The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented four longtime members of the team working on Substance Designer with a Science and Technical Award on February 24 at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. This award recognizes the impact of the texture creation software across the cinematic field; it has notably been used in the creation of movies such as Blade Runner 2049, Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker, Frozen II, and more.
Specifically, the Academy presented the award to Sébastien Deguy and Christophe Soum for the concept and original implementation of the Substance Engine, and to Sylvain Paris and Nicolas Wirrman for the design and engineering of Substance Designer.
Sébastien, whose doctoral thesis in Computer Science from the Université d’Auvergne formed the foundation of the Substance Engine, extended his thanks to the Substance team as a whole, noting, “Only four people are on stage, but in reality we all know it takes a village.”
All four recipients of the award credited the massive importance of input and feedback from the community of 3D artists in the creation and development of Substance Designer. “We also want to thank the community of artists, who pushed the tools to their limits and helped us tremendously in this journey,” Sébastien added.
Nicolas Wirrmann, Senior Product Manager for Substance Designer, noted, “To the incredible community of artists and technical artists using Substance Designer, seeing what you have achieved with it is the most rewarding thing you could imagine. Please keep pushing the limits, and please keep challenging us.”
Nicolas Wirrmann, Christophe Soum, Sébastien Deguy, and Sylvain Paris.
