The second major Substance Painter update of 2018 brings interface updates, cross-substance improvements and a number of new features for newcomers and pros.
The second major Substance Painter update of 2018 brings interface updates, cross-substance improvements and a number of new features for newcomers and pros.
Image by Borislav Kechashki
Allegorithmic announced the latest additions to Substance Painter. The Summer Update introduces subsurface scattering (SSS), new projections and fill tools, enhancements to the UX and support for a host of new meshes.
Substance Painter’s updated shaders will help you to add subsurface scattering as a default option. All you need to do is add a Scattering map to a texture set and activate the new SSS post-effect. It works awesome for skin, organic surfaces, wax, jade and other translucent materials. This is an awesome feature to play with.
SSS Comparison with USC Institute for Creative Technologies and the Wikihuman project- Digital Emily 2
The new version of the software also includes updates to projection and fill tools. Non-square projection is added. Images can be loaded in both the projection and stencil tool without altering the ratio or resolution. Those projection and stencil tools can also disable tiling in one or both axes. Fill layers can be manipulated directly in the viewport using new manipulator controls. Standard UV projections feature a 2D manipulator in the UV viewport. Triplanar Projection received a full 3D manipulator in the 3D viewport, and both can be translated, scaled and rotated directly in scene.
Substance Suite users will also see an immediate benefit thanks to an improved consistency between tools. Additions like exposed presets in Substance Designer and a revamped, universal UI guide makes it easier than ever to jump between them.
Additional updates include:
- Alembic Support – The Alembic file format is now supported by Substance Painter, starting with mesh and camera data. Full animation support will be added in a future update.
- Camera Import and Selection – Multiple cameras can be imported with a mesh, allowing users to switch between angles in the viewport; previews of the framed camera angle now appear as an overlay in the 3D viewport.
- Full gITF support – Substance Painter now automatically imports and applies textures when loading gITF meshes, removing the need to import or adapt mesh downloads from Sketchfab.
- ID Map Drag-and-Drop – Both materials and smart materials can be taken from the shelf and dropped directly onto ID colors, automatically creating an ID mask.
- Improved Substance Format Support – Improved tweaking of Substance-made materials and effects thanks to visible-if and embedded presets.
The Substance Painter Summer Update is available now at no cost to Substance subscribers. If you still haven’t jumped the Substance train, download and play with that Substance Painter 30 day trial. Remember, Indie License is just $20 per month.