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Changing Textures and Color Tints in Substance Painter

Importing a Model into Substance Painter

Using Substance Painter

Texture Resolution and Baking

Creating a Base Fill Layer

Modifying the Fill

Creating New Layers

Creating Layer Groups

Creating Masks

Smart Materials

Painting

Returning to Unity

Conclusion

Substance Painter is a 3D texturing software that allows you to create a realistic model using procedurally based materials. Substance Painter allows you to create and modify Textures, adjust colors, and add surface roughness for Assets that can be used in the Unity Editor. 

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This tutorial has been verified using Unity 2019 LTS, Substance Painter v2021.1.0(7.1.0) and Live Link Substance Painter - Unity v3.

Substance Painter is a 3D texturing software that allows you to create a realistic model using procedurally-based materials. With Substance Painter, you can create and modify Textures, adjust colors, and add surface roughness for Assets that can be used in the Unity Editor. 

Currently, the Substance live link package will only work with Unity’s built-in renderer. The link package is no longer included with the Substance plugin on the Asset store. It can still be downloaded at: https://share.substance3d.com/libraries/3088 

The steps provided here show you how to load a model into Substance Painter and apply different techniques to create a surface Texture (Figure 01). 

Figure 01: Assets can be modified directly from Unity in Substance Painter to create a unique look.

1. Open Substance Painter and have it running. 

2. Using the Live Link Substance Painter - Unity  plugin, send the model from Unity to Substance Painter for texturing by right-clicking on the Asset in the Hierarchy window and selecting Send to Substance Painter. Changes you make to the model in Substance Painter will show up automatically in the Unity Editor (Figure 02). 

3. For more information on how to use the Live Link plugin  refer to the Unity DCC Live Link with Substance Painter tutorial. 

Figure 02: The Substance Painter live link option in Unity’s menu

Substance Painter has similar navigation controls as Autodesk Maya. This is useful if you’re familiar with the hotkeys and mouse controls in Maya’s viewport. 

Tip: When you press a modifier key, you will see the shortcut keys and mouse controls in an overlay (Figure 03). 

Figure 03: Navigation controls are displayed as an overlay when you hold down the Option, or Alt key.

In Substance Painter, setting a Texture’s resolution and baking the textures only requires a couple of steps.

1. Set the Texture size in the Texture Set settings panel. While this can be changed later, it’s a good idea to set this early so you will not have to fix any texture scaling errors or issues that may occur. (Figure 04). 

2. Bake the Textures before texturing, painting, or applying Materials. For more information on baking settings, see Baking Texture Maps in Substance Painter (Figure 05). 

While the Texture is baking, a window displays the progress. When baking is complete, click OK. 

Figure 04: Setting the Texture size in the Texture Set Settings window

Figure 05: The Bake window

Similar to paint programs like Photoshop, Substance Painter works in layers. Layers allow you to apply Textures to a model by layering multiple elements. You can rearrange the order of the layers to match your design. The highest layer in the list is the topmost layer on the object. 

Substance Painter has a default empty layer, Layer 1. This layer covers the entire model and adds basic color information to every Texture channel. 

1. Open the Layers Panel by selecting the Layers tab (Figure 06). 

2. To ensure that there will be no empty areas or missing information, fill Layer 1 with color:

Select Add Effect, which is the left-most button at the top of the Layer panel.

Select Add Fill to fill the layer with color (Figure 07). Alternatively, you can right-click on the layer in the Layers panel and select Add Fill. 

Figure 06: The Layers panel

Figure 07: The Add Fill option of the Add Effect button in the Layers panel

To change the fill settings, select Fill under Layer 1, then apply changes in the Properties panel (Figure 08). 

Figure 08: The Properties panel showing the settings for the fill

To add a new layer, select Add a Layer in the Layers panel (Figure 09). 

Another way to create a new layer is to drag and drop Materials or Smart Materials onto the Layers panel. This creates new Layers filled with these Materials. You can also create a new Layer by dragging and dropping Materials or smart Materials onto the model. 

Figure 09: Adding a new layer in the Layers panel

To create a Layer Group (a folder that can contain multiple layers for organizational purposes), select Add Group at the top of the Layer panel (Figure 10). You can place multiple fill Materials in the folder to add variations to Materials.  

Figure 10: Adding a Layer Group in the Layers panel

You can combine masks to give an imperfect or worn-in look. To create a mask, select Mask at the top of the Layer panel (Figure 11). 

Add bitmap mask: This adds a bitmap file as a mask.

Add mask with color selection: This allows you to pick a specific color to mask.

Add mask with height combination: This uses a comparison operation on a channel (normally Height) to mask how layers are compared. 

Figure 11: Adding a white mask to the selected layer in the Layers panel

Smart Materials are mainly composed of multiple layers with generated masks (Figure 12). 

To see the construction of a Smart Material, add one to the Layers panel, then view each layer to see how they are combined. 

You can also modify Smart Materials and save your own custom versions (Figure 13). 

Figure 12: Smart Materials in the Shelf window

Figure 13: Smart Materials applied to the Asset

You can simply use a brush to paint with color, but if you’d prefer more artistic styles, Substance Painter has Textures you can use for painting. 

To discover these different Textures, explore the options in the Shelf panel. 

To adjust brush options, use the Properties panel (Figure 14). 

Create a unique look by painting different Textures on the Asset (Figure 15). 

Figure 14: Options for the selected brush in the Properties panel

Figure 15: Using various brushes to create carvings and gems on the Asset

Before we can send the Textures back to Unity, we need to change some export settings for Substance Painter. 

1. Go to the File drop-down and select Export Textures.

2. In the new window, go to the Output Templates tab.

3. Select the preset for Unity Universal Render Pipeline (Metallic Standard), then right-click and duplicate it (Figure 16). 

4. Rename the new export setting Unity 5 (Standard Metallic). This is necessary so the live link can send the Textures back to Unity.

5. Close the Export Textures window and press the Unity button on your left toolbar (Figure 17). 

You can now save your Substance scene. The next time you send this FBX from Unity, it will attempt to open this saved scene first so you can continue to refine your Textures.

In Unity, you should see a new folder in your Project view called SP_Textures. This will contain another folder with your FBX’s name. That folder will contain the new Textures (Figure 18). 

The first time you return to Unity, you will have to place these Textures into the Material on your FBX. After that, the Textures will automatically refresh every time you press the Send to Unity button in Substance Painter (Figure 19). 

Figure 16: Duplicate the Unity Universal Render Pipeline (Metallic Standard) export setting

Figure 17: The Unity live link button

Figure 18: The new Substance Painter folder in Unity

Figure 19: Setting the Textures in Unity

Substance Painter provides the tools for painting and adding texture to a model. Explore these tools to create new variations that fit the style of your project.  

Changing Textures and Color Tints in Substance Painter

1. Changing Textures and Color Tints in Substance Painter

2. Importing a Model into Substance Painter

3. Using Substance Painter

4. Texture Resolution and Baking

5. Creating a Base Fill Layer

6. Modifying the Fill

7. Creating New Layers

8. Creating Layer Groups

9. Creating Masks

10. Smart Materials

11. Painting

12. Returning to Unity

13. Conclusion

Complete this tutorial