DocumentationSubstance 3D

GPU Raytracing

Last update: Thu Feb 26 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Some bakers support hardware acceleration of raytracing on the GPU, which usually increases computation speed by a factor of 25 or more.

Hardware requirements

Ray tracing will automatically be enabled if the system follows these requirements:

  • A compatible GPU is installed* (RTX series, Titan V or GeForce 10xx)
  • GPU drivers are up to date
  • Windows 10 ‘Fall Creator’ / October update (ver 1809) or higher is installed**
GPU raytracing on/off comparison {modal="regular"}

*: Compatible NVIDIA GPUs include all GPU using the Pascal architecture or more recent. I.e., the GTX 10 series, Titan V series, RTX 20 series, or more recent.

**: To check your Windows version, click on the Start menu, type ‘winver’ and press Enter.
You can get the update through the dedicated page on the Microsoft support website.

TIP
In case you run into issues, GPU raytracing can be disabled in the application preferences.

Supported bakers

The tables below lists GPU raytracing support for every baker, according to the Substance 3D bakers version:

Version 3 and higher
table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2 3-row-2 4-row-2 5-row-2 6-row-2 7-row-2
Baker Supports GPU raytracing
Ambient occlusion (tick)
Bent normal (tick)
Color (tick)
Curvature (tick)
Height (tick)
Normal (tick)
Normal world space (error)
table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2 3-row-2 4-row-2 5-row-2 6-row-2
Baker Supports GPU raytracing
Opacity mask (tick)
Position (tick)
Position low (error)
Thickness (tick)
Transferred texture (tick)
World to tangent (error)
Version 2
table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2 3-row-2 4-row-2 5-row-2 6-row-2 7-row-2 8-row-2
Baker Supports GPU raytracing
Ambient occlusion (error)
Ambient occlusion from mesh

(tick)

*
Bent normals from mesh

(tick)

*
Color from mesh

(error)

*
Convert UV to SVG (error)
Curvature from mesh

(tick)

*
Height from mesh

(error)

*
Normal from mesh

(error)

*
table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2 3-row-2 4-row-2 5-row-2 6-row-2 7-row-2
Baker Supports GPU raytracing
Opacity mask from mesh

(error)

*
Position from mesh

(error)

*
Position (error)
Thickness from mesh

(tick)

*
Transferred texture from mesh

(error)

*
World space direction (error)
World space normals (error)

*: Supports CPU raytracing, which is significantly slower than GPU raytracing.

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