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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

Path

Image showing the path tool used on a shoe

The Paint along Path or Path tool allows to create brush strokes via a curve defined by points on the surface of the 3D model.

Creating a path

Paths can be created on paint layers and paint effects. There are two ways to access the Path tool:

  • Via the interface: navigate to the tool's toolbar on the left-side and click the third icon from the top.  
  • Via a keyboard shortcut: by default the tool doesn't have any assigned. This can be changed in the Settings menu by editing the "Select paint along path tool" shortcut. 

Once the tool is selected, points can be placed by clicking on the surface of the 3D model within the 3D viewport. At least two points (or vertices) are needed to create a path.

Gif showing the selection of the path tool and the creation of points

The Path tool has 3 different modes, which are similar to other tools available in the application:

  • Paint along path: Draw a regular brush stroke along a defined path.
  • Erase along path: Draw a stroke that erase/remove information along a defined path.
  • Smudge along path: draw a stroke that smudge/blur information along a defined path.
Screenshot of the tool's toolbar showing the different path tool modes

For example, here is the path tool in Smudge mode affecting other painting information:

Gif showing a path tool in smudge mode

Note:

The Path tool only works in 3D space on the surface of the geometry. Creating a path in UV space or as a screen space projection is currently not supported.  

Editing a path

Path points (or vertices) adhere automatically to the surface of the mesh. They can be moved and adjusted at any time. It is possible to add new vertices to an existing path by clicking anywhere along the line. 

  • Pressing Escape or Enter will exit path edition.  
  • Once exited, clicking on a blank surface of the mesh will begin a new path.   
  • Hovering and clicking on an existing path will select it, allowing to continue or edit that path. Paths can also be re-selected via the Paths panel (see below).
Gif showing the addition of new points and move of existing points on a path

Some properties are specific to a path as a whole. This is the case for options found in the Properties window. Just like with a regular stroke (see the Paint tool documentation), it is possible to define the following properties for a path:  

  • Brush
  • Alpha
  • Material

The brush section contains additional options which are only available with the Path tool:

Setting Description
Projection depth
 Determines how close the path needs to be to the mesh surface for the brush stamps to appear. To see this visual feedback directly in the viewport, it is possible to enable Normals in the Path display settings (see below).  
Up axis

The axis used to orient brush stamps when Follow path is off.

 

In some context, it makes more sense to have all the stamps aligned along a global axis/direcction and not along the path. For example with rivets on a metallic surface.

Other properties are defined per points (vertices) on the path, such as the pressure. To edit a specific point, simply click on it (or use the rectangular selection). Then use the contextual toolbar to edit the selected points values.

Gif showing the edition of pressure per vertex

Controlling tangents

There can be times where a smooth path is not ideal, either because it doesn't follow the best the 3D model surface or because it doesn't fit a specific look. To solve those issues, it is possible to modify the tangents of a given vertex. The tangents are the directions of a point that control how the path bend.

To switch between smooth or linear/broken tangents, simply double click on a vertex (or use the dedicated button in the contextual toolbar):

Gid showing how to control tangents on a path

To control more precisely the orientation of the tangents, use the Custom tangents button in the contextual toolbar to override them manually:

Gid showing how to control tangents on a path

Use the ALT keyboard shortcut to break the tangents while moving if the point wasn't already.

Use the CTRL keyboard shorcut to scale both tangents at the same time.

Note:

The tangent controls are defined along the plan that align with the normal of the given point in the path. This means that tangents cannot bend in some directions.

Contextual toolbar

Screenshot of the contextual toolbar in path mode

The contextual toolbar when the Path tool is selected provides several settings that allow to control the currently selected path:

Parameter

Description

Show / hide viewport interface

Path tool show hide icon

If enabled, the paths and vertices overlay will be visible in the viewport.

Display settings

Paht display settings icon

Control the look of the path visual feedback in the viewport:

  • Handle size: control how big the path's points look like.
  • Path width: control the thickness of the path line.
  • Path color: control the color of the path line.
  • Unselected path color: control the color of the non-active paths.
  • Normals: If enabled, show the projection direction on eahc points of a path.
  • Tangents: If enabled, show the curve direction of the control points of the path.
  • Path direction: If enabled, show a little arrow at the end of the path to indicate its painting direction. This is useful to know how stamps within the stroke will be oriented.
Screenshot of the path display settings panel

Size

Control the global size of the stamps. See the paint brush documentation for more information.

Size pen pressure

Icon of pen pressure

If enabled, the pressure setting (see below) will affect the size of the stamps along the path.

Flow

Control the global size of the stamps. See the paint brush documentation for more information.

Flow pen pressure

Icon of pen pressure

If enabled, the pressure setting (see below) will affect the flow of the stamps along the path.

Stroke opacity

Control the global size of the stamps. See the paint brush documentation for more information.

Spacing

Control the global size of the stamps. See the paint brush documentation for more information.

Reverse path direction

Icon of reverse path direction

Flip the direction of the current path. The direction defines the general orientation used to paint the stamps within the stroke. Inverting the path can help to re-orient the pattern drawn.

Pressure

The pressure of the currently selected vertices.

 

Similar to regular paint, each points on a path can have a different pressure amount. Adjusting this setting while pen pressure is enabled on the size/flow allow to change the look of stamps along the path.

 

Example of a path with pressure set to 0 on the middle point, with Size pen pressure enabled:

Screenshot of a path with different pressure per vertex

Toggle corner / smooth

Icon of toggle smooth corner

Break or align the tangent of the currently selected vertices, allowing to switch between a smooth or linear curve.

Screenshot of a path with both a smooth and linear path

Note:

Switch between the corner / smooth behavior can also be done by double-clicking on a point directly on the path.

Custom tangents

Paht tool icon for custom tangents

If enabled, allow to manually control the tangents of a given point on the path.

Image showing custom path tangents

Open / close path

Icon of open close path

Open or close the current path.

To close a path, one of the two end points of the current path need to be selected first.

Gif showing a path being open then closed

Delete vertex

Icon of delete path vertex

Remove the currently selected vertices on a path.

Symmetry

Icon of symmetry feature

Enable or not the symmetry for the current path. See the symmetry documentation for more information.

Gif showing a path being drawn in symmetry

Hide / ignore excluded geometry

Icon of geometry mask exclude feature

If enabled, make the current path paint through the hidden geometry. See the Geometry mask documentation for more information.

Paths panel

Path panel

Note:

The panel is hidden when the current tool is not the Path tool or if a fill layer/folder is selected.

Inside the viewport is the Paths panel where are listed all the paths of the currently selected paint layer / effect. It provides an easy way to select and manage paths.

With this panel, it is possible to:

  • Double-click on a path to rename it.
  • Delete a path by selecting it and then pressing the delete key.
  • Copy/Paste/Duplicate a path with the dedicated keyboard shortcuts.
  • Show or hide a path with the eye icon (which control if the path is applied to the texturing).

For convenience, it is also possible to right-click on a path to open the contextual menu which offers the same actions:

Path panel right click menu

The right-click menu also open actions to copy the properties or position of a path onto another path. This allows to easily share or synchronize features across different paths:

Gif showing how to copy and paste path properties

Gif showing how to copy and paste path positions

Note:

Copy and pasting properties only work when paths are based on the same painting tool. For example it is not possible to share properties between a path using smudge settings and another using brush settings.

Creating path presets

Like other tools, presets can be create to quickly restore brush settings / configurations. To do so, simply right-click in the Properties window and choose Create tool preset. This newly created preset will automatically switch to the Path tool when selected in the Assets window.

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