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Substance Painter: Tips and Tricks

3/30/2021

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The Mission
Resources 
Substance Painter is a PBR texturing software that has a multitude of tools that allow us to work in different ways.

​Learn advanced texturing methods.
  • Substance Painter
Substance Painter Tips and Tricks
Gradients with position map

Gradients in substance painter can be complex to do if we don't use the right tool, for this example we are going to make a gradient from red to gray in this character's pants.

To start we will need to have the position map baked, If it isn't, you can bake it directly in substance painter.
​
We start by creating a fill layer on top of the base color layer.
Gradient layer color layer
We create a mask on the gradient layer and add a 3d linear gradient generator.
3D gradient layer
Inside the generator we have the options of 3d position start and 3d position end, for the gradient to work correctly we have to pick the color of the model's position map.
Grafient position map
When we return to the material display mode you will see the result of the gradient.
Gradient color layer
Bake lighting

Baking lighting is a very simple and very useful process that can help us to highlight parts of the model and if the final model is not going to be affected by real lighting it can provide a more realistic touch.
​
We will start by creating a fill layer with the properties that we want to give the light to which we will add a light generator.
Bake lighting fill layer
Inside the generator we will find the properties of the generator such as the direction and the height or the intensity.
​
Once we have everything configured to our liking we will have to change the layer fusion option in case the light can work well with overlay, soft light although the best way is to try which one best matches the result we are looking for.
Light layer fusion
Light layer fusion
Anchor points

The anchor points are used for the intelligent masks to detect deformations of normals made in other layers that are not mapped to the normals map.
​
In this example we have a layer with height and we want the mask that we are going to create next to paint the borders automatically.
Anchor point intelligent mask
The first step is on the deformation layer to create an anchor point and create a layer with a smart mask, this layer will always have to be above the layer with the anchor point.
​
How can we check if we activate the moment layer it still does not work correctly since it does not affect the edges of the deformation that we have created in the previous layer.
Anchor point intelligent mask
To solve it we must enter the options of the smart mask and modify some attributes.
​
The first is in microdetails change the first two parameters to true the second is at the bottom, in Micro height, there we select anchor points and look for ours (its recommended to name the anchor points correctly) after doing this everything should work correctly.
Micro details menu
Ambien occlusion menu
Anchor point intelligent mask
Work the roughness 

The roughness map is one of the necessary ones in a PBR material, and also one of the most important when it comes to giving detail to a model, so it is important that in the PBR models the roughness has work and detail.
​
In the first image we have a model with a practically flat roughness, in the second image we have the same model with a much more worked roughness.
roughness map weapon
roughness map weapon
To achieve these results we can use smart masks, occlusion and curvature masks and of course textured brushes to give wear details.
​
Although it may seem very basic, the brightness changes of a material are what help to give a model realism.
Layer blending mode

Blending mode
Although this is something very obvious since it is used in most programs that work by layers in substance it is really powerful this is because we can select different fusion modes for the different channels.
​
In the upper area of the layers you will find the channel selector and in the right part the layer fusion options.
Normal blending mode
Example of Normal blending mode.
Soft light blending mode
Example of Soft light blending mode.
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​Nestor Llop
3D Artist
I am a 3D artist who is passionate about sculpting creatures and characters.
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Tutorial: Creating Hand Painted Textures with Substance Painter.

12/27/2018

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Crepe textured with Substance Painter with strawberries and ice cream

The Mission

If there’s one thing that artists can agree on, it’s that there are some base qualities needed to succeed as any kind of digital creative. Hand painted textures It's one of them. 
As the Technology advances, new programs come to offer new alternatives.

Resources

  • Substance Painter
  • Your prefered 3D software
  • (optional) Graphic Table

First things first, Set up a moodboard.

Before opening any 3D software, we look for references and place them together...
  • To get a grip about the feeling we want to convey.
  • To establish The overall shape reference.
  • To define a good looking topology.
References, feeling and wireframe of various crepes

Then Colors

When it comes to picking the right colors, I like to visit Adobe Colors to quickly make my own set of color palettes or to create one from the colors of the images from the references.

These are some of the palettes for this project:
Color palette for the crepe

3D modelling

Once we have a good idea about what and how we want it, is time to make it with the 3D software of your choosing, 
In this case, the model was made in Autodesk MayaLT, when it is finished, it's time to open Substance Painter.

Since this is a tutorial focusing on textures, we're  not going to explain how we made this model or set up the UVs.
But this is something you should do before exporting to Painter.
Crepe 3D model wireframe MayaLT

Opening Substance Painter

To open the project, we can use the default template for Painter since we are only going to use the albedo on this project, but if we want use some opacity to add some transparency on the model I prefer to use the left one.
It's not necessary to decide it right now since you can change it any moment from the shader settings.
Opening the program Substance Painter
Substance painter screenshot
It's possible to import the normal maps and other additional maps when you start a project, but you can get a pretty good result from the baker mesh maps in the Texture Set settings.

Base Color

One of the things I like to do, is to add a Fill layer with a base color without detailing anything to see that the composition works.  At this time, on the project I usually work on the Base color channel since the other channels are not crucial on this moment.
3d model of the crepe with base colors
Another thing that I like to do is work with fill layers and paint the masks, that way if you want to change the color to try another tone you can do it easily in the property fill. I consider this one of the good practices in substance so you can leave the paint layer for small details later on. ​

To add some texture to the base color, I duplicate the Fill layer and change the color to a darker tone to see the changes. Then I add a white mask and start to tweak it.

I like to add a generator with a mask editor, since it gives a really good base for a mask, and rise the ambient occlusion and curvature.
Crepe 3D model on Substance Painter
Then I add a sharpen filter to harden a little the edges of the color, and finally I add levels so I can invert the colors, here is the difference:
Crepe 3D model substance painter
without inverting the filter
Crepe 3D model invert filter
Inverting the filter
Here is the final the result (without the  other colors): 
Crepe 3D substance painter color handpaint
Then I duplicate again the base color and chose a lighter color to add some light, I do this by adding a white mask and using the mask editor again. But this time I work with the textures too.
Crepe 3D substance painter color handpaint
As you can see in the image I put the  first texture on Multiply and the Texture 2 on add/sub, For the textures on this case I used ones that come from substance since it has a great library but you can import your own resources from File.
Crepe 3D substance painter color handpaint
Contrast color in normal mode
When I paint I like to add some contrast to the base to balance the output of color, to do this add a fill layer in soft light or overlay and modified it with the light generator, to give it some direction and degradation of it, the light generator usually I leave it on Divide.

Detailing up

For this part I recommend to use a normal layer, so you can paint it over, since you can pick the colors from the base created before with the brush. For the brush itself I usually tweak the flow and the stroke opacity and leave it at half. 

Be sure to check that the two of them work with the pen pressure since by default is deactivated. Then on the properties tab I tend to use the spots brush and I change the alpha to dirty blurry dense. I found this to be one of the best option since is round but without a perfect shape.
Crepe 3D model in substance painter top textured
As you can see on the layers on the image, the next step is to separate and change colors, dor the final layers, that are on top, the stroke opacity and flow tends to rise up, since the hard lights are on top of the surface. 
Morever, in this case I have to use the blur filter so I coul give the Ice cream the fluffly look to the Ice Cream.

Aplication on the other Materials

For the rest of the items on this model I applied the same principles explained before. For the chocolate for example I created a Fill layer with a dark color and added a black mask, then I painted with white the with 0% hardness, until I got a ramp of browns as a result. Same with the strawberries.
Crepe base and strawberries painted substance painter
For the wrapping paper, I used a stencil to write the letters on the paper using a Fill layer with  a black mask, then on the brush I load my alpha and the paint on the position I want.
crepe title text
crepe paper 3d model

Working with another Maps

When you want to work the other maps like opacity or the roughtness, Create another layer that has that one active and the rest inactive, that way you can control better the results without worrying about the rest of the maps.
Crepe 3D substance painter color handpaint

Conclusion

All in all, Substance Painter is a really powerful tool, that can be used for a great variety of projects. Being able to hand paint the textures directly on the texture sets, different from Zbrush that paints vertex or from Photoshop that does not allow you to see the model in 3D.
​Good tool and Good luck.
Image from Gyazo

Post by:

Laura @Lauretta_38

Laura Usón is a 3D artist working at Polygonal Mind's in-house team.
Passionate about Warcraft, movies and creatures. artist by day and superhero at night.


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