Allegorithmic has released an update for Substance Designer (http://tinyurl.com/qch5ab5), a material authoring tool for macOS and Windows.

Seven new noises and filters have been added to ease the creation of complex shapes and patterns, while new support for X-Rite’s Appearance Exchange Format (AxF) offers a way to author custom materials for design applications. AxF is a format that enables the communication of all aspects of a physical material’s appearance – color, texture, refraction, translucency, gloss, special effects and reflection properties – in a single, editable file. Once uploaded into Substance Designer, users will be able to add procedural edits to this data, producing custom materials with high degrees of accuracy and photorealism.
 
The update to Substance Designer is available free cost to current subscribers. Following the trial period, individual users will be able to subscribe to the Indie or Pro plans. Subscriptions to Substance Indie cost $19.90/month; Pro plans cost $99.90/month. Substance Designer is also available for individual-license purchase, which includes 12 months of maintenance. Enterprise and education pricing is available upon request. Students and teachers can request a license at no cost.