Diffused the lighting some more. Added a third vertex blended material. Added single layer water material with foam. Moved bits around to fit together better in the scene.
In this post I aim to go over the basics of Master Materials in UE in as simple terms as possible. What they are, why we use them and how to make a very basic one. This is aimed at beginners.
Material Functions are nothing more than network of nodes that will perform an operation, and return a result. Their main purpose is to simplify material creation. Instead of recreating a commonly used function (node network that does something) every time a new material is made, you can package those into a Material Function and use them in your graph as a single node.
In this short tutorial we will have a look at Material Parameter Collections, what they are and how to use them. Material Parameter Collections are a powerful tool for artists.
Today we're going to look at publishing your first Substance 3D Designer package as a .sbsar or Substance 3D asset file. There are many advantages to doing this. Exposed parameters and map sizes can be adjusted on the fly with no loss of quality. Texture varieties can be made this way without having to go back to Designer.In the second part we'll go over setting them up in Unreal.
Tutorial: Substance 3D Designer to UE Part 2 - Working with .sbsar files in Unreal Engine:
Pat Florczak Portfolio - Tutorial: Substance 3D Designer to UE Part 2 - Working with .sbsar files in Unreal Engine
In Part 1 we looked at the basics of exposing parameters and exporting Substance 3D Designer packages as .sbsar or Substance 3D asset files. It is by no means a full overview of the process or it's advantages and disadvantages but it gets us primed for the second part.In Part 2 we'll go over downloading and setting up the Substance 3D for Unreal Engine plugin.
I think this is worth explaining because understanding why can help you create better materials. First we have to briefly talk about how we represent colour in digital graphics. Our phones, TVs and monitors use the RGB colour model.RGB is an additive colour model, with each colour; red, green and blue being represented by a value between 0.0 and 1.0 in Unreal.
Today I'm going to talk about working with Deferred Decals in Unreal Engine. But first I will run through my Maya (and 3ds Max) through Substance 3D (Painter and Designer) to Unreal Engine authoring workflow. This is a beginner level tutorial.
Finally had time to do some extra work on the crypt.
I finished the modkit, redid a big chunk of the materials I made earlier. Went ahead and adjusted the lighting some more.
It's starting to come together now. I need to do another pass on the background modkit as it doesn't quite fit how I want it to. But also need to finish the fencing.
It's been a minute since I touched this. Added quite a lot. Not sure if the gravestones don't repeat too obviously, should go and change them up at some point.
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Previewing UE calibrated textures in marmoset was a dumb idea.
I forgot to put the final version in here!
I forgot to put the final version in here!
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/B3PJa8
Nice pumpking! Hehe. I like the colors. Man... I need to learn how to do materials 😅
Anyway, good job!!
Hey, thank you!
I'm currently working on this scene based around some industrial areas in my town. Slowly chipping away at parts when I have time.
Another progress shot
It's looking good so far! Are you using tileable materials to do the street/bricks?
Yep I am
Another scene I'm putting together, this time in UE5.
I have to work in 4 for the other project because I'm doing it as an example for students. So this is my way to experiment with 5 some.
Added some basic textures. Set up a fake isometric view and did some post processing.
Diffused the lighting some more. Added a third vertex blended material. Added single layer water material with foam. Moved bits around to fit together better in the scene.
Finished texturing the deck. Added some extra lights to bring out the specular highlights.
Materials I made so far for this.
Did the trees and another pass on the dock texture. Messed around with lights some more.
Made the boat and some small assets on the deck, moved trees around and rescaled them.
And I'm calling it done. Pretty happy with how it turned out. Video down here:
Since I was playing around with UE5 I figured I'd put the pumpkin in there too, Lumen is just incredible.
I really enjoyed making the first isometric enviro, so why not more?
Made some ground textures and grass cards. The emissive oscillates based on a sine node period.
Did some extra work on the example project for my students. It's been a pain going back to UE4.
Anyway I added the roof, expanded some of the side streets to fill up the view, added some more decals as I'm doing a lecture on them on Friday.
Added a fence to the side.
UE5 for comparison. Looks significantly better
some stinging nettles
I have been writing some tutorials in my spare time, since I hardly have time to make my own art:
Intro to Unreal Engine Master Materials for absolute beginners
Pat Florczak Portfolio - Tutorial: Intro to Unreal Engine Master Materials
https://qdwach.com/blog/eN1V/tutorial-intro-to-unreal-engine-master-materialsIntro to Unreal Engine Material Functions:
Pat Florczak Portfolio - Tutorial: Intro to Unreal Engine Material Functions
https://qdwach.com/blog/omDD/tutorial-intro-to-unreal-engine-material-functionsIntro to Unreal Engine Parameter Collections:
Pat Florczak Portfolio - Tutorial: Intro to Unreal Engine Material Parameter Collections
https://qdwach.com/blog/leE3/tutorial-intro-to-unreal-engine-material-parameter-collectionsTutorial: Substance 3D Designer to UE Part 1 - Publishing .sbsar files:
Pat Florczak Portfolio - Tutorial: Substance 3D Designer to UE Part 1 - Publishing .sbsar files
https://qdwach.com/blog/Na4m/tutorial-substance-3d-designer-to-ue-part-1-publishing-sbsar-filesTutorial: Substance 3D Designer to UE Part 2 - Working with .sbsar files in Unreal Engine:
Pat Florczak Portfolio - Tutorial: Substance 3D Designer to UE Part 2 - Working with .sbsar files in Unreal Engine
https://qdwach.com/blog/Lgzy/tutorial-substance-3d-designer-to-ue-part-2-working-with-sbsar-files-in-unreal-engineTutorial: Why do Multiply and Divide work differently inside Unreal Material Editor? (and other software)
Pat Florczak Portfolio - Tutorial: Why do Multiply and Divide work differently inside Unreal Material Editor?
https://qdwach.com/blog/g83A/tutorial-why-do-multiply-and-divide-work-differently-inside-unreal-material-editorTutorial: Intro to Deferred Decals in Unreal Engine + Transparency and ID Mask in Substance 3D:
Pat Florczak Portfolio - Tutorial: Intro to Deferred Decals in Unreal Engine + Transparency and ID Mask in Substance 3D
https://qdwach.com/blog/vOjg/tutorial-intro-to-deferred-decals-in-unreal-engine-transparency-and-id-mask-in-substance-3dIf anyone bothers to read these and has comments or suggestions on how they could be improved please let me know here.
My aim is to write tutorials for beginners that are as simple as possible but still give a good overview of the subject.
Working on a modular set for a spoopy graaaaveeeyaaaard.
Being ill has its advantages sometimes...
expanded the modkit further
gonna sculpt some damage and weathering another day
bew blockout of the crypt, extremely sleep deprived
took a little break from work but now I'm back. Some WIP materials for the crypt scene.