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Blending modes description | Substance 3D Designer

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      1. Nodes reference for Substance graphs
      2. Atomic nodes
        1. Atomic nodes
        2. Bitmap
        3. Blend
          1. Blend
          2. Blending modes description
        4. Blur
        5. Channel shuffle
        6. Curve
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      3. Node library
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            11. BnW spots 1
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            14. Cells 1
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            21. Creased
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            24. Directional noise 1
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            27. Directional noise 4
            28. Directional scratches
            29. Dirt 1
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            44. Gaussian noise
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            47. Grunge concrete
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            49. Grunge galvanic large
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            51. Grunge leaks
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            53. Grunge map 001
            54. Grunge map 002
            55. Grunge map 003
            56. Grunge map 004
            57. Grunge map 005
            58. Grunge map 006
            59. Grunge map 007
            60. Grunge map 008
            61. Grunge map 009
            62. Grunge map 010
            63. Grunge map 011
            64. Grunge map 012
            65. Grunge map 013
            66. Grunge map 014
            67. Grunge map 015
            68. Grunge rough dirty
            69. Grunge rust fine
            70. Grunge scratches dirty
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          3. Patterns
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            34. Shape splatter blend
            35. Shape splatter data extract
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        3. Filters
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            15. HDR range viewer
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            30. Luminance highpass
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          3. Blending
            1. Blending
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  8. Substance function graphs
    1. Substance function graphs
    2. What is a Substance function graph?
    3. Create and edit a Substance function graph
    4. The Substance function graph
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    6. FX-maps
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      5. Using Substance function graphs in FX-Maps
        1. Using Substance function graphs
          in FX-Maps
        2. Iterate and $number variable
        3. Using the Sampler nodes
        4. Using the Set/Sequence nodes
    7. Warnings in Substance function graphs
    8. Sample Substance function graphs
    9. Nodes reference for Substance function graphs
      1. Nodes reference for Substance function graphs
      2. Function nodes overview
      3. Constant nodes
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  9. MDL graphs
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    4. MDL library
    5. Exposing parameters in MDL graphs
    6. Substance graphs and MDL materials
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  10. Bakers
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    2. Bakers legacy interface
  11. Best practices
    1. Best practices
    2. Filesize reduction guidelines
    3. Graph creation etiquette
    4. Performance optimization guidelines
  12. Pipeline and project configuration
    1. Pipeline and project configuration
    2. Project configuration files - SBSPRJ
    3. Configuration list - SBSCFG
    4. User preferences - Automating setup
    5. Retrieving the installation path
    6. Environment variables
  13. Color management
    1. Color management
    2. Spot colors (Pantone)
  14. Package metadata
  15. Scripting
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    6. Python editor
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    8. Nodes and properties
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    13. Using color management
    14. Using spot colors
    15. Logging
    16. Using threads
    17. Debugging plugins using Visual Studio Code
    18. Porting previous plugins
    19. Packaging plugins
    20. Scripting API reference
  16. Technical issues
    1. Technical issues
    2. Warnings and errors
    3. Cannot create/load a project
    4. Application does not start
    5. Crash when rendering graphs
    6. Parameters not working as expected
    7. Incorrect image output
    8. 3D View issues
    9. User interface issues
    10. Python issues
    11. Substance model graph feature is missing
  17. Release notes
    1. Release notes
    2. All changes
    3. Version 14.0
    4. Version 13.1
    5. Version 13.0
    6. Version 12.4
    7. Version 12.3
    8. Version 12.2
    9. Version 12.1
    10. Version 11.3
    11. Version 11.2
    12. Version 2021.1 (11.1)
    13. Old versions
      1. Old versions
      2. Version 2020.2 (10.2)
      3. Version 2020.1 (10.1)
      4. Version 2019.3 (9.3)
      5. Version 2019.2 (9.2)
      6. Version 2019.1 (9.1)

Blending modes description

Note:

While we can mathematically obtain values below 0 or above 1 through blending modes, these ones will respectively be capped to 0 and 1.

This makes sense as we cannot represent colors darker than pure black or brighter than pure white.

Here the available blending modes with the Blend nodes and what they exactly do:

Copy

The Copy blending mode will just place the foreground on top of the background.

It is getting useful in these cases:

  • If you play with opacity slider
  • if the foreground input has an alpha
  • if you use an opacity mask

Note:

The result is influenced by the "alpha blending" parameter

Add (Linear Dodge)

The Add blending mode will add the foreground input value to each corresponding pixel in the background.

Substract

The Substract blending mode will substract the foreground input value from each corresponding pixel in the background.

If the result of the substraction is lower than 0, the value is capped to 0, resulting pure black.

Multiply

The Multiply blending mode will multiply the background input value by each corresponding pixel in the foreground.

As the value of each pixel is comprised between 0 and 1, the result is always equal or lower (darker) compared to the original.

Add Sub

The Add Sub blending mode works as following:

  • Foreground pixels with a value higher than 0.5 are added to their respective background pixels.
  • Foreground pixels with a value lower than 0.5 are substracted from their respective background pixels.

Max (Lighten)

The Max Blending mode will pick the higher value between the background and the foreground.

Min (Darken)

The Min Blending mode will pick the lower value between the background and the foreground.

Switch

The Switch blending mode will blend the background and the foreground according to the opacity

  • the closer we get to 0, the more we will see the background
  • The closer we get to 1, the more we will see the foreground

Note:

Optimization tip

The switch mode can be used to improve the performances of your graph:

  • if the opacity paramater is set to 0, anything connected to the foreground won't be computed
  • if the opacity paramater is set to1, anything connected to the background won't be computed

The library contains graph instances called "Switch" and "Switch Grayscale" that are setup to use the blend nodes in these specific configurations.

Note:

While switch mode looks really similar to copy mode, they remain different:

  • In copy mode it's just the background "covering" the foreground
  • In switch mode, we melt together the both inputs, deciding which one is more influent.

Divide

The Divide blending mode will divide the background input pixels value by each corresponding pixel in the foreground.

Overlay

The Overlay blending mode combines Multiply and Screen blend modes:

    • If the value of the lower layer pixel is below 0.5, then a Multiply type blending is applied
    • If the value of the lower layer pixel is above 0.5, then a Screen type blending is applied

Screen

With Screen blend mode the values of the pixels in the two inputs are inverted, multiplied, and then inverted again.

The result is the opposite effect to multiply and is always equal or higher (brighter) compared to the original.

Soft Light

The Soft Light blend mode creates a subtle lighter or darker result depending on the brightness of the foreground color.

Blend colors that are more than 50% brightness will lighten the background pixels and colors that are less than 50% brightness will darken the background pixels.

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