With Photoshop out of the picture, let’s look at these alternatives that offer 3D elements.
1. Substance 3D Painter
Adobe’s Substance 3D Painter is not part of the Adobe Creative Suite, but it is a newly acquired Adobe product along with other Substance 3D programs.
Painter gives you a set of tools and techniques to apply paint and materials to 3D renders. There are options for painting by hand—digitally, of course—or using a paint generator to save time. And by melding both techniques, you can add realistic color to your 3D designs.
With the help of UV maps to designate 3D materials, you can precisely apply paint to each part of your model and change it again later on. Substance 3D Painter allows you to use information from your 3D mesh before you begin adding textures to your models.
You’ll find a layers panel reminiscent of what Photoshop offers. The layers and masks help you blend colors and textures for a realistic painted 3D creation.
Download: Adobe Substance 3D Painter for Windows, Mac, and Linux (Subscription required, free trial available)
2. Substance 3D Stager
Adobe Substance 3D Stager is a 3D model staging tool for creating 3D scenes. You can use predetermined 3D shapes—such as spheres, cubes, cones, or 3D text—to create and expand a 3D scene. Stager also allows you to import 3D models made elsewhere and offers some pre-designed 3D models like sofas, laptops, tubes, clothing, and so on. All of them are totally customizable.
The main focus of Stager is the staging of scenes, giving you realistic options for lighting and materials, and it even offers a camera setting to create depth of field with a camera blur. You can add real photographs as backgrounds to your scenes, and you can use Adobe Sensei’s AI to match the perspective of the photo to your scene, so it fits seamlessly with the background.
Stager integrates smoothly with other Substance 3D programs as well as other Adobe software. You can create patterns in Illustrator and import them as textures on cushions in your 3D environment (although, it’s not limited to just cushions).
Download: Adobe Substance 3D Stager for Windows, Mac, and Linux (Subscription required, free trial available)
3. Substance 3D Sampler
Another one of Adobe’s Substance 3D tools is Sampler. This software also integrates with other Substance 3D programs. Sampler’s focus is on materials, patterns, and sampling real-life elements to give your 3D models a realistic result.
You can use integrated patterns, imported photos, or the supplied patterns in Sampler itself to add a realistic touch to your work. Different materials can be altered in multiple ways, and it’s easy to experiment with materials, surfaces, and patterns.
Download: Adobe Substance 3D Sampler for Windows, Mac, and Linux (Subscription required, free trial available)
4. Substance 3D Designer
The final of the four Substance 3D tools is Adobe Substance 3D Designer. This tool allows you to create 3D materials from scratch. You can then use those materials in other 3D programs, as well as across the entire Substance 3D set.
Using NodeMaps, you can create 3D material designs, filters, and effects. These can then be used across the board in Substance 3D and beyond. This software allows for lots of experimentation to create realistic results.
Download: Adobe Substance 3D Designer for Windows, Mac, and Linux (Subscription required, free trial available)
5. Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator has had 3D functionality for quite some time. But since the removal of Photoshop’s 3D features, it seems to have stepped up its 3D game. In Illustrator, you can access some of those Photoshop 3D features you might miss, such as Bevel and Extrude, or adding 3D immediately to your text.
Illustrator also offers many other 3D features. You can add materials and textures to your 3D assets. And you can create 3D shapes from your pre-existing 2D vector designs, making it incredibly easy to transform your flat illustrations into exciting 3D versions.
Illustrator’s mesh tool and gradient mesh tool are great alternatives for creating effects you were able to achieve in Photoshop. You can manipulate text, perspective, and colors in ways that Photoshop’s perspective tools used to do.
Download: Adobe Illustrator for Windows, Mac, and Linux (Subscription required, free trial available)
6. Blender
Blender is a favorite among 3D designers. Whether you’re creating a scene or a character, there’s not much you can’t do with this software.
You can use Blender for 3D printing, and like Substance 3D Stager, you can add lighting to your scenes or work with UV maps to create accurate texture mapping in Blender designs. And that’s not even the half of it; check out these Blender tutorials to acquaint yourself with the program.
Blender’s 3D abilities are definitely more complex than what was offered by Photoshop’s 3D features. It can easily replace some features like 3D text creation and perspective warping.
Download: Blender for Windows, Mac, and Linux (Free)
7. Nomad Sculpt and Procreate for iPad
While these are two separate programs, they do work well together. Procreate has introduced 3D features but only for painting and materials, and unfortunately, it does not include 3D model creation. This is where Nomad Sculpt comes in, as you can design a 3D model there and then paint it in Procreate.
These tools are both available on iPad, which is a great alternative to using Photoshop on your tablet. Most 3D tools like Blender are available on computers only, or at least are much easier to use from a computer setup; Nomad and Procreate allow you to create and edit 3D features on the move.
Download: Nomad Sculpt for iOS | Android ($14.99)
Download: Procreate for iPad ($9.99)
8. PTGui
One major loss from Photoshop’s removal of 3D features is the ability to create a 360-degree spherical panorama.
To continue creating fun panoramas, consider using PTGui. Here, you can create 360 panoramas as well as 360 spherical panoramas. Using the free version, you’ll have a PTGui watermark on your stitched panoramas. The premium license is $167.
Download: PTGui for Mac, Windows, and Linux (Free, premium version available)
You Don’t Need Photoshop to Create in 3D
With these eight alternatives for Photoshop 3D elements, you’ll discover new ways to continue adding 3D features to your work. There’s lots of learning and experimenting to do, but it will be worth it in the long run. Don’t let the removal of Photoshop’s 3D elements hold you back.
