Using Normal Maps and Anchor Points in Substance Painter

In this Substance Painter texture painting tutorial, we are going to have a look at how to use Anchor Points along with Normal maps to really speed up your texture work.

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[chriscasebolt]

I have seen this multiple times now because as you said, it is very complicated. But this is the video that I always refer to for Anchor Points. You guys are awesome! Thank you for all the you do for the art community.

[NsanePixel]

Finally. Thanks so much. No one I knew could tell me how to implement this.

[vfxsteve]

Just started using Substance two weeks ago and I love it (and your course to get me up and running was fantastic). I’ll admit though, the Anchor points feature was the only thing that seemed so over complicated for what it actually does. All the software needs is two tick boxes in the smart mask options for ‘Use normals’ and ‘Use height’. That’s it!

[TmothyTee]

I'd love to see the general workflow of texturing a large asset like the facade of a building with very high detail. I especially get confused about importing either a UV map for the whole building, or separate UV maps for different sections / materials etc !! This would be soooo great <3

[andrewbyrnes]

I have a lace shirt, and i want to use the normals of the texture to make the lace outlines gold and leave the rest silver. To my surprise, i clicked on one of my many (many) open tabs and found this video. My favorite 3d artists once again solving my problem I have been stuck on for hours.

[bradenrobins]

I'd like to see you guys cover your workflow on creating smart materials.

[yingbowang]

didn;t know anchor point before, such a powerful tool, Thank u very much

[martindiavolo]

Thx guys, have been using SP for quite a bit, ( Photoshop before) and substance painter is a game changer ( not even mentioning designer). Well done guys for adding, this software to the list.

[jamesbrady]

I love your videos. I been a while since I have used painter extensively. always nice to have a resource to refresh my skills when I forget something. I subbed to you gents. Always good informative videos.

[MartinKlekner]

Awesome! Thats exactly what I always wondered if its even possible... I always baked my painted normals and then started texturing with smart materials. This is much more flexible!

[letteralex]

Oh wow didn't know there was another way of doing this. Currently I've been painting normal/height info, exported out only normal map and then used that one to bake a new set of curvature, ao, etc maps so that the smart materials recognize the details.

[GuillermoZS]

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks a lot!

[ianmiller]

So much easier than the way I learned to do that. I used to bake out a new normal with the height information and make an entire new set of procedural maps based on that to make the edge wear.

[JustinLupica]

I’ve never used substance, but I wanna learn it so bad! Just downloaded it yesterday, so any videos on substance is appreciated!

[Swdgame]

this is the MOST important trick for Substance Painter, period

[skasseCG]

Heighth is not a word, great video none-the-less

[Nitram-xwei]

One thing I noticed is that this only works on a "per folder" basis.

In my scene, for example, I have a base metal with some bumps, edge wear, a bit of dirt, etc. That's one folder. Above that there are other folders with different materials for other parts of the model. When I try to add another, overall, dirt on top of that, it doesn't work. I found that I have to then duplicate the "Bolts" layer and paste it into the top dirt folder. As you said, good to give it a new name just for clarity, but I do it at the very end so it's a simple copy and paste.

Maybe there's something I overlooked, but this is how I got around it.

[helios]

great video as always. Clear to the point and incredibly helpful.

[dudex]

Thanks guys, useful mini tutorial as usual <3

[ferozhossain]

Love this channel. You guys are awesome.