Substance Alchemist 2020.2 "Udon" introduces a new AI Powered Image to Material process to transform a single image input into a fully PBR Material, an improved Material Creation Template, lot of workflow and usability improvements and new content such as new filters.

Release date: June 15, 2020

Major features

Image to Material (AI Powered)

The Image to Material template has a new setting named AI Powered. This new setting provides better results to generate a high quality PBR material from a single input image.

The AI Powered setting uses machine learning to recognize shapes and objects and accurately generate height and normal information. This setting also includes the delighter filter to remove any shadows and highlights. This new setting works best with outdoor materials, as the algorithm was trained with grounds, pebbles, bark, stones, and other exterior based surfaces lit with natural lighting. Further updates will bring more flexibility and versatility of supported materials. For more details see the dedicated documentation page.

Here is a comparison of the height information generated by the two algorithms with their default values:

New Texture Import Template

The image import pop-up window has been improved on several aspects. There is also a new type of process available named Texture Import.

• Improved interface
  The interface has been updated to make it easier to use and learn, with detailed explanations for each option available.
  
  
• New Texture Import option
  A new option named Texture Import is now available and allow to import and connect as set of images directly into the right output channels based on their names. It provides an easy way to setup a material from an existing group of images. For more information see the dedicated documentation page.

New 2D Painting for Filters Mask Inputs

In this version it is now possible to paint and edit filters masks directly in the 2D view without having to import an external image. The painting automatically tiles to make possible the creation of seamless material.

New Atlases and Decals creation mode shortcuts

Two new creation modes have been added to take advantage of new types of Substance materials and ease-up their setup in the layer stack:

• Decal Mode
  Alt + Drag and Drop: when drag and dropping a material from a collection, press and maintain Alt to create the material in decal projection mode automatically.
  
  
• Atlas Mode
  Shift + Drag and Drop: when drag and dropping a material from a collection, press and maintain Shift to create the material in atlas scatter mode automatically.

New Perspective Correction Tool

A new tool named Perspective Correction has been added to the filters list and allow to adjust or compensate the perspective of an image.

Improved Color Widget

The color widget visible in the parameters panel now offers more controls:

• Color Value Tooltip
  When the mouse is hover a color widget, a tooltip will now appear describing the current color value (hexadecimal format).
  
  
• Right-Click Actions
  When right-clicking on a color widget a new contextual menu will appear with the following actions:
  • Clear: set the color to black and the alpha value to zero.
  • Copy: copy in memory the current color value of the widget.
  • Paste: paste into the widget the current color value in memory.

New Content

This version brings a lot of new and varied content:

• New Default Meshes
  There are three new meshes available to showcase materials in the viewport:
  
  • Shoe Shape
  • Male T-Shirt
  • Female T-Shirt
    
    
• New Filters
  There are 5 new filters available in this version:
  
  • Cracks
  • Moss
  • Quilt Stitches
  • Floor Tiles
  • PBR Validate
    
    
• New Blend Mode
• Filters and other tool now support a new blend mode named Per Channel Blend Mode. When this mode is enabled, it is possible to tweak the blending operation of each channel in the properties panel.
  
  
• Export Presets
  This release includes new and updated export presets:
  
  • VStitcher
  • CLO
  • DetailMap support in Unity HDRP templates