Creating a Python plugin

This step by step guide describes how to create a simple Python plugin that allows to export channels of a Texture Set with a specific export preset.

1 - Navigate to the plugins folder

To add a new Python plugin, a simple script file can be created into the plugin folder of Substance 3D Painter.

To access the python folder, navigate to: 

Platform Version Path
Windows 7.2 or newer C:\Users\username\Documents\Adobe\Adobe Substance 3D Painter
Legacy C:\Users\username\Documents\Allegorithmic\Substance Painter
Mac 7.2 or newer /Users/username/Documents/Adobe/Adobe Substance 3D Painter
Legacy /Users/username/Documents/Allegorithmic/Substance Painter
Linux 7.2 or newer /home/username/Documents/Adobe/Adobe Substance 3D Painter
Legacy /home/username/Documents/Allegorithmic/Substance Painter
Note:

The folder "plugins" is for Javascript plugins. Python plugins need to go under the "python/plugins" folder.

2 - Creating the new plugin file

At the root of the plugin folder, create a new text file and give it the name of custom_export.py .

3 - Script content

Open the empty script file into a text editor and paste the following code snippet. Take a look at the code comments for more details on its behavior.

import os 
 
# Substance 3D Painter modules 
import substance_painter.ui 
import substance_painter.export 
import substance_painter.project 
import substance_painter.textureset 
 
# PySide module to build custom UI 
from PySide2 import QtWidgets 
 
 
plugin_widgets = [] 
 
 
def export_textures() : 
 # Verify if a project is open before trying to export something 
 if not substance_painter.project.is_open() : 
  return 
 
 # Get the currently active layer stack (paintable) 
 stack = substance_painter.textureset.get_active_stack() 
 
 # Get the parent Texture Set of this layer stack 
 material = stack.material() 
 
 # Build Export Preset resource URL 
 # - Context: name of the library where the resource is located 
 # - Name: name of the resource (filename without extension or Substance graph path) 
 export_preset = substance_painter.resource.ResourceID( 
      context="starter_assets", 
      name="PBR Metallic Roughness" ) 
 
 print( "Preset:" ) 
 print( export_preset.url() ) 
 
 # Setup the export settings 
 resolution = material.get_resolution() 
  
 # Setup the export path, in this case the textures 
 # will be put next to the spp project file on the disk 
 Path = substance_painter.project.file_path() 
 Path = os.path.dirname(Path) + "/" 
 
 # Build the configuration 
 config = { 
  "exportShaderParams"  : False, 
  "exportPath"    : Path, 
  "exportList"   : [ { "rootPath" : str(stack) } ], 
  "exportPresets"   : [ { "name" : "default", "maps" : [] } ], 
  "defaultExportPreset"  : export_preset.url(), 
  "exportParameters"   : [ 
   { 
    "parameters" : { "paddingAlgorithm": "infinite" } 
   } 
  ] 
 } 
 
 substance_painter.export.export_project_textures( config ) 
 
 
def start_plugin(): 
 # Create a text widget for a menu 
 Action = QtWidgets.QAction("Custom Python Export",  
        triggered=export_textures) 
 
 # Add this widget to the existing File menu of the application 
 substance_painter.ui.add_action( 
  substance_painter.ui.ApplicationMenu.File, 
  Action ) 
 
 # Store the widget for proper cleanup later when stopping the plugin 
 plugin_widgets.append(Action) 
 
 
def close_plugin(): 
 # Remove all widgets that have been added to the UI 
 for widget in plugin_widgets: 
  substance_painter.ui.delete_ui_element(widget) 
 
 plugin_widgets.clear() 
 
 
if __name__ == "__main__": 
 start_plugin()

4 - Loading and enabling the plugin

Launch Substance 3D Painter to make the application discover the plugin.

Click on the Python menu and then click on the plugin name to enable it:

Finally click on the File menu and select Custom Python Export to trigger the export function of the script:

 Adobe

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