What You Get Wrong About Smart Materials in Substance Painter

In this Substance Painter video tutorial, we talk about what most beginners get wrong. Instead of crafting carefully made materials, they will rely far too much on smart materials and smart masks, disregarding reference and the story of the model.

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[kirilzangagolev]

Its really good to add a grunge on subtract blending mode over the edge wear and then add another one on linear dodge. Then its much less uniform.

[btdarmstad]

I like how you dig into the actual creativity here, unlike so many tutorials out there that only show you the technique.

[vytasatvmanstudios]

Also it helps to understand the process of coating materials. Is it powder coated, e-coated, Anodized, Booth spray painted, or electroplated? What are the characteristics of each? Where is the coating thicker for each type (they aren't all capable of even coating)? Where is the coating the weakest and vulnerable to weathering? Once you understand that, then you can create more realistic weathering and corrosion.

[feistyferret]

I remember back in the day when you actually hand painted the textures in Photoshop and manually did overlays and masks etc. Back then it was easy to spot that one rusted metal texture from cgtextures that everyone and their granny used. :> Now you just spot smart materials. I feel old.

[anshsharma]

Directions unclear: spent 3 hours imperfecting my perfect texture

[sedrakberberyan]

I would love to see more Substance Painter videos.

[paragsatyal]

The two dirt brushes are definitely the go to. The mold one is also good for not just mold but a whole lot of other stuff. The dots are also good, but I also use a lot of alphas to paint masks, especially the fingerprint and palm print stuff. The square-brush looking alpha is also good for making things look like as if they were physically painted.

[leoleo]

For a second I was scared, like "Oh man I do that!" And then you showed the cleaning-up and the brushing part. And then I felt at ease. "Oh man I do that!" :)

[MustafaBerkeGureltol]

I also like to go over my materials to add variations. For example, rubber tire material can be used in many many places such as tire, electrical tape, cable, latex mask / gloves, military object etc. I believe it's all about creativity. People can still use the same Smart Material in countless places. They just have to know what characteristics fit the story.

Also, the thing that you guys did between 9:00 and 10:00 can be also done with the help of the ambient occlusion map as well.

[xXMasterTrunksXx]

I just wanted to bring the great point you guys made about the different stages of rust and wearing of paints. There is also the additional coats paint and use primer to consider that has different looks and principles compared to other paints

[GoatDirt]

Great points about the item history and timeline. Lots of applicants tend to ignore this and don’t walk the item through its own history. How many kids climbed the item and where are their feet likely to land? Where will dust settle? Whats is the path of water and what dries first? Chains swing and people drop things to gouge and nick paint layers out. Well done video for making this priority.

[Anonymous_User]

Also useful tip - by using F1, F2, F3 buttons, you can quickly switch between UV view, 3D view and both. Great for getting a quick look upclose on textures.

[makkon]

You guys had the opportunity to make a "Substance Abuse" pun and it never happened and I've never felt so let down

[malikmcclain]

You guys are the most helpful channel I've come across on YouTube for this kind of stuff

[joaomagalhaes]

i just know that it's great to see you guys just do stuff, i dont necessarily need substance videos, just more videos from you guys, its really chill just to see and hear you guys opinions and jokes while providing great tips and sugestions about general when it comes to broad term of arts and visuals etc. great job !!! im waiting for more

[omni_frame]

damn, you guys are so impressive. You constantly tackle things and subjects from a very conceptual and reflective side, which is so valuable and inspiring! thank you so much for all the hard work!

[emmanuelchacon]

I'm so addicted to your commentaries. Definitely my favorite dynamic duo. (More Painter Content Please.)

[Hutorch]

Apart from it giving the asset much more character and not looking so generic, I also find it much more fun to go over it layer by layer adding grunge and details by hand.

[ramensushiegg]

As a student, I am very glad u made this video and I managed to found it. This is really gonna be helpful for my assignments and stuffs. Thanks for this awesome video.

[doomsdaytuther]

Thanks for the advice. I think the problem is that most "Substance Painter video tutorials" tend to get too long winded in explaining something as simple as adding a smart material to a fill layer. Instead of taking things one at a time they will have 5 more layer and black masks before they tell you they are done. I think people that watch video tutorials are too afraid to point out mistakes in videos that make it hard for them use the program fully. You do not have to know how layers or blending modes work in other softer but they feel they need to explain whether you have or don't have this other software.