Substance designer workflow

Jordanbeeston · Mar 2017

Wasnt sure where to put this topic so i just put it in general?

Im confused with substance designer and its place in my workflow, its quite a beginner question i would guess but i cant find anything on the web to state where it should be used (probably because its obvious and im a div!)

The way my workflow goes at the moment (before learning about substance designer) is that i would start blocking objects in maya, i would then export to zbrush to do high poly work, then i would decimate slightly, import to 3d coat to retopologize, then back in to maya to create the UV's and bake the high poly to the low poly (usually normal and ambient) then i would go into photoshop using the textures to aid me in creating a albedo/ diffuse map, after that i would apply it to the low poly model and im done.

Where does substance designer fit in on that workflow? does it just replace the need for photoshop? or does it work in combination with photoshop, but if thats the case why use substance designer at all, what is the point of creating procedural textures unless your UV's are completely square, anything more complex would warp the texture surely?

If anyone is able to break it down for me explaining when you use it in your pipeline that would help me out so much, im quite confused haha.

JEmerson · Mar 2017

Because you are looking at Designer, and not Painter, I will try to keep this more simple. Let's start with what Designer does (typically). Designer is a procedural node-based texture and map baking solution. Designer permits the user to bake out maps (normals, ambient, etc . . .), create tiling and non-tiling materials, and then place those materials onto the same texture sheet - thereby creating your texture maps (albedo, diffuse, normals, etc . . .). The power of Substance Designer is that it allows you to view your 3d model at the same time that you are building these textures (similar to Substance Painter and Quixel), and how they appear on the model in a renderer that is closely aligned with your target render engine (e.g., Unreal Engine).

In terms of your pipeline, it could go something like: Blockout in Maya -> zBrush -> 3d Coat for retopology -> Maya for UV unwraps -> Substance Designer with both the high poly and low poly to bake maps and create textures. It can replace Photoshop.

However, Substance Designer is, by intent, a procedural tool to create textures. This means that there are instances where although you can accomplish the same task in Designer, it may be quicker to do so in another program such as Photoshop or Painter. An example (although I think this was changed in 2.6) was text. For a while, it was easier to create a mask for text inside of photoshop/illustrator and export that to Designer, where you could then place it and change it as necessary.

So, does Designer fully replace Photoshop? It can. Is it necessary to stop using Photoshop and use Designer instead? No.

Hope that clears it up for you a little.

Jordanbeeston · Mar 2017

Hey man, thanks so much for the reply!

that has definitely cleared it up for me, i was getting a little confused with the concept of the software and how to actually use it, i think i understand it better now.

When you say both high and low poly in designer, does this mean i can skip the transfer maps option that maya has?

Thanks for helping breaking down the pipeline too, as im basically self taught i sometimes dont know if im doing things completely backwards to how people in the industry right now would do it! haha

Thanks again!

JEmerson · Mar 2017

I am self taught as well, so I understand the struggle(s). When I say both high and low poly in designer, what I mean is that in your graph you do a right click -> link -> 3d Mesh operation to link (note* this does not import the 3d meshes in the traditional sense. Rather it references your 3d files. So any changes that you would make in Maya, if you saved over your file, you could see in Substance Designer by reloading/relinking the files; this would screw up your bakes so you would need to rebake).

There should be zero reason to transfer maps, unless doing something specific like transferring normals directions on a tree or foliage for instance.

Rather, it is create high poly -> retropologize to low poly -> uv map low poly -> save the high poly and the low poly out (.obj works well for high poly and .fbx works well for low poly) -> open substance designer -> create new graph (or open existing) -> link high poly mesh and low poly mesh -> right click low poly mesh in graph resources -> bake. From there setup your bake to match your rendering engine. After you have your bakes, start creating your materials. I suggest, if using substance designer only, that you bake an ID Color Map as well since that will allow you to mask and apply the tiling materials much more easily.

I highly suggest you look at the youtube videos on the Allegorithmic channel that Wes McDermott has made for beginnings in Substance Designer. He covers the workflow, the UI, and how to create simple and complex materials (more than 1 material).

Jordanbeeston · Mar 2017

Hey sigmafie,

Im so glad to hear that i dont need to transfer maps, thats how i used to have to bake from high poly to low poly and it is painful haha.

Thank you so much for taking the time out to help me, i understand it so much better now

i kind of halted my current project until i knew a bit more about it so im excited to get back on with things! yes ive never used ID maps before, they do look useful for selecting different parts of the object.

Yeah i had been watching them too, its just before i was confused on where it fit in regarding the pipeline and now i feel i know the basics a whole lot better!

Thanks again

Substance designer workflow

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