Choosing the right programs can sometimes be a daunting task. You don’t want to waste time and money on something that doesn’t suit your needs. Substance Painter is no exception to this and for games from personal experience I can conclude the following.
Substance Painter can be used to create textures that can be utilized in game engines. It has tailored export options and plugins that target game engines such as Unreal Engine and Unity.
What is Substance Painter
Substance Painter is a 3d texturing software designed to procedurally or manually edit textures and materials that can be applied them to a model using a PBR workflow.
A PBR (Physically Based Rendering) workflow is a standardized texturing workflow used in a lot of programs from game engines to professional modelling software such as Blender or Maya.
Substance Painter has been widely adopted as an industry standard for both games and movies. Its power to procedurally edit textures makes it extremely powerful and easy to use.
For a more in depth look at Substance Painter I recommend you check out this article I wrote.
How is it used in Games
There are many ways Substance Painter can be used in games but I think the 3 main advantages to game artists are as follows.
PBR Workflow
Substance Painter utilizes a PBR workflow which is extremely useful for games. If you are unfamiliar with a PBR workflow I’d recommend you check out this article I wrote.
In summary however a PBR workflow produces at least a set of 3 textures that is aimed at simulating real life materials. There are some variations to this but the theory is by applying a texture to define color, how rough a model is and how metallic it is you can almost simulate any material.
This is great for games as it means you don’t need complex shaders to make cool materials. Its universal so it should look the same regardless of what game engine you use them in.
Normal Map Baking
If you are experienced with creating game models you will know the importance of producing a model with as few polys as possible, to cut down the use of resources when it comes to rendering in real time.
It is for this reason Substance Painter has a baking feature which allows you to bake what is referred to as a Normal Map. A Normal Map is a texture that allows you to fake the detail of a high poly mesh when you apply it to a low poly mesh. This is extremely useful for games.
Editing Textures
Substance Painter makes it really easy to edit textures both manually or procedurally.
This is not just limited to color. You can edit Height and Normal Maps as well. This allows you to not only color and apply textures but add small detail even though the base mesh of the model does not have it, for example screws.
This is useful as it means you can keep your low poly model intact without having add extra geometry.
What game Engines are Supported
Basically any game engine that supports PBR can utilize Substance Painter these include.
- Unity
- Unreal Engine
- Cry Engine
- Lumberyard
Even if it doesn’t support PBR texture maps. Maps such as color maps can be exported from Substance Painter and used whatever game engines allow you to.
Substance Painter Plugins
If I have not yet convinced you that Substance Painter is great for games, it is important to note that Substance Painter has Plugins that work directly with the big game engines Unity, Unreal Engine, Cry Engine and Lumber yard.
These allow you to edit textures in the game engine using parameters. Alternatively you can link the 2 programs so changes made in Substance Painter are reflected in Unreal Engine live.
Finally the plugin allows you to access Substance Source directly in the game engine. This is a database of what are referred to as Substance Materials, which are basically pre-set materials to look like wood or cement for example.
What Can’t Substance Painter Do
It is important to understand that Substance Painter is a texture editing software, which is only one part of a 3d development pipeline. Processes such as 3d modelling, sculpting and animation will require other programs such as Blender, Zbrush or Maya.
While it is limited the fact that it is specialized means it is really great at what it does and in my opinion really fun!!
Do AAA Games Use Substance Painter
Substance Painter is extremely popular and used extensively in many AAA games. If you are looking for a professional grade piece of software Substance Painter is certainly a great option and likely to be used if you were looking to get into games as a career.
Is Substance Painter Hard To Learn
No!! In fact it is probably one of the easiest software I have found to use. It is intuitive and you can get up and running using it really quickly.
This does not mean there isnt a lot of depth to because there is however you can get some pretty great results very quickly and easily.
Conclusion
As you may have guessed I am a huge fan of Substance Painter if you are considering it for games. It really does make things easier. It is a lot of fun to us and it is amazing how quickly you can use it to get some really models for games.