Surface3D 0.92.1

Surface3D 0.92.1

Free for individuals. Donation supported. Teams and studios need a Studio License.

Install on Windows: unzip and run Surface3D.exe. The first start can take a moment while shaders are prepared.
Install on Linux: make the AppImage executable and run it. Vulkan drivers come from your system.
Projects: 0.92 and earlier projects open normally. Projects that use spline handles only open in 0.92.1 or later.

New in 0.92.1

• Spline handles: drag the round handles beside a point to shape the curve; Alt+click makes it automatic again.
• Click the selected spline's line to add a point exactly there, also while still drawing the spline.
• Graph nodes show a slider for their first value on the card. Ctrl drags finely; one undo takes back the drag.
• Exposed values stay linked between a layer and its node.
• The blend tag on a layer row follows the channel shown: with Base color shown, it changes only Base color.

Fixed in 0.92.1

• Starting a new spline crashed the app.
• Tile sampler Position and Size variation drag 0-1 and accept larger typed values; node values drag -1 to 2 and
  accept larger typed values.
• The HDRI rotation field keeps turning past 180 degrees and has no fill.
• Unchecked boxes, such as Perspective, Wireframe and Cavity, are visible.
• Scrolling the blend mode on a layer with mixed channel modes steps through every mode, not just two.
• UV Move, Scale and Rotate fields move the selected islands: shown while dragging, applied on release.
• A rare graphics driver crash after rendering library thumbnails. Library materials show their image for now.

Known limits

• Transparency blending is not in this version.
• A Layers or Properties panel left floating returns to its dock at the next start.
• Library imports: unticked types return after a rescan.

Surface3D 0.91 — Windows x64 + Linux beta

Surface3D 0.91

Free for individuals. Donation supported. Teams and studios need a Studio License.

Downloads

• Windows x64: Surface3D-0.91-Windows-x64.zip
• Linux x86_64 (beta): Surface3D-0.91-Linux-x86_64-beta.AppImage

Windows install: unzip and run Surface3D.exe. The first start can take a moment while shaders are prepared.
Projects: 0.90 projects open normally. Projects using anything new below only open in 0.91 or later.

New in 0.91

• Cloth sculpt brushes: Drag, Push / Pull, Pinch, Expand and Inflate, forming folds as relief.
• Lock layers and folders. Locked items cannot be changed and Properties says so.
• Folders: color them, drag them, duplicate, copy and delete them with their layers. Open or closed state is saved.
• Selection: Ctrl+A, arrow keys, Ctrl-click to deselect, and Ctrl/Shift-select several effects on a layer.
• Several selected layers or effects now share opacity and blend changes.
• Ctrl+G groups layers. Alt-click an eye to solo a layer.
• Double-click a name to rename. Click a thumbnail to open its effects.
• Paint and Fill add inside a layer while its effects are open.
• Wireframe draws on top of the model, with color and thickness.
• Bright metal reflections keep their color better.
• Fixed the "Keep folder layers contiguous" error and the effect browser ID error.

Known limits

• Cloth is relief in the normal map, so the silhouette does not change. Very fast drags can fall behind.
• Copying a folder is refused if its effects read an anchor outside that folder.
• Folders cannot go inside folders yet.
• The 0.90 limits on very large 4K stacks still apply.

Linux beta
This is the first Linux build, so expect problems. It has only been tested on a software (CPU) Vulkan driver in a virtual screen. It has not yet run on a real GPU or a real desktop, so GPU drivers, pens, Wayland, file dialogs and drag and drop are unproven. Keep backups of your projects.

To run it: make the file executable, then start it. A system check runs first and offers to install anything missing. If it will not start because fuse2 is missing, run it with --appimage-extract-and-run.

Not on Linux yet

• Screen-wide eyedropper.
• Built-in updater: the update button opens this release page. Replace the file to update.
• DXR ray tracing: baking uses the compute baker.
• Direct3D 11: Vulkan only.
• TIFFs compressed with JBIG, LERC, WebP or Zstandard do not open.

Differences from Windows

• Saving a project takes longer.
• Text nodes can look different, because fonts and text layout differ.
• Detached panels may stay inside the main window on Wayland.

Surface3D 0.90 — Windows x64

Surface3D 0.90

Free for individuals. Donation supported. Teams and studios need a Studio License.

Install: unzip and run Surface3D.exe. The first start can take a moment while shaders are prepared.
Projects: saved in the same format as 0.89.

New in 0.90

• Big 4K projects are stable: fixed a crash on 8 GB cards, and 60-layer 4K projects now open.
• Much faster painting: plain paint is about 20x faster at 12 layers and 40x at 30, at 4K. Paint on layers with
  effects is about 3x faster, but still not smooth at 4K. 2K projects are faster too.
• Nearly instant layer switching.
• Viewport: separate Camera and rendering and Lighting icons, plus new cavity shading.
• Mesh import cleans up broken triangles and normals.
• Fixed wrong material on some Pass Through layers.
• Removed "Skip this version" from the update window.

Known limits

• Projects with many layers take a little longer to open.
• Some edits low in the stack (Levels, bottom-layer opacity) can be slower at 4K.
• On very large stacks, releasing a stroke or the first dab on a low layer can take a few seconds.
• Heavy video memory use by other programs slows painting on layers with effects.

Surface3D 0.89 — Windows x64

`Surface3D 0.89

Free for individuals. Donation supported. Teams and studios need a Studio License.

This file lists everything new from 0.84 to 0.89, newest first.

Install: unzip and run Surface3D.exe. Settings from earlier versions are kept. The first start after an
update can take a moment while shaders are prepared.
Projects: 0.89 saves format 54 (anchor points), which older versions cannot open. Projects from any
earlier version open as before.

==================== 0.89 ====================

New in 0.89: find effects faster, and anchors that store a state

• One effect browser everywhere: "+ Material effect", "+ Mask generator", the Layers "Add effect" icon and the
  right-click Add effect. Groups are tabs on top (Main, Adjust, Filters, Grunge, Drivers, Anchors, Favourites);
  Main holds the 20 most used (Paint, Fill, Levels, Blur, Slope Blur, Sharpen, High pass, Curves...) with your
  recent ones and favourites. All grunge generators are in one tab with sub group chips (Surface, Wear,
  Deposits, Dirt, Patterns, Masonry...). Search covers every tab: names, descriptions and keywords.
• Effects are small node cards with the graph editor's icons and colours; generator previews show what drives
  them (cavity, edges, thickness, facing, height, pattern). Star a card to keep it in Favourites. Cards can be
  dragged onto a layer. The popup stays on screen and the panel grip no longer draws over it.
• Anchor points: Add effect > Anchors > "Add anchor point here" stores the layer's mask or material exactly as
  the effects below it leave it. A layer can hold several; drag them up or down like any effect, rename them with
  a right-click. Any layer above reads them from Anchors in the effect browser, from the Anchors row under a
  fill's Effects, or from the Anchors tab of a channel's source picker.
• Layer anchors read everything stacked up to and including that layer; "Anchor a layer below" makes one in a
  click. Anchors on any layer now work (before, anchors above the eighth layer could read the wrong layer).
• The channel source picker (the image icon) has icon tabs: Images, Noise, Grunge, Anchors, Nodes.
• Online materials: drag one from the library, pause on the mesh or a layer, and release on 1K, 2K or 4K. It
  downloads that size (or the next smaller one) and applies where you paused. The Textures tab lists the online
  CC0 sets under your own textures.
• In mask mode the Paint and Fill buttons add to the mask; new effects land above the selected one.
• Each layer and effect row shows its blend mode on the right (Norm, Mult, Ovly...) and its opacity below 100%.
• Long dropdowns open fully, so Triplanar shows without scrolling in Coordinates.
• UV mode no longer redraws the viewport every frame (lighter on the graphics card).

==================== 0.88 ====================

New in 0.88: a self-healing baker

• One click: pick the low mesh, the high mesh and the size, then Bake. Low and high parts are paired by where
  they overlap, so there is no _low/_high naming and no exploding. Every part gets its own cage that reaches
  its high and stops before its neighbours. Detail standing on flat faces is straightened (no skew), rays that
  missed are cast again with a locally grown cage, and seams that disagree are blended.
• When something still looks wrong, the Bake panel says "N spots need attention". Show colours them on the
  mesh (red missed, orange at the cage limit, blue back face, yellow skew, cyan seam) and lists them; click one
  to frame it. Fix all (or Fix on one spot) adjusts what that spot needs and rebakes only those spots.
• Advanced (collapsed): the automatic switches, one row per part (cage size, limit, skew; all Auto until you
  change them, saved per part), cage paint (Ctrl+drag pushes the cage out, Ctrl+right-drag pulls it in),
  samples, edge samples, padding, engine, view (cage, high mesh wire, wireframe), your own cage mesh and the
  bake log. One Bake panel: the older tabs are gone.
• Live updates: changing a part's cage or painting the cage rebakes only the texels it moves, as soon as you let
  go. Re-importing a low mesh that changed in places rebakes only the changed triangles.
• Very dense high meshes (hundreds of millions of triangles) load once into a cache (next to the file or in
  your user folder, whichever drive has more room) and bake without filling video memory. They need a graphics
  card with hardware ray tracing.

Cleaner maps

• Ambient occlusion, thickness, bent normal and curvature no longer show lines, triangle facets or banding:
  every texel now uses its own rotation of the ray pattern, and a light edge-preserving smoothing removes the
  remaining grain (Advanced > Quality > Smooth grain).
• The empty space between UV islands is filled from the nearest island (Fill gutters), so no dark rims appear
  at a distance.
• The bake repairs more by itself: rays that hit the back of a surface look past it, small unreachable slivers
  are filled from their island, and seams that still disagree are blended fully. Fix all now clears what is
  left in one go on our test scenes.
• Cage paint works: turn on Paint cage, then drag on the mesh to push the cage out, Shift+drag to pull it in
  (Alt+drag still turns the view). When you let go, the changed area fades into the new bake.
• Very dense FBX, glTF and other high meshes (not just PLY/OBJ) load through the dense-mesh cache.

Wireframe

• Rendering > Camera > Wireframe (also in Bake > Advanced > View) draws the mesh as lines in the viewport.

Faster

• The interface no longer slows down when the screen is busy (many overlay lines, large panels): on the
  default graphics backend a busy frame went from about 70 ms to 4 ms.
• The bake cage and high-mesh wire views draw only what faces you and stay smooth on dense meshes.
• Bakes on graphics cards with hardware ray tracing are about 4x faster (a 4K bake of the sample plane:
  9.5 s -> 2.5 s), with the same maps.
• Cards without hardware ray tracing bake about 15x faster than before (577 s -> 37 s on the same bake).

==================== 0.87 ====================

New in 0.87

• Merge layers: Shift- or Ctrl-click two or more layers, right-click > Merge (or Ctrl+E). They become one
  layer with a stacked picture and a "Merged · N" badge. A merged layer can be hidden, renamed, faded and given
  a blend mode in Properties, and it renders as one layer. The original layers stay inside it with all their
  settings: right-click > Unmerge (or Ctrl+E on the merged layer) brings them back exactly as they were.
  Folders have "Merge folder layers" in their right-click menu.
  Layers that use blend modes like Multiply now blend with each other first, so a merge can change their look
  slightly (layers using Normal look the same).
• Collapsed folders show their top layers as small fanned pictures, so you can tell folders apart without
  opening them.

Faster and lighter on video memory

• Merged layers keep only their combined result on the graphics card; the layers inside move to system memory.
  Ten merged layers cost about as much video memory as one.
• Hidden layers (and layers in hidden folders) leave video memory a moment after you hide them, and come back
  exactly when you show them again.
• Layers moved to system memory are packed: empty and flat areas take almost no space (a typical paint layer
  needs a fraction of its size).
• If video memory runs out, Surface3D first finishes moving layers out of it and tries again instead of failing,
  and the status bar warns you when the card is nearly full.

==================== 0.86 ====================

New in 0.86

• Layers show a small picture of each layer, so you can find layers by look, not only by name.
• Teach mask: selecting another layer ends teaching, and its mask overlay goes away. Your strokes are kept:
  "Teach more" (or "Start teaching" on weathering layers) continues where you left off.

Faster

• Painting stays smooth while a bake or a background render is running: background GPU work now runs beside
  painting instead of in the same queue (a paint dab under heavy background load: 33 ms -> under 1 ms).
• Reading results back from the GPU (export, save, node previews) is about 1.6x faster
  (4K: 107 ms -> 66 ms, 2K: 28 ms -> 17 ms).
• Freed video memory used for quick texture reuse is now released after a few seconds, or at once when video
  memory runs low.

==================== 0.85 ====================

New in 0.85: Vulkan graphics

• Surface3D now draws and computes with Vulkan by default. Painting, layers, nodes, bakes and the
  viewport give the same results as before, and the same graphics engine will run on Linux and macOS.
• Faster and steadier: the slowest paint dabs (95th percentile) are about 30-50% faster at 2K and 4K, the
  viewport renders up to 20% faster, and layer rebuilds are as fast or faster than before.
• Much faster first start after an update: shaders compile in seconds instead of minutes.
• Hardware ray-traced bakes (DXR) keep working.
• Preferences > Graphics card > Graphics API switches between Vulkan and Direct3D 11 (restart to apply).
  If a graphics driver cannot run Vulkan 1.2, Surface3D starts on Direct3D 11 automatically.
• Projects, materials and settings are unchanged and open in both.

Notes

• Vulkan needs an up-to-date graphics driver (NVIDIA, AMD or Intel from the last few years).
• Vulkan uses up to about 10% more video memory on very large projects (4K, many layers).
  If memory is tight, switch to Direct3D 11 in Preferences.

==================== 0.84 ====================

New in 0.84: a cleaner Properties panel

• Layer and Tool views: a switch at the top of Properties shows either the selected layer, mask or
  effect, or the active tool (paint material and brush). It follows what you clicked last:
  selecting a layer shows the layer, pick...

Surface3D 0.84 — Windows x64

Surface3D 0.84

Free for individuals. Donation supported. Teams and studios need a Studio License.

New in 0.84: a cleaner Properties panel

• Layer and Tool views: a switch at the top of Properties shows either the selected layer, mask or
  effect, or the active tool (paint material and brush). It follows what you clicked last:
  selecting a layer shows the layer, picking a tool shows the tool.
• Clear sections (Material, Coordinates, Effects, Brush) with a short summary on the right, so a
  closed section still tells you what is inside.
• Every material channel is one line. Only the selected channel opens its settings below the
  list, so the panel no longer turns into a long scroll.
• One texture button per channel opens the texture grid (images, gradient, generators).
• Material slot: pick a material from a searchable grid of thumbnails, or drop one from Assets.

Gradients and colour picking

• The colour picker has Solid / Gradient tabs. Switching to Gradient keeps the picker open with
  the full gradient editor inside (stops, type, angle, scale, offset, repeat).
• A gradient channel shows the gradient itself; click it to edit.
• Pickers and menus stay attached to the control that opened them.
• Eyedropper works anywhere on screen, in any app. In a gradient, hold and drag a line across
  anything on screen: its colours become the gradient. Esc or right-click cancels.

New free material library: ambientCG

• Assets > Materials has a Poly Haven / ambientCG switch. ambientCG adds about 2,000 CC0
  materials and decals.
• "Grunge & wear" gathers surface imperfections, leaks, fingerprints, rust and dirt; "Decals"
  lists the decal sets. Opacity maps are kept, so decals stay transparent.
• Pick 1k or 2k, JPG or PNG, then Import to Library. Everything is CC0 (free for any use).
• Drag any online material (Poly Haven or ambientCG) straight onto a layer or the model, even
  before downloading: it downloads (1k), goes into your Library and is applied where you dropped
  it. The status bar shows the progress.

Fixes

• Number sliders outside Properties (for example Camera and lighting) no longer show their value
  twice; that panel now uses the same label-left layout as Properties.

Texture sets

• Texture Sets > Maps in this set: remove maps a set does not need (for example Metallic on skin
  or cloth). Layers and the brush then show only the maps the set uses, and removed maps are not
  exported.

Install: unzip and run Surface3D.exe. Settings from earlier versions are kept.
The first start after an update can take a minute while shaders are prepared.

Surface3D 0.83

Surface3D 0.83

Free for individuals. Donation supported. Teams and studios need a Studio License.

New in 0.83

• New project page: pick the shader (Skin, Foliage / thin, Clear coat...) for every texture set
  right away, under Shader & colour.
• Fixed a warning box when opening the Shader section of Texture Sets.

From 0.82: shaders for characters and games

• Every texture set now has a Shader (Texture Sets panel > Shader):
  • Standard: as before.
  • Skin: light spreads under the surface (pre-integrated subsurface scattering, red travels
    furthest) and glows through thin parts such as ears and nostrils.
  • Foliage / thin: leaves, paper and thin cloth light up from behind.
  • Clear coat: a second glossy layer on top for car paint, varnish and wet surfaces.
  • Custom: all of them together.
    Different mesh parts can use different shaders (skin, eyes, armour, cloth...).
• Specular level for every shader (skin about 0.35, most materials 0.5).
• Shading maps without extra weight: each value is a single number, or "Paint a map" creates a
  small map layer whose mask you paint with every mask tool (brush, fill, gradients, generators,
  Teach Mask), or "Use a mask..." reuses any existing layer mask. Standard sets cost nothing extra.
• Translucency uses your baked Thickness map automatically, so thin parts glow where they should.
• Export presets for Unreal Engine, Unity HDRP and glTF / Blender, with the right maps packed for
  each (Subsurface, Translucency / Thickness, Clear coat + roughness, Smoothness, Specular).
  Maps a set's shader does not use are skipped. Import.txt lists the engine settings, including the
  IOR from the specular level. Older projects get the new presets added automatically.

From 0.81

• Teach Mask drips: runs flow down from the edges you teach, spaced like real drips, with
  different lengths and beads where they stop.

Install: unzip and run Surface3D.exe. Settings from earlier versions are kept.
The first start after an update can take a minute while shaders are prepared.

License: free for individuals (hobby, students, freelancers). Teams and studios need a Studio License
(one-time per seat, no subscription; early access 60% off: $59 for 2-10 seats, $119 for 11+). Details: Licensing.
Like Surface3D? Support it with a donation.

Surface3D 0.82

Surface3D 0.82

Free for individuals. Donation supported. Teams and studios need a Studio License.

New in 0.82: shaders for characters and games

• Every texture set now has a Shader (Texture Sets panel > Shader):
  • Standard: as before.
  • Skin: light spreads under the surface (pre-integrated subsurface scattering, red travels
    furthest) and glows through thin parts such as ears and nostrils.
  • Foliage / thin: leaves, paper and thin cloth light up from behind.
  • Clear coat: a second glossy layer on top for car paint, varnish and wet surfaces.
  • Custom: all of them together.
    Different mesh parts can use different shaders (skin, eyes, armour, cloth...).
• Specular level for every shader (skin about 0.35, most materials 0.5).
• Shading maps without extra weight: each value is a single number, or "Paint a map" creates a
  small map layer whose mask you paint with every mask tool (brush, fill, gradients, generators,
  Teach Mask), or "Use a mask..." reuses any existing layer mask. Standard sets cost nothing extra.
• Translucency uses your baked Thickness map automatically, so thin parts glow where they should.
• Export presets for Unreal Engine, Unity HDRP and glTF / Blender, with the right maps packed for
  each (Subsurface, Translucency / Thickness, Clear coat + roughness, Smoothness, Specular).
  Maps a set's shader does not use are skipped. Import.txt lists the engine settings, including the
  IOR from the specular level. Older projects get the new presets added automatically.

From 0.81

• Teach Mask drips: runs flow down from the edges you teach, spaced like real drips, with
  different lengths and beads where they stop.

Install: unzip and run Surface3D.exe. Settings from earlier versions are kept.
The first start after an update can take a minute while shaders are prepared.

License: free for individuals (hobby, students, freelancers). Teams and studios need a Studio License
(one-time per seat, no subscription; early access 60% off: $59 for 2-10 seats, $119 for 11+). Details: Licensing.
Like Surface3D? Support it with a donation.

Surface3D 0.81

Surface3D 0.81

Free for individuals. Donation supported. Teams and studios need a Studio License.

New in 0.81

• Teach Mask drips: paint the edges where dirt or rust should start, then turn on Drips in the
  Teach panel. Runs flow down the model under gravity from the taught mask: wide and heavy where they
  leave the edge, thinner as the water runs out, with a slight meander, breaks where the film tears
  and a bead where they stop. Controls: Drips (amount), Length and Width. Suggested by an artist
  from the industry.
• Website moved to https://surface3d.site with a Pricing page.
• Studio License is now a one-time purchase per seat (no subscription), 60% off for early buyers.

From 0.80

• Help > License and donations: your license, Studio prices, donate and buy links.

From 0.79

• Gradients in the colour picker, on roughness / metallic / other values, and along brush strokes.
• Color Gradient and Value Gradient nodes. New add-layer icons. Panels can float again.

Install: unzip and run Surface3D.exe. Settings from earlier versions are kept.

License: free for individuals (hobby, students, freelancers). Teams and studios need a Studio License
(one-time per seat, no subscription; early access 60% off: $59 for 2-10 seats, $119 for 11+). Details: Licensing.
Like Surface3D? Support it with a donation.

Surface3D 0.80

Surface3D 0.80

Free for individuals. Donation supported. Teams and studios need a Studio License.

New in 0.80

• Licensing: Help > License and donations shows your license, the Studio prices and links to
  donate or buy a Studio License. Studios enter their license details once. LICENSE.txt is included.

From 0.79

• Gradients: "Solid | Gradient" in the colour picker, gradient buttons on roughness, metallic and
  other values, 2-16 stops, six shapes (linear, radial, angular, diamond, reflected, square). The
  brush runs its gradient along the stroke, randomly per dab or by pen pressure.
• Color Gradient and Value Gradient nodes in the graph.
• Separate add-layer buttons with new, distinct icons.
• Panels can be pulled off and float again.

From 0.78

• 13 interface languages, including Persian and Arabic (right-to-left).
• Hold Shift to adjust any value slowly; Alt for faster.
• Dense high-poly baking: millions of triangles load in the background without stalling.
• Higher default resource limits.

Install: unzip and run Surface3D.exe. Settings from earlier versions are kept.
Personal use is free. Teams and studios: see LICENSE.txt or Help > License and donations.

License: free for individuals (hobby, students, freelancers). Teams and studios need a Studio License
(one-time per seat, no subscription; early access 60% off: $59 for 2-10 seats, $119 for 11+). Details: Licensing.
Like Surface3D? Support it with a donation.

Surface3D 0.79 — Windows x64

Surface3D 0.79

New in 0.79

• Gradients everywhere:

  • Colour picker: choose "Solid" or "Gradient" at the top of the picker (layer colours and the brush).
  • Roughness, metallic and the other value rows have a gradient button next to the value.
  • Two to sixteen stops: click the bar to add a colour, drag a stop to move it (Shift snaps),
    right-click to remove it. Reverse and Even buttons.
  • Shapes: linear, radial, angular, diamond, reflected and square; angle, scale, offset, centre,
    clamp / repeat / mirror.
  • Brush: the gradient runs along the stroke (repeat, back and forth, once), randomly per dab or by
    pen pressure, with an adjustable length.

• New Color Gradient and Value Gradient nodes in the graph (Color & Channels). Connect a value to
  Factor to use it as a gradient map.

• Layers: the separate add buttons are back, with new distinct icons (brush, bucket, node graph,
  mask, effects spark, folder).

• Panels can be pulled off and float again (drag a tab out). File > Preferences > Panels >
  Lock docked panels keeps them in place if you want that.

Includes everything from 0.78 (languages, Shift fine-adjust, dense high-poly baking).
Install: unzip and run Surface3D.exe. Settings from earlier versions are kept.

License: free for individuals (hobby, students, freelancers). Teams and studios need a Studio License
(one-time per seat, no subscription; early access 60% off: $59 for 2-10 seats, $119 for 11+). Details: Licensing.
Like Surface3D? Support it with a donation.