Erasing Normal Maps In Substance Painter: A Step-By-Step Guide

There are several ways to erase parts of a normal map in Substance Painter. One way is to change the Texture Set settings. By default, a Texture Set is created with the normal mixing setting set to combine. To override/paint the normal map, you must set this setting to replace. This will cause the normal map to disappear from the viewport, but that is expected. Another method is to use the Wrap to underlying option in Quixel Mixer and set it to zero. Additionally, you can go to the layer and paint with a height of zero to remove the normal map.

Change the blend mode to 'Replace'

When working with Substance 3D Painter, artists have access to a multitude of blending modes that can be used to achieve different effects and manipulate textures. One such blending mode is "Replace".

The "Replace" blending mode is particularly useful when you want to paint over a baked normal map to hide details or fix baking issues. By default, Substance 3D Painter computes the normal channel and the baked normal separately, but changing the blending mode to "Replace" overrides this behaviour. This indicates to the software that only the normal channel and the height channel should be considered when generating the final normal map.

To change the blending mode to "Replace", simply click on the Blending Mode dropdown on the desired layer and select "Replace" from the list of options. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcuts to quickly switch between blending modes if the dropdown has focus.

It is important to note that the "Replace" blending mode will cause the normal map to disappear from the viewport, but this is expected behaviour. This blending mode provides a non-destructive approach to texture editing, allowing artists to experiment and refine their textures without permanently affecting the underlying layers. This level of flexibility and control empowers artists to achieve a wide range of creative effects without the risk of introducing irreversible changes.

Adjust the height channel to zero

When working with height maps in Substance Painter, it's important to be able to adjust and erase specific parts of your work without affecting other channels. This can be done by adjusting the height channel to zero.

There are two methods to achieve this. The first method involves going directly to the layer and painting with a height value of zero. This will effectively remove the height details from that specific area. By painting with a height of zero, you are essentially flattening out that particular section of the height map.

The second method involves a more targeted approach. First, access the height channel in the top left drop-down menu in the layer stack. Once you have selected the height channel from the drop-down menu, return to the layer and adjust the opacity to zero. This will make the height details invisible without actually deleting the information. This method allows for more flexibility as you can always return to the layer and adjust the opacity back to a higher value if needed.

It is worth noting that while these methods may seem straightforward, it is always recommended to exercise caution when making adjustments to height maps. It is easy to accidentally affect other channels or delete information unintentionally. As such, it may be beneficial to create backup files or utilize masks and fill layers to experiment with these adjustments without compromising your original work.

By understanding and utilizing these methods for adjusting the height channel to zero, you can effectively erase parts of your normal map in Substance Painter without affecting other channels. These techniques provide flexibility and precision in your workflow, allowing you to make targeted adjustments to your height maps.

Use Quixel Mixer

Quixel Mixer is a texturing software that can be used to erase parts of a normal map in Substance Painter. One of the key differences between Substance Painter and Quixel Mixer is that the latter does not have a built-in baker, so you will need to use external bakers like Marmoset Toolbag or XNormal.

To get started, you will need to export your low poly, high poly, and cage meshes as FBX files. Then, import them into XNormal and bake out your material ID map. Once you have your baked maps, you can import them into Quixel Mixer by clicking on "Import All Maps" and selecting the folder where your maps are located. If your material ID doesn't import correctly due to naming conventions, you can import it manually by clicking on the folder icon or by adding the correct suffix in the settings.

After importing your maps, you can start working on your material modifications. To do this, click on the layer and you will see the material properties on the right. Here, you can modify the material as needed, such as changing the color of plastic to an off-white color as mentioned in the example. You can then texture your model in Quixel Mixer similarly to how you would in Substance Painter.

It is important to note that Quixel Mixer currently does not support opacity and emissive maps. To work around this limitation, you can add fill layers with specific colors. For example, use a white fill layer for albedo, a grey fill layer for transparent objects like glass, and a black fill layer for objects you want to cut out. Once you are done, export your maps as albedo maps and rename them to opacity if needed. The same method can be applied to emissive maps. Finally, if you need to export maps for specific software like game engines, you can use Quixel Bridge.

Bake a new normal map

Baking textures in Substance 3D Painter allows you to combine the high level of detail from a high poly mesh with the low performance costs of a low poly mesh. This process involves transferring the information from the high poly mesh onto the low poly mesh, saving it as a texture.

Substance 3D Painter generates Mesh Maps by baking mesh information. Mesh maps can be used to provide additional information related to the mesh geometry and enhance the look of materials. For example, baking can provide information about ambient shadows, the edges of geometry, or the thickness of a mesh area.

To bake a new normal map, you will need to change the default settings in Substance 3D Painter. By default, a Texture Set is created with the normal mixing setting set to 'combine'. To override/paint the normal map, you must set this setting to replace instead. This indicates to Substance 3D Painter that only the normal channel and the height channel should be considered when generating the final normal map.

After changing the setting to 'replace', create a new fill layer and place the baked normal inside the "normal" slot via the properties panel.

Change the Texture Set settings

To erase parts of a normal map in Substance Painter, you can change the Texture Set settings. By default, a Texture Set is created with the normal mixing setting set to "combine". To override and paint over the normal map, you need to change this setting to "replace". This can be done by going into the Texture Set list window and choosing "Settings > Reassign Texture Sets". This will open the Texture Set Reassignment window, where you can change the layer stack assignment.

The Texture Set settings control the parameters of the currently selected Texture Set, including resolution, channels, and associated mesh maps. You can modify the list by adding or removing channels, and these settings will impact how channels are generated and combined with baked textures.

It's important to note that when you change the mode to "replace", the normal map will disappear from the viewport. This is expected behaviour and indicates that Substance Painter is now only considering the normal channel and height channel when generating the final normal map.

Reassigning Texture Sets can also be done by simply dragging and dropping the buttons. A Texture Set can become disabled when it is no longer associated with a Mesh Material, which can happen when importing a new mesh with different material names. To restore a Texture Set, you can swap its position with one in the "Project Texture Sets" list.

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