Allegorithmic has released the second “Signature Series” collection, part of an ongoing effort to give professional Substance artists the ability to create original materials for the rest of the Substance community.
The new collection — created to give users a head start on building their own extraterrestrial world, from gleaming spaceships to exotic aliens — includes 18 sci-fi themed materials from one of the game world’s top artists. The latest Signature Series collection was created exclusively for Substance Source by Chris Hodgson, a texture and material artist at Naughty Dog, with over a decade of experience in the gaming industry.
Hodgson’s credits feature AAA titles like Payday 2, Tom Clancy’s The Division and Watch Dogs, as well as tenures at game development studios like Starbreeze Studios and Ubisoft. For this release, Hodgson looked to the sci-films of the 70s, 80s and 90s that continue to inspire him today, including Alien, Blade Runner and The Thing.
Hodgson created each material using only Substance Designer and Substance Painter. The otherworldly materials also feature a handful of new techniques only recently available to Substance users, including subsurface scattering, which gives alien skin a translucent glow. As with all Substance Source materials, Hodgson’s sci-fi themed offerings are fully customizable and meant for users of all levels. Each material includes the complete .sbs file, allowing users to adjust the graphs and learn how and why Hodgson used certain nodes, while beginners can simply download a material and tweak the basic parameters to create something unique.
Hodgson’s Signature Series consists of five categories of materials, beginning with “Alien Growth,” a set of organic-inspired materials meant to be both exotic and even a little disgusting. The second group, “Alien Panel,” contains structures and panels that you might associate with a frightening alien civilization, including skeletal and techno-infused hallways. The “Sci-Fi Industrial Panel” group moves from the horror of H.R. Giger to the grittiness of cyberpunk, reflecting an urban setting of metal and electrical cables. In contrast to the dystopian cyberpunk influence, “Sci-Fi Panels” offers brighter, cleaner materials with a touch of retro style. The final group, “Alien Terrain,” offers everything users will need to create their own alien landscapes.
Hodgson’s collection marks the second Signature Series release of 2018, with a third planned for later this year. The new collection is available now as part of a Substance Source subscription, but users can also download and test the “Alien Growth Brain Cells” material for free.