Isabella Flores
Substance Painter is an industry-standard tool for creating textures for games and films. However, integrating it with Maya can be challenging. To apply a Substance Painter texture to Maya, you need to first prepare your model in Maya and set your materials. Then, export your model from Maya and procedurally create the texture in Substance Painter. Finally, bring the textured model back into Maya. It's important to ensure that your Substance Painter export settings match Maya's shader requirements. Additionally, you can use the Substance Texture option in Maya to load a Substance file and create a shader network for your renderer.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Workflow | Substance Painter has become the industry-standard tool for creating textures for games and films, but its integration with Maya is not always straightforward. |
| Default shaders | Maya's default shaders (Lambert, Phong, etc.) are outdated and not designed for PBR. Newer versions of Maya include a stingray PBS shader. |
| Export settings | Ensure that Substance Painter export settings match how Maya wants to take textures. |
| Material | Go to "Arnold -> Shader -> Surface -> aiStandardSurface". Plug the textures accordingly, setting non-color textures to RAW and enabling "Alpha is Luminance". |
| Substance Texture | Choose the Substance node and browse to load a Substance (.sbsar) file. Set the resolution by choosing values from the Width and Height drop-down box. |
| Cache Outputs | Enable Cache Outputs to Disk to bake the Substance Outputs to disk for use with renderers such as Arnold. |
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What You'll Learn
Using a Substance Texture node
To apply a Substance Painter texture to Maya, you can use a Substance Texture node. This node allows you to load a Substance (.sbsar) file and create a material from it. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to use the Substance Texture node in Maya:
First, enable "Cache Outputs to Disk" to bake the Substance Outputs to disk so they can be used with renderers such as Arnold. This is an important step to ensure that your Substance textures can be read by the Maya plugin.
Next, in the options, choose "Substance Texture" and select the Substance node in the Property Editor. Browse and load your Substance (.sbsar) file. If the Substance contains multiple graphs, the Selected Graph drop-down will populate, allowing you to choose the graph that will be used to create the material. You can view the graph attributes set in Substance Designer by clicking the Graph Info button.
Set the resolution of your texture by selecting a value from the Width and Height drop-down boxes. The Lock Ratio is enabled by default, maintaining the correct aspect ratio of your texture.
Once you have selected your Substance file and configured the settings, you can now create a shader network for your renderer workflow by choosing the appropriate option and clicking the "Create Shader Network" button.
After creating the shader network, you can apply the material to your scene. Ensure that your substance painter export settings match the shader you are using. Maya's default shaders like Lambert and Phong are not designed for PBR, but newer versions include a stingray PBS shader that you can utilize.
By following these steps, you can utilize the Substance Texture node in Maya to apply textures created in Substance Painter. This process allows you to bring your Substance textures into Maya and utilize the powerful rendering capabilities of the software.
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Matching export settings
When matching export settings for Substance Painter textures to Maya, there are a few key considerations and steps to follow. Firstly, it's important to note that Maya's default shaders like Lambert and Phong are not designed for PBR. Newer versions of Maya include a stingray PBS shader that can be used for this purpose. When exporting textures from Substance Painter, ensure that your export settings match the way Maya wants to take textures. You can also create your own preset in Substance Painter (SP) for more flexibility.
For materials in Maya, navigate to "Arnold -> Shader -> Surface -> aiStandardSurface". Plug the textures accordingly, and set non-colour textures (roughness, normal maps, etc.) to RAW while enabling "Alpha is Luminance". This ensures that the textures are interpreted correctly in Maya.
When exporting texture sets from Substance Painter, you will need to export all the maps for each texture set and then assign those maps to the corresponding materials in Maya. This can be a tedious process, especially if you want to apply textures to different parts of the same object in Maya. To streamline this, you can apply a single material in Maya, export it, and then work on painting each part on the same texture set in Substance Painter. This way, you avoid the need to manually merge texture sets in external software like Photoshop.
Additionally, when exporting models from Maya to Substance Painter, you will get a texture set for each Maya material. Ensure that you assign unique materials to different meshes in your model, as Substance Painter views separate objects based on their material. Export your model as an FBX file and then import it into Substance Painter. Once texturing is complete in Substance Painter, you only need to export the textures and assign them to your Maya model.
Finally, when working with Arnold in Maya, be aware that it uses a Diffuse, Specular, Roughness workflow. Therefore, textures created in Substance Painter using the Base Colour, Metallic workflow will need to be converted for the Arnold shader. You can do this by going to "File -> Export Textures", selecting the export tab, and choosing Arnold as the system configuration. To ensure consistency between the two applications, utilize Gamma correction controls to work in a radiometrically linear space.
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Creating a shader network
When applying a Substance Painter texture to Maya, you will need to create a shader network. This process involves several steps, and there are some important considerations to keep in mind. Firstly, it is essential to understand the differences between the shaders in Painter and Maya. The default shaders in Maya, such as Lambert and Phong, are older and not designed for PBR. However, newer versions of Maya include a stingray PBS shader that can be used.
To create a shader network in Maya, you can follow these general steps:
- Open the Hypershade window in Maya.
- Create a new material by navigating to "Arnold -> Shader -> Surface -> aiStandardSurface".
- Plug in your textures, ensuring that non-colour textures (e.g., roughness, normal maps) are set to RAW, and enable "Alpha is Luminance".
- Assign the material to your mesh.
- Create a Substance node for parametric mapping by selecting the Substance Texture option and choosing the Substance node in the Property Editor.
- Browse and load the Substance (.sbsar) file, and select the desired graph if the Substance contains multiple graphs.
- Set the resolution by choosing values for width and height, and enable Cache Outputs to Disk to bake the Substance Outputs for use with renderers like Arnold.
- Click the "Create Shader Network" button to generate the shader network for the selected renderer workflow.
It is important to note that creating a shader network involves understanding the various nodes and their functions. This may require some experimentation and practice within Maya. Additionally, when working with textures, it is common to use 3D textures as a base for shading surfaces, as they create seamless edges. These 3D textures can then be baked to obtain 2D textures, which are simpler to work with.
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Setting up a model in Maya
Next, import models into Maya. You can import a 2D model into an image plane to model your 3D object. To do this, click the Four View shortcut in the Toolbox to see your scene from different angles, then import your image into the Front and Side view panel menus.
The third step is to create a polygon primitive. You can create a new polygon by selecting Mesh > Create Polygon Tool and setting the number of points on the polygon. Press the Q key to create your new polygon.
The fourth step is to model an object. You can manipulate the vertices of your model by clicking the Move Tool in the Toolbox. To combine edges, select an object, click Shift, select the other mesh, then select Mesh > Combine.
Fifth, create polygons and add them to a current mesh by selecting Edit Mesh > Append to Polygon Tool. Finally, add the finishing touches to your model. You can model in "perspective view" and "orthographic view" by going to View > Camera Setting or using the Alt + P shortcut.
Additionally, if you are looking to apply a Substance Painter texture to Maya, you will need to ensure that your substance painter export settings match Maya's default shaders. You can also use a stingray PBS shader included in newer versions of Maya or create your own preset in Substance Painter. Once you have your texture, go to Arnold > Shader > Surface > aiStandardSurface and plug in the textures accordingly, setting non-colour textures to RAW and enabling "Alpha is Luminance".
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Using Substance Painter presets
Substance 3D Painter allows you to create and save presets for brushes, materials, and tools. To create and save presets, go to Painter > Painting > Presets > Creating and Saving Presets. Right-clicking in the Properties window will bring up a context menu with the following actions:
- Create tool preset: Saves brush parameters and materials within the same preset file.
- Create material preset: Saves only material properties and resources inside a preset file.
- Create brush preset: Saves brush parameters and alpha and stencil resources inside a preset file.
You can update an existing preset on the disk based on the current values available in the Properties window. Output templates are saved on the disk as individual files and can be shared with any other user of Substance 3D Painter. These files can be found in the assets/export-presets folder of your Substance 3D Painter files.
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Frequently asked questions
First, prepare your model in Maya and set your materials. Then, export your model and procedurally create the texture in Substance Painter. Finally, bring your model back into Maya and render with Arnold.
One common issue is that the padding outside the UVs becomes visible and deforms the asset when rendering in Maya. This can be resolved by checking that your UVs are laid out correctly and that your substance painter export settings match Maya's default shaders.
Go to "Arnold -> Shader -> Surface -> aiStandardSurface". Plug in your textures, setting non-colour textures to RAW and enabling "Alpha is Luminance".
Yes, Substance has a plugin that can be used to apply textures to Maya. Additionally, there is a stingray PBS shader included in newer versions of Maya that can be used to take textures.
