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Substance 3D Painter

Substance 3D Painter

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  1. Substance 3D home
  2. Home
  3. Getting Started
    1. Getting Started overview
    2. Activation and licenses
    3. System requirements
    4. Project creation
    5. Export
      1. Export overview
      2. Export window
        1. Export window overview
        2. Export settings
        3. Output templates
        4. List of exports
      3. Export presets
        1. Export presets overview
        2. Predefined presets
          1. Predefined Presets
          2. USD PBR Metal Roughness Preset
          3. Default Presets
        3. Creating export presets
    6. Glossary
    7. Performance
  4. Interface
    1. Assets
      1. Assets overview
      2. Navigation
      3. Customizing the layout
      4. Filter by path
      5. Saved searches
      6. Advanced search queries
      7. Adding a new library
      8. Sub-library tab
    2. Substance 3D Assets
    3. Color picker
    4. Display settings
      1. Display settings overview
      2. Environment settings
      3. Camera settings
      4. Viewport settings
    5. History
    6. Layer stack
      1. Layer stack overview
      2. Creating layers
      3. Managing layers
      4. Masking and effects
      5. Blending modes
      6. Layer instancing
      7. Geometry mask
    7. Main menu
      1. Main menu overview
      2. File menu
      3. Edit menu
      4. Mode menu
      5. Window menu
      6. Viewport menu
      7. Plugins menu
      8. Help menu
    8. Project configuration
    9. Properties
    10. Settings
      1. Settings overview
      2. General preferences
      3. Shortcuts
      4. Libraries configuration
    11. Shader settings
      1. Shader settings overview
      2. Updating a shader
    12. Texture Set
      1. Texture Set overview
      2. Texture Set list
      3. Texture Set settings
      4. Texture Set reassignment
    13. Toolbars
    14. Viewport
      1. Viewport overview
      2. 2D view
      3. 3D view
      4. Camera management
    15. Miscellaneous
      1. Sliders
      2. Log
      3. Update checker
  5. Painting
    1. Painting overview
    2. Tool list
      1. Paint brush
      2. Eraser
      3. Projection
      4. Polygon fill
      5. Smudge tool
      6. Clone Tool
      7. Quick mask
      8. Path tool
    3. Straight line   
    4. Lazy mouse 
    5. Symmetry
      1. Symmetry overview
      2. Mirror Symmetry
    6. Fill projections
      1. Fill projections overview
      2. Fill (match per UV Tile)
      3. UV projection
      4. Tri-planar projection
      5. Planar projection
      6. Spherical projection
      7. Cylindrical projection
      8. Warp projection
      9. UV set to UV set projection
    7. Presets
      1. Presets overview
      2. Creating and saving presets
      3. Creating particles presets
        1. Creating particles overview
        2. Installing the particle editor
        3. Overview of the particle editor
        4. Creating a new particle script
      4. Photoshop brush presets (ABR)
        1. Photoshop brush presets overview
        2. Exporting Brush Presets from Photoshop
        3. Importing Photoshop Brush Presets
        4. Photoshop Brush Parameters Compatibility
    8. Dynamic strokes
      1. Dynamic strokes overview
      2. Enabling Dynamic Stroke feature
      3. Dynamic Stroke Performances
      4. Creating custom Dynamic Strokes
    9. Advanced channel painting
      1. Channel painting overview
      2. Ambient Occlusion
      3. Flow Map
      4. Height Map
      5. Normal Map
    10. Vector graphic (.svg & .ai)
    11. Text resource
  6. Effects
    1. Effects overview
    2. Generator
    3. Paint
    4. Fill
    5. Levels
    6. Compare Mask
    7. Filter
    8. Anchor Point
  7. Baking
    1. Baking overview
    2. How to bake mesh maps
    3. Baking visualization settings
  8. Content
    1. Creating custom effects
      1. Creating custom effects overview
      2. Generic filter
      3. Channel specific filter
      4. Generators
      5. Mesh map
      6. Mesh based input
      7. User data
    2. Importing assets
      1. Adding resources via drag and drop
      2. Adding resources via the import window
      3. Adding content on the hard drive
      4. Receiving assets from other Substance 3D applications
  9. Features
    1. Automatic UV Unwrapping
    2. Physical size
    3. Smart Materials and Masks
    4. Subsurface Scattering
      1. Subsurface Scattering overview
      2. Enabling Subsurface in a Project
      3. Subsurface Parameters
      4. Subsurface Material Type
    5. Dynamic Material Layering
    6. UV Reprojection
    7. UV Tiles
      1. UV Tiles overview
      2. Image Sequence
    8. Color Management
      1. Color management overview
      2. Color management with Adobe ACE - ICC
      3. Color management with OpenColorIO
    9. Post Processing
      1. Post Processing overview
      2. Color correction
      3. Depth of Field
      4. Glare
      5. Lens Distortion
      6. Tone Mapping
      7. Vignette
      8. Color Profile
    10. Iray Renderer
      1. Iray Renderer overview
      2. Iray Settings
      3. Viewer and MDL Settings
    11. Plugins
      1. Plugins overview
      2. Autosave
      3. Resources Updater
    12. Sparse Virtual Textures
    13. Custom Shaders
    14. SpaceMouse® by 3Dconnexion
    15. Universal Scene Description (USD)
    16. Send to
  10. Technical Support
    1. Performance Guidelines
      1. Performances guidelines overview
      2. Conflicts and background applications
      3. Mesh and UV setup
      4. GPU Drivers
      5. NVIDIA Drivers Settings
      6. GPU VRAM amount and bandwidth
      7. GPU VRAM and other applications
      8. Texture Sets amount
      9. Layer management
      10. Channels management
      11. Substance filters and materials
      12. Viewport display
    2. Configuring Pens and Tablets
    3. Exporting the log file
    4. Exporting a DXDiag
    5. Technical issues
      1. GPU Issues
        1. Crash when working with overclocked GPU
        2. Forcing the external GPU on Mac OS
        3. GPU drivers compatibility
        4. GPU drivers crash with long computations (TDR crash)
        5. GPU has outdated drivers
        6. GPU is not recognized
        7. GPU is not recognized and is mentionned as GDI Generic
        8. Issues with Nvidia GPUs on recent Mac OS versions
        9. Multi/Bi-GPU
        10. Running on integrated GPU
        11. Painter doesn't start on the right GPU
      2. Startup Issues
        1. Application failed to start because of Qt
        2. Crash or freeze during startup
        3. Software conflicts
      3. Rendering Issues
        1. Artifacts and glitches on Mac OS with Custom GPUs
        2. Blocky artifacts appear on textures in the viewport
        3. Mesh appears pink in the viewport
        4. Mesh flash to white when moving camera
        5. Some HDPI scaling values are not working
      4. Stability Issues
        1. Crash during export
        2. Crash when opening or saving a file
        3. Crash while baking
        4. Crash with low virtual memory
        5. Windows Blue Screens
      5. Miscellaneous Issues
        1. Corrupted texture error message
        2. Shelf resources are gone after 7.2 update
        3. Error there is no disk in the drive
        4. Error with missing api-ms-crt dll
        5. Impossible to drag and drop files into the shelf
        6. Impossible to use the ALT keyboard shortcut on Linux
        7. Assets (or shelf) previews are empty
    6. Workflow Issues
      1. Export Issues
        1. My exported opacity map is totally black
        2. Texture dilation or Padding
      2. Tools Issues
        1. Normal map looks incorrect when loaded in layer or tool properties
        2. Paint Tool bleeds on other UV islands
      3. Project Issues
        1. A project has been processed as a text file and is now corrupted
        2. Loading files from a network
        3. Preserve brush strokes setting stays disabled
        4. Projects are really big
      4. Library Issues
        1. Thumbnails in the shelf look incorrect
        2. Error when importing a Font
      5. Viewport Issues
        1. Mesh faces disappear when looking at them from behind
        2. Viewports and textures are blurry or lack sharpness
      6. Plugins Issues
        1. Substance Source plugin doesn't load
      7. License Issues
        1. Maintenance is expired dialog on startup
  11. Pipeline and integration
    1. Installation and preferences
      1. Preferences and application data location
      2. Automated installation
      3. Retrieving the installation path
    2. Configuration
      1. Command lines
      2. Environment variables
      3. Firewall Configuration
      4. Querying Current Software Version
      5. Remote Desktop
    3. Resource management
      1. Shelf and Assets location
      2. Resource paths
        1. Adding resource paths by editing preferences manually
        2. Editing resource paths manually
        3. Editing the Shelf Preferences with Python
      3. Adding saved searches manually
      4. Preferences and content migration
      5. Excluding resources in a resource path
  12. Scripting and development
    1. Scripts and plugins
      1. Creating a Javascript plugin
      2. Remote control with scripting
    2. Shader API Reference
      1. Shader API overview
      2. Changelog - Shader API
      3. Libraries - Shader API
        1. Lib Alpha - Shader API
        2. Lib Bayer - Shader API
        3. Lib Defines - Shader API
        4. Lib Emissive - Shader API
        5. Lib Env - Shader API
        6. Lib Normal - Shader API
        7. Lib PBR - Shader API
        8. Lib PBR Aniso - Shader API
        9. Lib Pom - Shader API
        10. Lib Random - Shader API
        11. Lib Sampler - Shader API
        12. Lib Sparse - Shader API
        13. Lib SSS - Shader API
        14. Lib Utils - Shader API
        15. Lib Vectors - Shader API
      4. Parameters - Shader API
        1. All Custom Params - Shader API
        2. All Engine Params - Shader API
        3. All Rendering States Params - Shader API
        4. Layering Bind Materials - Shader API
        5. Layering Declare Stacks - Shader API
      5. Shaders - Shader API
        1. PBR Material Layering - Shader API
        2. PBR Metal Rough - Shader API
        3. Pixelated - Shader API
        4. Surface Shader - Shader API
        5. Toon - Shader API
  13. Release notes
    1. Release notes overview
    2. All Changes
    3. Version 10.1
    4. Version 10.0
    5. Version 9.1
    6. Old versions
      1. Version 9.0
      2. Version 8.3
      3. Version 8.2
      4. Version 8.1
      5. Version 7.4
      6. Version 7.3
      7. Version 7.2
      8. Version 2021.1 (7.1.0)
      9. Version 2020.2 (6.2.0)
      10. Version 2020.1 (6.1.0)
      11. Version 2019.3
      12. Version 2019.2
      13. Version 2019.1
      14. Version 2018.3
      15. Version 2018.2
      16. Version 2018.1
      17. Version 2017.4
      18. Version 2017.3
      19. Version 2017.2
      20. Version 2017.1
      21. Version 2.6
      22. Version 2.5
      23. Version 2.4
      24. Version 2.3
      25. Version 2.2

Color picker

The color picker allows to set a color to paint or project on the mesh. It can be used to pick colors from external images or to adjust an existing one within the application.

The color picker window appears when clicking on any color field in Painter, which can be found in Properties or within any additional settings or menus, like Display or Shader parameters.

Color picker overview

Once open, the color picker is semi-persistent, which means that it will stay open until a change of context - for instance, when switching from a paint layer to a fill layer. It is possible to move the window around and place it anywhere on any of the available screens. However unlike other windows the color picker cannot be docked.

The window has a vertical layout and is comprised of three sections:

  • Gradient picker (or spectrum)
  • Sliders (RGB/HSV)
  • Swatches

Gradient picker (spectrum)

Name and visual

Description

Display selector

Allow to choose which display to use to edit colors (spectrum and sliders). The default value match the Display used by the main viewport.

Note:

This setting is only available when color management is enabled.

Spectrum

The vertical slider is the general hue. It allows to select the shade of color to display within the gradient field.

Once the general shade is selected, it is possible to hold and drag the crosshair cursor in the gradient field to select the desired color. 

Note:

When color management is enabled, HDR colors from the current Display will be clamped (in working color space). This is to avoid output HDR value in color managed channels.

Current and previous color

The left rectangle indicates the final color that will be output from the color picker.

The right rectangle shows the previous color (when the color picker was opened). It is possible to click on it to restore the previous color and make it the current one.

Hexadecimal field

The hexadecimal fields represent the current color as hexadecimals values. The RGB components are represented as a pair of letters.

For example #FF0000 represent the red color.

Note:

When color management is enabled, the hexadecimal field always work in the standard sRGB color space to make it easier to copy/paste values across software, no matter the current display or working space used by the project..

Eyedropper

The eyedropper can be used to pick a color from an external source. To use it click on the icon then move the mouse and again to copy the color wanted.

Note:

When selecting a color inside the viewport, it is possible to use the Shift modifier to pick the current channel edited directly. This avoid doing lossy color conversion between the original texture and the color displayed on screen. This is also useful to pick colors without having to switch from the Material display mode.

Note:

Color fields also feature an eyedropper next to them and can be used to quickly pick colors without having to open the color picker.

Note:

On Mac OS, the eyedropper may not be able to pick colors outside of the application interface because of privacy settings. To fix this issue, assign the proper rights to the application in:

 System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Screen Recording

Color settings

Setting

Description

Eyedropper color space

Specify the color space for color selected outside of the viewport.

The auto setting uses the Standard sRGB color space from the project settings.

Note:

This setting also applies on eyedroppers next to color buttons.

Note:

Colors selected inside the viewport also use this profile when not using the Shift modifier.

Sliders

Color sliders allow for a manual adjustment of individual values.

The sliders can be set two different modes, HSV or RGB. To change the mode, use the dedicated dropdown menu.

Mode

Description

HSV

HSV stands for Hue, Saturation and Value.

  • Hue allows to cycle through the global color families, much like the vertical gradient slider. 

  • Saturation controls the richness of the selected color, and goes from grayscale to fully saturated. 

  • Value determines how dark or light a color is, and it ranges from fully black to fully white. 

RGB

RGB stands for Red, Green and Blue.

These are the main components used digitally to store colors in computer graphics. Each slider represents how much of the component is present in the final color.

Example: the image below has a color that contains a 100% of red, but 50% of blue and green. 

It is more common to have the RGB sliders measured via 0-255 values. This can be done by disabling the Floating point values option. 

Sliders settings

The settings menu allow to configure a few additional behaviors:

Setting Description
Dynamic sliders

If enabled, the background color of the sliders will adjust based on the current color.
Floating point values

If enabled, sliders values are represented going from 0.0 to 1.0.

If disabled:

  • HSV: the hue slider is measured in degrees (like a color wheel). Saturation and Value use percentages. 
  • RGB: components are represented as value going from 0 to 255.

Working color space

This section shows the final color value given the current working color space.

Hovering the Working color space title with the mouse allows to display the name of the current color space.

Note:

This section is only available when color management is enabled.

Swatches

Color swatches offer a way to save colors so they can be reused at a later point. Swatches are available across projection and sessions.

Name and visual

Description

Add swatch

Clicking on this button will create a new swatch color in the current set.

The swatch color is created only if the last color (the one next to the button) is different to the color currently edited.

Note:

Swatch color are managed and saved as sRGB colors, whatever the current color management configuration is set to.

Swatch color

Click on a swatch color to load it.

Hovering the swatch will display its hexadecimal value.

Note:

When color management is enabled, the display of the colors is adjusted based on the currently selected Display.

Swatch settings

Right-click on a swatch color open the menu and delete it.

Settings menu

Use the settings menu to delete all the swatches.
Note:

Swatches are saved inside a configuration file available in the user's documents folder. For more information see the Shelf and Assets location page.

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