Tech Substances

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

I'm currently working on a set of tools and materials in Substance Designer themed around sci-fi/hard-surface.
First off I have a tool used for placing screws/bolts/rivets in Designer or Painter. It has crazy customization options, and I've already gotten a lot of use out of it.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/zq/2lvu88ofi48o.jpeg

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

This one is comparatively simple. I created a hex grid solar panel material.

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

I created some multi-Alpha brushes for ZBrush 4r8 using my screws tool. May not be a substance, but I did use a substance to make it.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/4s/nuzoon3npujg.jpeg

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

Working on some greeble tools for Substance Designer/Painter now, which will make it easier to create panel materials later.

Here's one down. It was WAY harder to set up these procedural controls than I expected:

CybranM · Jun 2017

Looks nice, its really handy to be able to quickly place screws and bolts without having to do the highpoly for it. Do you have any tips for setting up the procedural controls that you showed in the last gif?

Prime8 · Jun 2017

The nuts and screws look very flat, try a bit more slope, even though the model will not be realistic anymore.

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

CybranM said:

Looks nice, its really handy to be able to quickly place screws and bolts without having to do the highpoly for it. Do you have any tips for setting up the procedural controls that you showed in the last gif?

It was pretty complicated. On a basic level, what I did was set up two different tile generators, and use a a lot of code to control the offset, scale and interstice based on the number of tiles.

I made it so that each of the tile generators only showed half as many tiles as was input in the parameter plus 1, then flipped on and off a mask along the side, whose scale was also determined by the number of tiles, based on whether the tile number parameter was an odd or even number.

Prime8 said:

The nuts and screws look very flat, try a bit more slope, even though the model will not be realistic anymore.

The tool has a parameter to control the bevel. Though I opted not to put it too high by default.

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

Here's the next tool I've been working on.

Those aren't all the options, either. You can also control the rotation, scale, distance between points, color, depth, and bevel.

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

Another tool. This one is more complex. I'm not satisfied with that rear panel yet.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/nb/dcim0qh5owd1.gif

I also figured out how to make the .GIFs a lot more efficient

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

Created an additional Teeth-style arrangement for the previous tool.

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

Nearly completed those last couple of tools. Just need to bake out all the alphas and brushes.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/sc/2yxkq6jun450.jpeg

Quasar · Jun 2017

I was hoping that in the future phillips and slotted screws would be obsolete

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

Agh... I was making good progress on the alphas and brushes, but encountered an issue in which substance designer is outputting extremely pixelated gradients, which aren't fixed by higher bit depth or resolution. Need to look for a solution to that first

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

I was able to work around that last problem, so I released that tool on Gumroad.

On to the next tool then. I'm working on some sci-fi themed plugs.

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

I've made some progress on that sci-fi plug tool

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

I decided to upload some tools I made previously that I've been using a lot on sci-fi themed work. Especially GUI stuff, but I've been using some of them on this stuff as well.

They're on my Gumroad page in my signature, if anyone wants them. Completely free.

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

I added a new polygonal capsule tool to the free substance pack.

I used it pretty liberally in that stamp tool, as well as the sci-fi plugs I'm working on now.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/wj/t8hn4c80mwny.jpeg

Not much to look at, but it's stupidly useful. You can control the X/Y scale independently while maintaining the same curvature, as well as the rotation.

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

I suddenly had a strong desire to make a military kevlar material.

I then had a strong desire to add a padded option so I could work on procedural wrinkles.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/24/kd8gbvysbvix.jpeg

Zack Maxwell · Jun 2017

I've made another tool out of the wrinkles I made for that last substance. A cloth fold noise node.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/76/bkg4zqkvsjmq.jpeg

And here's how it looks inside the previous kevlar material after masking it off based on the height map.

Zack Maxwell · Jul 2017

I'm reaching a new extreme with this plug tool. Not even done yet, and I'm up to 216 varieties.

Definitely not looking forward to baking out those alphas and brushes...

Zack Maxwell · Jul 2017

Now up to 450 varieties... God help me.

I have to individually set up an output for every single combination inside of substance designer to export the alphas. Then I have to individually stamp every single alpha onto a it's own plane in ZBrush to make the multi-alpha brushes... Making the tool itself is quickly becoming the easiest part of this

Zack Maxwell · Jul 2017

I'm now sitting at 1,200.

I... I need to stop. I'll just focus on improving the detail a bit more. And then... The painful part.
I'll have to split the alphas into multiple folders just to make it a sane process finding the right one.

I think I might just forgo making the multi-alpha brushes altogether. How would I even divide them up? You can only fit roughly 15 alphas per brush, before it starts getting clumsy to navigate.

Even if I divided them up by the central design, there would be 150 alphas per brush.
At the moment I'm sitting on 8 different interior details, 6 different middle details, 5 different edge details, and 5 different shapes.

Zack Maxwell · Jul 2017

Heh..Heheh. Hahahaha!

I don't know if I'm a moron or a genius. Somehow it didn't occur to me before that I could proceduralize the output graph as well. I can get really crazy with the number of options now, and not worry about it taking an eternity to export all the alphas.
I'm still not making multi-Alpha brushes though. Screw the hell out of that.

Zack Maxwell · Jul 2017

I stopped at 1,800 alphas. Been working on adding paint options now.

Also, does anyone know how to get substance designer to stop showing tiles of the image in the 3D viewport when using height maps? I've been painting them out by hand

Zack Maxwell · Jul 2017

Nearly done now. Just need to organize everything and create all the promotional art.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/b1/tji312qu1x4a.jpeg

Zack Maxwell · Jul 2017

Some of the alphas inside of ZBrush. They turned out much better than I expected.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ra/qhtlmgeclu6q.jpg

Elithenia · Jul 2017

Looks great!

homart · Jul 2017

Awesome work ! Looking really great !

Zack Maxwell · Jul 2017

Thanks. I'm planning to make some sci-fi vents next, but my time is divided up now between that and learning Houdini.

I also made a simple third tool for that pack of sci-fi "stamps" I had made previously.

It has controls for the size and position of the circle, the scale of the line, and the number of copies.
It was inspired by Genji from Overwatch

Zack Maxwell · Jul 2017

Before working on anything else, I decided to improve the screws.

The substance had some inefficiencies, and the height map was... a little botched, if you tried to use it in painter instead of the normal map.

I also improved a little of the customization, and I'm working on much better promo art.

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