe launched the Aero project a few months ago, a tool dedicated to the design of augmented reality applications. Two complementary approaches that have undoubtedly contributed to this rapprochement.