Smart Material Masking In Substance Painter: A Step-By-Step Guide

Smart Materials in Substance 3D Painter are essentially a stack of multiple materials that can be used to add incredible detail to 3D models. To mask a Smart Material, you need to first add it to your layer stack by either dragging and dropping it from the shelf or by clicking on the Smart Material button. Once the Smart Material is in your layer stack, you can use masks to paint or erase specific parts of the texture. To create a mask, simply right-click on a layer and choose Create Smart Mask. It's important to note that masks always appear in grayscale, and any colour will be converted to grayscale before being painted. Additionally, make sure to check the settings of your mask, such as balance and contrast, to ensure it functions as intended.

Creating a smart mask

Smart Masks are essentially presets of effects, and as such, they can only be added to effect stacks. This is in contrast to Smart Materials, which can be used anywhere in the layer stack. Smart Materials are a stack of multiple materials, and they can be added to the layer stack by drag-and-dropping or by clicking on the Smart Material button to open a mini-shelf.

Once a Smart Mask has been created, it can be used to add incredible detail to your 3D models in real-time, along with smart materials and brushes. This allows for a similar texturing process while keeping the results unique and adapted to the mesh topology.

It is important to note that once a smart material has been added to the layer stack, there is no way to retrieve which specific smart material was used. If an update is required, it will have to be done manually, although individual resources can be updated with the Resources Updater.

Applying smart materials to a mask

Smart Materials and Smart Masks are advanced features of Substance 3D Painter that allow users to add incredible detail to their 3D models. Smart Materials are a stack of multiple materials that can be used anywhere in the layer stack, while Smart Masks are presets of effects that can only be used in the effect stack.

To apply smart materials to a mask, you need to first create a mask. This can be done by right-clicking over a layer and choosing "Create Smart Mask". You can also create a mask by right-clicking on a smart mask folder and selecting "Create Mask from Bitmap". Once you have created your mask, you can then add smart materials to it by dragging and dropping the smart materials from the shelf into the layer stack. Alternatively, you can click on the Smart Material button to open a mini-shelf and select the smart material you want to use.

It's important to note that smart materials cannot be dragged and dropped into the "material" channel of a fill layer or a layer. They need to be dragged and dropped into the layer stack. If you want to paint or erase using smart materials, you can do so by using masks. This is a non-destructive way of working and can add incredible detail to your 3D models.

Additionally, you can visualize the mask itself by doing ALT + Left mouse click on its thumbnail. This will switch the viewport to an isolated view of the mask from this layer. You can also disable a mask temporarily by doing SHIFT + Left mouse click on its thumbnail. To enable it again, simply redo the same operation.

Visualising the mask

To visualise the mask itself, use the ALT key + Left Mouse Click on its thumbnail. This action will switch the viewport to an isolated view of the mask from the current layer. Alternatively, you can access this operation through the viewer settings.

If you wish to temporarily disable the mask, perform a SHIFT + Left Mouse Click on its thumbnail. To enable it again, simply repeat the same operation. This can also be done via the right-click menu by selecting "Toggle Mask".

You can also copy the content of one mask to another by right-clicking on the thumbnail, selecting "Copy Mask Content", and then right-clicking on the target mask and choosing "Paste".

Additionally, when working with smart masks, it's important to note that they can only be added to effect stacks. This is because smart masks are presets of effects, unlike smart materials, which can be used anywhere in the layer stack.

Enabling and disabling masks

To enable or disable masks in Substance 3D Painter, follow these steps:

• Create a layer that will serve as the mask. This can be done by right-clicking on a folder and selecting "Create Smart Mask."
• Right-click on the layer and choose "Create a mask from bitmap."
• Select the anchor point you created as the bitmap.
• Visualize the mask by holding down the ALT key and left-clicking on its thumbnail. This will show you a isolated view of the mask.
• To disable the mask temporarily, hold down the SHIFT key and left-click on the thumbnail. To enable it again, simply repeat this step. Alternatively, you can right-click on the thumbnail and select "Toggle Mask" from the menu.

It is important to note that smart masks can only be added to effect stacks, while smart materials can be used anywhere in the layer stack. Additionally, masks always appear in grayscale, regardless of the content used to paint over them.

Scaling smart masks

To scale a smart mask, you must first understand that the object scale does not directly influence the size of the effects. Instead, the texel density or pixel ratio determines the resolution of the texture. For instance, a tiny object occupying a small number of pixels will have a lower resolution when textured with the same layer as a larger object on the UV sheet.

When scaling a smart mask, you can adjust the tiling or scale within the viewport to match other elements. This allows for unequal texel density during unwrapping, which can be compensated for by adjusting the tiling based on masking out specific parts of the object. For example, you can mask out screws by UVs, duplicate the layer, and then adjust the tiling or scale to align with other components.

Additionally, when working with complex objects that have many small parts and a high-resolution texture, the UVW space for each part may be limited. In such cases, applying a standard smart material may result in effects that are too large. To address this, you can adjust the tiling or scale for each layer and generator within the smart material to achieve the desired effect size.

By understanding the relationship between object scale, texel density, and the ability to adjust tiling and scale, you can effectively scale smart masks in Substance 3D Painter to achieve the desired visual outcome.

Frequently asked questions