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Hybrid workflow for Designer – anyone tried this?

ManojS
ManojS
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ManojS

Hey everyone,

I’ve been experimenting with creating a diamond PBR material with prongs. I managed to build a decent version in Substance Painter, but as expected it only really works at the baked scale.

In Designer, I know the procedural approach is the “proper” way for infinite scalability, but I was wondering about trying a hybrid workflow:

  • Model the repeatable pattern in 3D.

  • Bake height/normal maps onto a square plane.

  • Bring those maps into Designer as a base, then layer procedural detail (scratches, dust, etc.) for flexibility.

I realize baked maps are resolution-dependent and won’t scale infinitely like procedural nodes, but in theory this seems like a good balance between accuracy (from 3D) and flexibility (from Designer).

Has anyone here tried this kind of hybrid approach for gemstones or other high-precision materials? I’d love to hear about your experiences or any tips.

Thanks!

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  • gnoop
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    gnoop sublime tool
    What you described is imo  just  most common way  to work  there.    Nobody wastes time just for sake of potential scalability  you may never need.  If it's  not a portfolio sport  my guess.   
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  • Eric Chadwick
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    Eric Chadwick admin
    For most materials, this makes sense. But gemstones are better done as pure geometry, since refraction and dispersion are essential. Why would you want to make a flat gemstone material?
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  • ManojS
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    ManojS
    Eric Chadwick said:
    For most materials, this makes sense. But gemstones are better done as pure geometry, since refraction and dispersion are essential. Why would you want to make a flat gemstone material?
    I really don't know, someone asked me to make a smart material, and then they were asked it in procedural way, I was confused and have no idea how to explain them, just wonder if someone got a same experience or have managed to create procedural diamond input some other way,  I just thought bring some SVG inputs and give it a try, but the all gut alerting me this is not an easy.. that is why I asked..



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  • poopipe
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    poopipe grand marshal polycounter
    gnoop said:
    What you described is imo  just  most common way  to work  there.    Nobody wastes time just for sake of potential scalability  you may never need.  If it's  not a portfolio sport  my guess.   
    this

    but...
    in this case, generating that shape by combining shapes in designer is relatively simple and it can easily be shoved into painter with exposed parameters. soo.... if you need a lot of different tiling gemstones for your project it might be worth putting the extra effort in at the beginning
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