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Substance 3D Modeler

Substance 3D Modeler

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  1. Substance 3D home
  2. Home
  3. Getting started
    1. Install Substance 3D Modeler
    2. System requirements
    3. Public Beta
    4. Supported VR headsets
    5. Desktop and virtual reality
    6. Quick start guides
      1. Desktop quick start guide
      2. VR quick start guide
    7. Controls
      1. Desktop shortcuts and controls
      2. VR shortcuts and controls
    8. Reference images
    9. Join the Community
    10. Glossary
    11. FAQs
  4. Interface
    1. Interface overview
    2. Viewport
    3. The Palette
    4. Actions menu
    5. The Top bar
      1. Top bar overview
      2. Color picker
      3. Materials panel
      4. Assets panel
      5. Environment panel
      6. Viewport panel
      7. Outliner
      8. Node properties panel
    6. The Bottom bar
    7. Preferences
  5. Create with Clay
    1. Tools
      1. Tools and Subtools
      2. Select tool
      3. Clay tool
      4. Erase tool
      5. Split tool
      6. Crop tool
      7. Warp tool
      8. Elastic tool
      9. Smooth tool
      10. Raise tool
      11. Buildup tool
      12. Inflate tool
      13. Crease tool
      14. Flatten tool
      15. Paint tool
    2. Brushes
    3. Brush shapes
    4. Placement modes
    5. Angle and grid snap
  6. Create with Primitives
    1. Get started with primitives
    2. Primitive parameters
      1. Parameter overview
      2. Shape parameters
      3. Combine parameters
    3. Organize primitives
      1. Primitive containers
      2. Manage primitive order
      3. Primitive groups
      4. Repetition
  7. Organize your scene
    1. Scope and scene structure
    2. Layers
    3. Groups
    4. Advanced scene assembly
      1. Instances
      2. Symmetry and repetition
      3. Booleans
    5. Import meshes
  8. Render mode
    1. Render mode overview
    2. Work with cameras
  9. Export Mode
    1. Export your creations
    2. Export presets
  10. Technical support
    1. Technical requirements
    2. How does Modeler work?
    3. Performance
    4. Troubleshooting
    5. Supported file formats
  11. Release notes
    1. V1.17(Current Release)
    2. V1.15
    3. V1.14
    4. V1.13
    5. Public Beta V1.17.50 (Current Release)
    6. Public Beta Archive
      1. Public Beta V1.16.50
      2. Public Beta V1.15.50
      3. Public Beta V1.14.50
      4. Public Beta V1.12.50
      5. Public Beta V1.11.50
      6. Public Beta V1.10.50
      7. Public Beta V1.9.50
      8. Public Beta V1.8.50
    7. V1 Archive
      1. V1.12
      2. V1.11
      3. V1.10
      4. V1.9
      5. V1.8
      6. V1.7
      7. V1.6    
      8. V1.5
      9. V1.4
      10. V1.3
      11. V1.2
      12. V1.1 
      13. V1.0 
    8. V0 Archive
      1. 2022/08/02 V0.17.0
      2. 2022/06/22 V0.14.1
      3. 2022/05/13 V0.10.2

Actions menu

The Actions menu shows actions that are available in your current context.

💻Right click in the viewport to open the Actions menu.
🥽Use S2 to open the Palette, then use TJ → to expand the Actions menu.
Note:

The Convert to clay button appears in the Actions menu when a mesh or other convertible object is selected. Convert to clay converts an object to clay so that you can use the clay tools on it.

Actions

Options at the top of the Actions menu are those most commonly used to manage layers. Shortcuts are available for many actions both in VR and on desktop.

Note:

Selecting a group that contains multiple layers will make the actions below affect all the layers within that group.

The following actions are available in the Actions menu:

Add

In order from left to right:

Action Description Context
Create a new layer Creates a new layer, scopes into the new layer, and switches to the Clay tool. Always available
Create a new camera Creates a new camera at the position of the viewport camera Available when not focused on a primitive container.
Make stamp
 Create a stamp from the selected objects.
 Requires one or more layers to be selected.

Actions

In order from left to right:

Action Description Context

Duplicate selection

 

Duplicates all selected objects.

The Select tool has shortcuts to quickly duplicate a selection without the Actions menu.

 Requires one or more layers to be selected.
Flip selection

Flip the selected objects along an axis.

💻 Ctrl + click the translation control of the gizmo (the cone) to flip an object along that axis.

 Requires one or more objects to be selected.
Delete selection Delete all selected objects Requires one or more layers to be selected.

Grouping

Learn more about Grouping and scene structure here.

In order from left to right:

ActionDescriptionContext
GroupCreate a group from the selected objects.Requires one or more layers to be selected.
UngroupAll selected groups will be ungrouped.Requires one or more groups to be selected.
MergeFlattens all selected objects into a single layer. This can be a slow operation when high resolution layers are selected.Requires more than 1 layer to be selected.

Linking

The Linking options allow you to change whether selected layers are instanced, or linked to other layers. 

These options are a little unusual in how they behave. If you duplicate an unlinked object, it will create a standard duplicate. If you duplicate a linked object, you create an instance of that object. Any changes made to an instance will affect all other instances in the same way.

With the options in the Linking section, you can make an object an instance. So to create an instance:

  1. Select an object.
  2. Open the Actions menu.
  3. Select Make link.
  4. Create a duplicate of the object.

The duplicate behaves as an instance - any changes you make to the original or the duplicate will be reflected on the other object.

More instancing and linking information is available under Advanced scene assembly.

Action

Description

Context

Make Link

Set the selected objects to act as a link

Requires one or more unlinked objects to be selected.

Unlink

Break the link between any selected instances and the objects they’re linked to.

Available if any object in a selection is an instance.

Resolution

In order from left to right:

Action Description Context
Increase resolution Increase the resolution of the current layer or selected objects. Increasing resolution allows for more detail but can impact performance.

Requires one or more layers to be selected.
Decrease resolution Decrease the resolution of the current layer or selected objects. Decreasing resolution decreases the amount of detail possible but can improve performance. Requires one or more layers to be selected.

Symmetry and Repetition

You can learn more about Symmetry, Repetition, and Locking here.

Symmetry

Action Context
Toggle Mirror symmetry.

Requires layer scope.
Toggle Radial symmetry. Requires layer scope.
Toggle Kaleidoscopic symmetry Requires layer scope.
Set number of radial duplicates. Requires layer scope and Radial symmetry must be enabled.

Repetition

Action Context
Toggle Mirror repetition.

Requires group or scene scope.
Toggle Radial repetition. Requires group or scene scope.
Toggle Kaleidoscopic repetition Requires group or scene scope.
Set number of radial duplicates. Requires group or scene scope and Radial repetition must be enabled.

Visibility

Action Context
Hide selection.

Always available, but no impact unless an object is selected.
Show all - unhide all hidden objects. Always available, but no impact unless objects are hidden.
Isolate scope When toggled on, any out of focus layers will be automatically hidden.
Reference images Hide or show reference images in VR.

Boolean

Learn more about Booleans here.

The Live boolean toggle only appears when an object is set to use one of the boolean operators.

Action

Context

Begin Difference boolean operation.

Requires one or more selected objects.

Begin Intersection boolean operation.

Requires one or more selected objects.

Begin Split Boolean operation

Requires one or more selected objects.

Begin Union boolean operation.

Requires one or more selected objects.

Live Preview

Requires an object to be in Boolean mode

Clear

Clear all current Boolean operations.

Apply

Apply all Boolean operations to selected object, or to all objects if no objects are selected.

copy and paste

Cut, Copy, and Paste objects in your scene. Cut and Paste are useful for moving content within the hierarchy, while Copy and Paste are useful for creating duplicates of existing content.

Action Description Context
Cut Remove the selected objects and put their data in the clipboard to be pasted elsewhere. Requires one or more objects to be selected.
Copy Put the data of the selected objects in the clipboard to be pasted elsewhere. Requires one or more objects to be selected.
Paste Create a new version of the objects in the clipboard. Requires data to be in the clipboard from the Cut or Copy actions.

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