Top 50 Adobe Substance 3D Projects of 2021

2021 was another massive year for Adobe with the release of countless new tools and upgrades to existing packages. However, one of the biggest announcements this year was the release of Adobe Substance 3D Collection.

The new logos might have upset a few precious people, but that aside, there is no denying the absolute powerhouse of tools that are now easily accessible to help creatives bring their ideas to life using Substance 3D Stager, Substance 3D Painter, Substance 3D Sampler and Substance 3D Stager.

Without turning this into a love-fest for Adobe, I wanted to share with you what members of The Rookies have been creating with these tools. The following projects are the Top 50 projects uploaded to our platform in 2021, as based on popularity.

50. Medieval House UE4

Created by: Lauro Gutierrez Barragan
Member Level: rookie

Made this house project and adjusted the lightning as I have been learning a lot this past months ans wanted to improve this project. Hope you like it!

49. Military radio A7B Weekly Drills 047 - #MilitaryRadio

Created by: Eryk Kossakowski
Member Level: contender

Trying to create game ready asset

48. ISIC - Ghost Mecha

Created by: Francesco Amari
Member Level: contender

Hi everyone!My first entry on rookies will be my mecha ISIC from Battleborn, a project for Skyup Academy! I did this using Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter for Texturing and VRay for Renders. I also added some topology screenshots!The original Concept is from Herman NG

47. Dream

Created by: Houra Ershad
Member Level: contender

Here's my advanced term final project for Think tank online program, a likeness of actress Golshifteh Farahani. Her love for music, her country and its culture was my source of inspiration for the concept.Huge thanks to my supervisor Raffael Frank my family and friends, and all the supportive people in Think tank.

46. Victor-The Wandering Knight

Created by: Rajasekar
Member Level: player

FUN FACT: I have literally melted the rubber part underneath My lap while rendering it

45. The Princess of Ambrosia

Created by: Gia Han Lam
Member Level: player

A project I made earlier this year for the Grads in Games Challenge in the Character Art category :)I was lucky enough to end up as the winner for the Rising Star competition!We had to create a game ready character within a month, which was a great learning experience and challenge! Based on Airi Pan's concept :)

44. Eilesti - The Local Druid

Created by: Yano Claeys
Member Level: contender

I made this character for the grads in games challenge! Since this was my first time doing the full character workflow I learned a lot while making this.original concept made by Alessandro Rossi

43. The Dwarf

Created by: Lanson Zhang
Member Level: debut

Hi everyone,I have been working on this little Gimli's cousin by following the tutorial ''The Dwarf warrior ''@HoOman Raad .Follow me at https://www.artstation.com/artwork/3dGblAhttps://www.instagram.com/lanson.art/ to see more shots BTS

42. Rookies Weekly Drills 047 - MilitaryRadio

Created by: Jon Sharratt
Member Level: contender

The bombe is an electro-mechanical device used by the British cryptologists to help decipher German Enigma-machine-encrypted secret messages during World War II.

41. Marco’s Diner

Created by: Deevya Patel
Member Level: player

This is a 2 month environment project I worked on as a personal piece. It was inspired by the diner at the beginning of the Batman Arkham Knight game, except my take on it is how it looked after the city was evacuated.

40. Fortnite BackBling - Barracuda - Weekly Drills

Created by: Isaac Souto
Member Level: player

Hi everyone!This project is my entry for the 50th #RookiesWeeklyDrills that consisted in creating a #FortniteBackBling.The design of my backpack was inspired by the character Barracuda.This was my first time ever participating in a weekly drill and I sincerely had a blast doing it.I hope you enjoy!

39. CRYPT (Student Solo Project)

Created by: Will Murray
Member Level: contender

University of Hertfordshire 3rd Year Student Solo Project, UE4 game.

38. DWARF

Created by: Marina Llorente
Member Level: contender

This is the project I've been working on during the past month, based on the concept of the amazing Even Mehl Amundsen.

37. The Elemex - A Tribute to Creatures of Amalthea

Created by: Thiago C. P. Oliveira
Member Level: player

This is a tribute to Terryl Whitlatch's concept art.A project of many firsts, check it out on my social media extra content as well as other projects!All parts are done by me except for collab in the retouching of the main image

36. Ammer /Sci-fi Concept Idea

Created by: Amedeo Conti
Member Level: player

This is the final work i did as my last exam for the first year at @ied_milano , hope you like it

35. Skywind - Hlaalu Dresses

Created by: Alexandra Boshevska
Member Level: contender

Dresses I made for TESR Skywind.

34. Treasure Chest

Created by: Gabrielle Pehlivanides
Member Level: player

Treasure Chest for the Weekly Drills. Made in Maya, textured in Substance Painter, Rendered in Arnold.

33. Detective Pikachu

Created by: Ana Baeza González
Member Level: player

A project based on the movie: Detective Pikachu.

32. FKA twigs

Created by: Jina Cha
Member Level: player

I made likeness of FKA twigs. My main reference was photo from ELLE.Since most of tools were new to me, it was bit of challenge(especially braids...!). But I had fun and learned a lot from it:)

31. MRCDSBNZ 540 K

Created by: Michele Rocca
Member Level: player

Hi there! Here's my project for my first year 3D modeling, shading and lighting final exam at IED Milano.It took me 100+ hours to complete the job and I'm really happy with the result!I really hope you like it!

30. Alibaba Kitchen

Created by: Ruben Pino
Member Level: player

This is the result of my final project at Think Tank Online (Foundations term). We were assigned to recreate a 3D version of a 2D illustration. My choice was Alibaba, by the talented artist Thibaud Pourplanche.

29. Detective's Attic

Created by: Silke Van Der Smissen
Member Level: player

This is an interior environment based on the amazing concept by Leo Aveiro. It was my first time creating an interior and the focus of this one was to familiarize myself more with baked lighting in Unreal Engine and the GPU Lightmass baking.

28. Haroona(unknown 9 )

Created by: kunal Biswas
Member Level: rookie

Haroona(unknown 9 ) game character Fanart,It was fun to create this game CharacterI'm happy to share with you something that I started couple of months ago(3/4). Did Texturing and lookdev ,cloth,groom ,model(face) ..Thank youfor skin using TexturingXYZ, for cloth first time using Marvelous Designer,for groom usi

27. Stylized Interior Environment (Boxing gym)

Created by: Daniel Cano Martinez
Member Level: rookie

Stylized interior environment for a fight game, real time and optimized in Unreal Engine.

26. Carved Wood Pattern Material

Created by: Emily Bisset
Member Level: contender

This is a carved wood material made 100% in Substance Designer, rendered in Marmoset Toolbag 3. I also made a trim/decal sheet from the patterns I had made for it.

25. Love on Autopilot

Created by: Shakhzaman Kasteyev
Member Level: contender

A recreation of Renz Gonzaga's photo. Done for my Intermediate Final at Think Tank Online. It was my first time building a scene in Unreal and had a lot of fun.Renz Gonzaga's website: https://renzgonzaga.pixieset.com/

24. The Burrow

Created by: Irene Balsera Antón
Member Level: contender

Hello everybody!This is my final project that ends my time at Florida University. Now I just have to improve and learn on my own.It's a scenario based on my favourite Harry Potter movie saga.

23. Dark Ops

Created by: Gabriele Martinacci
Member Level: contender

This is my first big project for the portfolio. I really hope you like it! Let me know what you think. Every suggestion is appreciated.

22. FurBall : Crackito

Created by: Lucas Ferrer
Member Level: player

From my passion for snowy landscapes i've decided to realise an animal who could possibly live in this setting. Crackito (because it's his name) is a kind of mix between a wolf and an Syberian husky .A special thanks to lauramunos and sponylunique for their precious help and advices.

21. Lost and Found

Created by: Silke Van Der Smissen
Member Level: player

A quick unreal engine environment inspired by The Last of Us. It's mostly made up out of megascans, and was meant as an exercise on mood, lighting and composition.

20. Milqui

Created by: Roy Bennett
Member Level: player

This was my submission for my Foundations Term's final project at Think Tank Online. We were tasked with picking a 2D concept and recreating it in 3D. I chose the very talented Alejandro Burdisio's "Milqui" (Link here: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qr6Vy).

19. Fire and Blood' (Real-time)

Created by: Raff Sant
Member Level: contender

Fire and Blood” was developed during my mentorship here at Think Tank Training Centre. Huge shout out to my mentor, Damien Lam. “Fire and Blood” is based off of “Dragon Knight”, a concept art by Jian Li - https://www.artstation.com/artwork/mqBgPv

18. Spitfire Cockpit

Created by: Jonathan BACHETER
Member Level: rookie

I used many photos references.I choosed one photo as projection. I modeled everything. Then I delighted on Photoshop, and, on Substance Painter, I projected with my Camera Proj.I finished all texturing and I made a lookdev/Lighting/rendering to finish with the Compositing on Nuke.

17. Serana

Created by: Bryan Soegondo
Member Level: player

My version of Serana from Skyrim. Sculpted with Zbrush, with skin details done by hand through HD Geometry. Clothes were done in Marvelous, then refined in Zbrush. Hair was groomed using Blender's particle system, spell through geometry nodes, and rendered in Cycles.

16. Fox Adventurer

Created by: Ayoub CHAIBI
Member Level: contender

Had a lot of fun working on this projectAlso make sure to check out my breakdown video if you want to see the whole process of creatinga fox from start to finish!Hope you guys will enjoy!

15. The Gladiator Ulan (Real-Time)

Created by: Christopher Angus Roelofse
Member Level: player

Hello, this is my final project for my Intermediate-Term in Characters for Games at Think Tank online. The character is based of an AMAZING concept by "Naranbaatar Ganbold". Special thanks to all my classmates at Think Tank. Thank you to my wonderful supervisor "Saurabh Jethani".

14. Loki (Tom Hiddleston)

Created by: Carlos Belmonte Arráez
Member Level: player

This is the model I've been working during the last three weeks after watching the awesome LOKI series.

13. Tauren

Created by: Ayrton Diaz
Member Level: contender

My little Tauren is off the oven, my latest personal project! I been working on it a few months and this is the first time in which i worked with Maya/XGen and Arnold. I got i lot of fun and most important i feel ready to start with more ambitious projects.I hope u like as much i do.

12. The Ancient Light

Created by: Alejandro Díaz Magán
Member Level: contender

Stylized Alien Environment done in Unreal. Long ago there was a civilization collecting energy from the enormous creatures in this land, but nowdays barren fields and ruins is all that theres left.

11. Japanese house

Created by: Doyen Julien
Member Level: player

The environment i made was inspired by Romain Jouandeau's artwork GHOST OF TSUSHIMA - INTO THE PIXEL SELECTION. I made it for a final project at New3dge, I had 5 weeks to make it as realistic as possible.

10. Survival Knife Weekly Drills 045 - #SurvivalKnife

Created by: Eryk Kossakowski
Member Level: contender

Design based on BUCK KNIVESMy second project for the rookie weekly drills, in this project I really focused on making a practical game ready asset and improve my texturing skills.10994 Tris

9. Ronin 浪人 - Haru Kishaba

Created by: Sergi Coca GIl
Member Level: rookie

Ronin on real-time 104.7 K tris.Sculpted in ZBrush, clothing made in Marvelous Designer, retopology in Maya, texture in Substance Painter and Designer, final rendering in Marmoset Toolbag 4.

8. the Elder

Created by: Khoi Nguyen
Member Level: contender

Hey guys, here's my lastest work - the elder. It's inspired by lovely old ladies from Yunnan. All the details was hand sculpted in Zbrush following Kris Costa method, texturing with Substance Painter and xgen for hair, Maya Arnold renderer. Cheer!

7. Animation Workstation

Created by: Emile Menard
Member Level: player

This project was undertaken as the final exam in my first year at ESMA Montpellier. The task was to create two images of the office of a celebrity. As a subject I chose Tim Burton while he worked for Disney in the 1980's.

6. Honda CX650 Cafe Racer - Real-time Game Asset

Created by: Eldar Seydamet
Member Level: player

This custom Honda CX650 is based on the custom bobber/cafe racer Honda CX500 I used to own.While I was creating this bike I was also heavily inspired by the John Player Special Honda made by One-Up Moto Garage customs, very talented people!Huge thanks to my supervisor Jason Gullion, family and friends.

5. Flo's V8 Cafe - Think Tank Advanced Project

Created by: Juan Carlos Linares Santos
Member Level: player

Advance term Project @ Think Tank OnlineDuration - 14 weeksResponsible for all aspects, rendered in Unreal Engine 4. I used some of the foliage from Megascans, and the trees are from the Epic Store(Open World Demo Collection). The project was done for my final Advanced term project at Think Tank training

4. Fiohu

Created by: Zsmith Creative
Member Level: rookie

This is Fiohu, he is from the world yonus. The little shiny thing he is staring at is a thousand year old creature named sidra. These two have a bond that goes over thousand years yet the tiny sidra appears once every thousand years and that is why Fiohu is staring with such expressions.zbrush is mainly used for creat

3. Kid and the Hyenas

Created by: David Kwahk
Member Level: contender

One of the projects done for Demo Reel class at Gnomon taught by Miguel Ortega. Huge thanks to both Tran Ma and Miguel Ortega for all the feedback and support. Concept by Xiaoyu Huang

2. Red Leaves

Created by: Andy Huang
Member Level: contender

Had the pleasure of recreating some concept art in 3D. Original concept by Juhani Jokinen. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ZGeRwG

1. Princess Ira and Amina

Created by: Funso Sylvester Dorgu
Member Level: player

Princess Ira Giselle Is a fictional African princess with gold gifted powers. Her face painting is inspired by Nigerian traditional face decorations. Her crown adorned with crystals, crosses and chains incorporates several elements from different cultural designs from all over the world to portray unity.