Adobe revamps metaverse design tools for Apple’s chips

Adobe said that it has reworked the software so that it will run on Apple's proprietary chips, a move that is likely to help Apple gain some ground of its own.

Adobe Inc on Tuesday said it has reworked several of its tools for creating three-dimensional content to make them work well on Apple Inc computers that use the iPhone maker's proprietary "M" series chips.

(Sign up to our Technology newsletter, Today’s Cache, for insights on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, business and policy. Click here to subscribe for free.)

Adobe has long been a major player providing software in creative fields like photography, graphic design and film. But Adobe has been working to build out more tools for making the three-dimensional worlds and objects used in video games and, increasingly, the so-called metaverse, where companies like Meta Platforms Inc are hoping to use augmented reality technology to overlay digital content on the real world.

Adobe acquired software tools called Substance 3D in 2019 when it bought French firm Allegorithmic for an undisclosed sum. The tool helps the makers of movies like "Frozen 2" and games imbue the digital objects they create with a wide array of lifelike textures, like wood or leather.

Adobe said that it has reworked the software so that it will run on Apple's proprietary chips, a move that is likely to help Apple gain some ground of its own. While Apple's laptops and desktop are widely used in some creative fields like music production, game developers tend to still rely on PCs that can be paired with power graphics chips from Nvidia Corp that help graphics look more realistic.

But Apple's new chips have added new graphics processing power, and Adobe plans to take full advantage of it in the new software, said Francois Cottin, senior director of marketing at Adobe.

"For these kinds of use cases, vertical integration is really key, from the app all the way to the chip," Cottin said. "We've been working very closely with Apple on future-looking use cases. I think Substance 3D definitely represent that."