Substance Designer (v.2019 and newer)

Substance Designer allows users to accelerate performance by enabling GPU and RTX acceleration for tasks such as baking and rendering. This boosts speed and efficiency, particularly for complex workflows like ray tracing and rendering physically accurate materials.

How to Enable GPU and RTX Acceleration in Substance Designer

1. Launch Substance Designer
   Open the application from the default path:
   C:\Program Files\Allegorithmic\Substance Designer\Substance Designer.exe

2. Activate Direct3D 11 Rendering

   • Upon launch, select Direct3D 11 as the substance engine.

     

   • Navigate to Edit > Preferences and select the Bakers tab.

     

   • Check Enable GPU Raytracing to use NVIDIA RTX for faster baking processes.

     

3. Optimize Iray Settings

   • In the IRAY tab, deselect CPU to ensure only the NVIDIA GPU is used for rendering.

     

   • For project-specific tasks, select IRay Renderer in the viewport to accelerate rendering.

Top Tips to Speed Up Substance Designer

1. Update GPU Drivers
   Ensure your NVIDIA RTX or GTX drivers are up to date for maximum compatibility and performance. Updates often include optimizations for baking and rendering tasks in Substance Designer.

2. Simplify Substance Graphs
   Complex substance graphs can slow down rendering. Try simplifying nodes and minimizing the number of exposed parameters early in the graph, as these increase processing time. By organizing nodes efficiently, Substance Designer can better manage real-time processing.

3. Leverage RTX for Baking
   If you're working on resource-heavy baking tasks, switching to RTX-powered bakers can give you up to 20x faster speeds compared to traditional CPU-based baking. This is particularly useful for reducing rendering times in highly detailed scenes.

4. Optimize Viewport Settings
   Lower the viewport resolution when working with large materials, switching to lower settings until final rendering to conserve GPU resources and improve interactivity during edits.

Substance Designer System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

• Operating System:

  • Windows 10 64-bit Version 22H2.

  • macOS 12 Monterey.

  • Enterprise ETLA RHEL 8.6 or later or RHEL 9.2 or later; Steam Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS.

• Processor: Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5.

• RAM: 16 GB.

• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, NVIDIA Quadro P2200, AMD Radeon RX 580, or AMD Radeon Pro 5300M.

• VRAM: 8 GB.

• Storage: SSD with 30 GB of available space.

Recommended Specifications:

• Operating System:

  • Windows 11 64-bit Version 21H2.

  • macOS 13 Ventura.

  • Enterprise ETLA RHEL 8.6 or later or RHEL 9.4 or later; Steam Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS or later.

• Processor: Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7.

• RAM: 32 GB.

• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, NVIDIA Quadro RTX A4000, AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, or AMD Radeon Pro W7700.

• VRAM: 16 GB.

• Storage: SSD with 50 GB of available space.

Optimal Specifications:

• Operating System:

  • Windows 11 64-bit Version 22H2.

  • macOS 14 Sonoma.

  • Enterprise ETLA RHEL 8.6 or later or RHEL 9.4 or later; Steam Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS or later.

• Processor: Intel Core i9 or AMD Ryzen 9.

• RAM: 64 GB.

• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 Ada Generation, AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, or AMD Radeon Pro W7800.

• VRAM: 24 GB.

• Storage: SSD with 70 GB of available space.

Meeting these specifications will help you get the most out of Substance 3D Designer, ensuring efficient workflows and high-quality outputs. Keep in mind that more complex projects, especially those involving high-resolution textures or intricate materials, will benefit from higher-end hardware configurations.

Top Recommended GPUs for Substance Designer

1. NVIDIA RTX 3080
   This GPU delivers excellent performance for RTX-based tasks in Substance Designer, allowing fast baking and smooth real-time rendering, even with complex materials.

2. NVIDIA RTX 3090
   For users handling extremely large projects or high-resolution textures, the RTX 3090 offers 24GB of VRAM, making it perfect for advanced baking tasks and real-time ray tracing.

3. NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti
   A cost-effective option that provides strong performance for most users, this GPU can handle real-time ray tracing and GPU-accelerated tasks effectively, especially in smaller to mid-sized projects.

By enabling GPU and RTX acceleration in Substance Designer and optimizing your workflow, you can significantly speed up baking and rendering processes, ensuring smooth performance even with demanding tasks.

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