Lena Rivera
Substance Painter is a powerful tool for creating and editing highly detailed 3D models and materials. It offers a range of features, including the ability to paint by hand, use procedural tools for edge wear, and create mesh patterns. Mesh patterns in Substance Painter are created using Mesh-Based Input, which are textures extracted from the mesh inside the current project. These textures can be used to create advanced effects based on mesh topology. Before creating mesh patterns, it is important to prepare your meshes and ensure clean mesh geometry to avoid issues during texturing. Additionally, Substance Painter provides automatic UV unwrapping tools, but manual preparation of UVs often yields better results. This guide will lead you through the process of creating mesh patterns in Substance Painter, covering mesh preparation, UV unwrapping, and utilizing Mesh-Based Input for advanced texturing effects.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Create highly-detailed materials and edit them inside C4D |
| File type | Requires a 3D mesh file to start a new project |
| File preparation | Ensure mesh geometry is clean to avoid texturing issues |
| File import | Cannot load two separate .fbx/.obj files into a single project |
| UVs | Used to apply textures to a 3D mesh; can be created manually or with built-in tools |
| Texture creation | Allows texturing of 3D meshes and props, with support for various styles |
| Mesh-based input | Utilises mesh topology to create advanced effects |
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What You'll Learn
Preparing meshes for Substance Painter
To prepare meshes for Substance Painter, you must first understand the role of UVs. UVs are like a set of instructions for how to wrap a 3D mesh. The process of preparing UVs is called UV unwrapping. Substance Painter includes automatic UV unwrapping tools, but you will usually get better results by manually preparing your UVs.
Before importing your mesh into Substance Painter, ensure that the mesh geometry is clean to avoid issues in the texturing process. Common problems include non-manifold geometry, flipped faces, and overlapping UVs.
If you are working on an existing Substance Painter project and want to import a new mesh, you cannot simply add the new mesh to your existing project. Instead, you must export your original mesh with your new mesh as a single .obj or .fbx file. Then, go to Edit > Project Configuration and reimport from there. Substance Painter will retain all your previous paint work and apply it to the same texture set of the newly imported mesh.
If you are painting beneath clothes, you can go back to your 3D app, select the clothes, move them, and then re-export the .fbx file. Alternatively, you can make an instance of the body in your 3D app, export it, and paint the body while still keeping the clothes on top.
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Using Mesh Based Input
Mesh-based input in Substance Painter refers to textures provided by the engine, which are extracted from the mesh within the current project. These textures can be utilised to create advanced effects based on the mesh topology. It's important to note that this mesh information is solely based on the topology and doesn't consider the mesh map or baked textures.
To effectively use mesh-based input in Substance Painter, follow these steps:
Preparing Your Meshes: Before importing meshes into Substance Painter, ensure they are properly prepared. Check that the mesh geometry is clean to avoid issues during texturing. Common problems to look out for include fixing any mesh issues, ensuring the mesh is watertight, and checking for overlapping UVs.
Importing Your Mesh: When you're ready to import your mesh, go to "File > Import" in Substance Painter. Select your desired mesh file, ensuring it is in a supported format such as OBJ or FBX. Adjust any project settings if needed.
Understanding UVs: UVs play a crucial role in applying textures to your 3D mesh. They act like wrapping paper with instructions on how to wrap the mesh. While Substance Painter offers automatic UV unwrapping tools, manually preparing your UVs often yields better results.
Utilising Mesh-Based Input: With your mesh imported and UVs prepared, you can now leverage mesh-based input to create advanced effects. This involves using the mesh topology to drive the placement and behaviour of your textures. For example, you can create wear and tear effects along edges or apply textures to specific mesh areas.
Combining with Other Features: Substance Painter offers a range of features that complement mesh-based input. For instance, you can use the Fill Selection Tool to select specific parts of your mesh and apply colours or materials. Additionally, you can create Black Masks to isolate certain areas and apply unique textures, such as metallic edges.
Remember, when working with mesh-based input, always consider the creative possibilities offered by the mesh topology and experiment with different effects to achieve your desired results.
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Importing meshes into existing projects
When working with Substance Painter, it is not possible to add new meshes to an existing project. However, there are a few workarounds to achieve this.
Firstly, if you have a naked character model and its clothing as separate files, you cannot import them separately into SP. However, if you have them together in a scene in your 3D app, you can export them together as a single FBX/OBJ file and work on them simultaneously in Substance Painter.
Secondly, if you have already painted in your scene and want to add a reference image to pick colours, you can go back to your 3D app, create a plane with a new material containing your reference image, and place it in the scene. Export this FBX with your original mesh and import it into Painter from Edit -> Project Configuration. This will keep your original object untouched, but you will have a new one with its own TextureSet, allowing you to pick colours from the reference image within Substance Painter's interface.
Another method is to separate the parts you need to paint by using mesh fill/UV island fill to set a mask. You can then add an opacity fill to the part you need to hide temporarily. Once you are done, you can delete this fill.
If you need to paint beneath clothes, you can go back to your 3D app, select the clothes, move them aside, and then re-export the FBX and update it in Painter. Alternatively, you can make an instance of the body, export it, and paint it while still having an idea of what it looks like with the clothes on top.
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Exporting meshes from Substance Painter
To export your work from Substance Painter, you can utilise the Export Textures feature. This allows you to save your creations as bitmap files, compatible with most 3D software. Accessing the Export Textures dialog can be done in two ways: navigating to File > Export Textures or using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + E. The Export Textures dialog offers customisation options for the format and settings of the exported files.
Before exporting, you can adjust the export settings to meet your specific requirements. The Export Textures dialog has three tabs: Settings, Output Templates, and List of Exports. The Settings tab lets you enable or disable the export of texture sets and adjust settings for individual or all texture sets. The Output Templates tab allows you to choose from various supported file formats, such as .png, .jpg, .exr, and .tiff. Selecting a higher bit depth results in higher-quality textures but also increases file sizes.
Additionally, you can enhance your workflow by utilising the Mesh Based Input feature in Substance Painter. This feature extracts texture information directly from the mesh topology within your project, enabling you to create advanced effects. To further customise your export, you can add extra files to your template using the buttons next to the Create option. You can drag maps from Input maps, Mesh maps, and Converted maps into the channels of the available files, ensuring the desired maps correspond with the correct channels.
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Texturing and painting 3D meshes
Before importing your mesh into Substance Painter, it is recommended to prepare your mesh file. This includes checking for problems such as intersecting polygons, flipped faces, or isolated vertices. These issues can cause unwanted artefacts or errors during the texturing process.
Once your mesh is ready, you can import it into Substance Painter. Open your FBX file, ensuring that Auto-Unwrap is deactivated. You can then test that everything is functioning correctly by drawing on the model and observing the markings on the UV map. Before beginning to paint, you will need to bake the model. Go to Texture Set Settings, scroll down to Bake Mesh Maps, and follow the prompts to bake your model.
After baking, you can start painting and texturing your 3D mesh. Substance Painter offers a range of tools and effects to create realistic or hand-painted textures. You can use the Fill Selection Tool to colour individual objects, and the Black Mask feature to isolate certain areas of your mesh. Additionally, you can utilise Mesh-Based Input, which are textures extracted from the mesh topology, to create advanced effects.
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Frequently asked questions
You cannot load two separate .fbx/.obj files into a Substance Painter project. Combine your meshes into a single .fbx/.obj file before importing.
There are a few solutions. You can duplicate/instance meshes, move parts of the mesh, or use the reference image method to pick colours without having to slide the eyedropper to another screen.
Painter includes automatic UV unwrapping tools, but for the best results, manually preparing UVs is recommended.
Mesh-Based Inputs are textures provided by the engine of Substance 3D Painter, extracted from the mesh inside the current project. These can be used to create advanced effects based on mesh topology.
Substance Painter is a powerful tool that allows users to author their own highly-detailed materials and edit them inside C4D. It acts as a universal material editor, creating identical effects across different render engines.
