The software allows AAA developers to quickly generate realistic textures in a smaller timeframe, allowing for quicker game turnaround times and higher quality final meshes. This includes companies such as Capcom and Activision along with this program being used in high profile games like Uncharted 4 and Horizon Zero Dawn. This cannot be understated in its importance to a 3D artist’s workflow.īecause of this, Substance Painter is a widely used piece of software in the gaming industry. It’s so powerful to quickly edit and create textures for models that will just work in whatever engine they are imported to. Substance has combined that workflow into a single program which increases your work speed considerably. Why Use Substance?īefore I discovered Substance Painter I used to do my texture work in a combination of Photoshop and Zbrush, switching between the two. This 3D asset would be imported and used as the surface/object to paint on. Substance Painter displays and exports all textures in the PBR format so they’ll import straight into a game engine with the exact same result.īefore you get into Substance Painter you first need a polygonal model that has been properly UV unwrapped. This means you can see edits in real-time so you know exactly how your texture will turn out. You have the options to paint both on the 2D maps as well as straight onto the 3D model in the 3D viewport. Some examples include 8k texture baking, real time PBR material workflows, and many material pre-sets. It has several incredibly useful features that I will go into later.

Its advanced masking and procedural texturing tools allow you to make textures that are much harder to achieve in purely 2D programs like Photoshop.

The main purpose of Substance Painter is to texture models. It can be likened to a 3D version of Adobe’s Photoshop for digital painting work.

That means if you buy something we get a small commission at no extra cost to you( learn more)Īllegorithmic’s Substance Painter is an incredibly powerful 3D painting tool. Tips 3D Written by Thomas Denham Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.

Advanced texturing in substance painter