Texturing with softwares such as quixel/substance vs manually in the Photoshop

dosit · Apr 2016

Which is the best way of texturing can you get the results doing both?. Do know most artists now days just use PBR texturing software's? Just kinda curious as I have Just starting learning Game Art this year.

Anchang-Style · Apr 2016

Yes you can
However, the see what you get effect is missing. You really have no feedback how metallic or roughness behave in your work. Since not only do you not get the feedback of the maps, you also don't get the feedback of different light conditions or even just the surface. So yeah you can and Quixel, i think, still does rely heavily on PS. Substance is a bit more. Not only does it do PBR classic texturing but also adding particle effects straight to the material or smart filters that take surface into account when texturing or just using substances created in Designer and tinker their parameters while applied to the mesh.

thomasp · Apr 2016

you'll need to know both ideally. which one to choose depends on your subject and how the UVs are laid out, not every subject can be textured well in 3D and some types of textures are just more easily done by using e.g. a photograph as a base or straight up hand painting vs creating procedural materials that mimic the effect.

Synaesthesia · Apr 2016

Using Quixel SUITE requires Photoshop knowledge and knowledge of the SUITE itself (NDO, DDO, 3DO) - if you're familiar with Photoshop, you'll be able to dive right into the SUITE.

If you'd like some personalized assistance with the software, you're welcome to it! I'll be running a Quixel LIVE NDO Workshop in our Quixel Hangout today in just over an hour from now. You can find out more on the Quixel Tools Group on Facebook.

musashidan · Apr 2016

The principle advantage of tools like QS and SP is that you're painting across all channels of a material in a purpose built PBR environment. You can still create PBR textures in PS as they're still just textures, but being able to view the end result of your in-game asset, pretty much 1:1, while you're texturing is unbeatable.

I still use PS as a hub for everything I do but since I've started using SP I haven't painted a single texture in PS. Plus you can paint in 2d straight on your uv sheet directly within SP.

Finalhart · May 2016

Both are used because they speed up the workflow painting in different channels and automate a lot of manual tasks. It can only help you to practice with Photoshop without the use of these programs.

Eventually you will want to use one of those because once you learn the basics there are some things you will want to do faster.

Texturing with softwares such as quixel/substance vs manually in the Photoshop

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