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Workflows | Ecosystem and Plug-ins

  1. Substance 3D home
  2. Ecosystems and Plugins
    1. Home
    2. Game Engines
      1. Unreal Engine
        1. Unreal Engine 5
          1. Unreal Engine 5 overview
          2. Unreal Engine 5 Release Notes
            1. Unreal plugin 5.3.2
            2. Unreal plugin 5.0.3
            3. Unreal plugin 5.0.2
            4. Unreal plugin 5.0.1
          3. Plugin Overview - UE5
          4. Plugin Settings - UE5
          5. Substance Input Image - UE5
          6. Material Instance Definition - UE5
          7. Material Template Usage - UE5
          8. Out-of-the-Box Material Templates
          9. Tiling Substance - UE5
          10. Substance 3D Plugin Default Templates
          11. Substance 3D Assets Library Usage - UE5
          12. Blueprints - UE5
            1. Blueprint(UE5): Substance material parameters
            2. Blueprint(UE5): Dynamic Material Instance Skip to end of metadata
            3. Blueprint(UE5): Aggregate Substance
            4. Blueprint(UE5): Node Reference
          13. Unreal Engine 5 Scripting
          14. Installing to Source Builds
        2. Unreal Engine 4
          1. Unreal Engine 4 overview
          2. Unreal Engine 4 plugin release notes
            1. Unreal plugin 4.27.0.1
            2. Unreal plugin 4.26.0.21
            3. Unreal plugin 4.26.0.2
            4. Unreal plugin 4.26.0.1
            5. Unreal plugin 4.25.0.5
            6. Unreal plugin 4.25.0.4
            7. Unreal plugin 4.25.0.3
            8. Unreal plugin 4.24.0.3
            9. Unreal plugin 4.23.0.2
            10. Unreal plugin 4.23.0.1
            11. Unreal plugin 4.22.0.33
            12. Unreal plugin 4.22.0.32
            13. Unreal plugin 4.21.0.31
          3. Plugin Overview - UE4
          4. Plugin Settings - UE4
          5. Substance Input Image - UE4
          6. Material Instance Definition - UE4
          7. Tiling Substance - UE4
          8. Working with Bump Offset (Parallax) - UE4
          9. Working with Displacement - UE4
          10. Source in UE4
          11. Live Link in UE4
          12. Blueprints - UE4
            1. Blueprint(UE4): Substance material parameters
            2. Blueprint(UE4): Dynamic Material Instance
            3. Blueprint(UE4): Aggregate Substance
            4. Blueprint(UE4): Node Reference
          13. Unreal Engine 4 Scripting
      2. Unity
        1. Unity overview
        2. Unity Release Notes
          1. Unity 3.0.0+
          2. Unity 2.6.0
          3. Unity 2.5.4
          4. Unity 2.5.3
          5. Unity 2.5.2
          6. Unity 2.5.1
          7. Unity 2.4.5
          8. Unity 2.4.4
          9. Unity 2.4.3
          10. Unity 2.4.1
          11. Unity 2.4.0
          12. Unity 2.3.4
          13. Unity 2.3.2
          14. Unity 2.2.2
          15. Unity 2.2.0
        3. Downloading Substance 3D Plugin in Unity
        4. Unity Plugin Overview
        5. Unity Preferences
        6. Optimization Guidelines
        7. Upgrading Projects/Known Issues
        8. Managing Substance Graphs
        9. Changing parameters
        10. Generated Textures (Packing)
        11. Rendering Color Space
        12. Using Image Inputs
        13. Publishing for Mobile
        14. Substance 3D for Unity Scripting
          1. Unity Scripting overview
          2. Class Documentation
            1. SubstanceEditorTools
            2. SubstanceRuntime Class
            3. SubstanceRuntimeGraph Class
              1. SubstanceRuntimeGraph Class overview
              2. Member Function Documentation
              3. Detailed Description
        15. Scripting in Unity (Deprecated)
        16. API Overview
        17. Scripting API
        18. C# Example Script
        19. Substance 3D Assets Library Usage
        20. Removing Substance Plugin
        21. Substance 3D in Unity Tutorials
        22. Physical Size in Unity
        23. Sharing sbsar Files Between Projects
      3. Lumberyard
        1. Lumberyard overview
        2. Importing a Substance
        3. Assigning a Substance
        4. Parameters and outputs
        5. Flow Graph API
      4. Roblox
    3. 3D Applications
      1. Maya
        1. Maya Plugin Release Notes
          1. Maya 3.0.0+
          2. Maya 2.4.1
          3. Maya 2.4.0
          4. Maya 2.3
          5. Maya 2.2.3
          6. Maya 2.2.2
          7. Maya 2.2.1
          8. Maya 2.1.9
          9. Maya 2.1.8
          10. Maya 2.1.7
          11. Maya 2.1.6
          12. Maya 2.1.5
          13. Maya 2.1.4
          14. Maya 2.1.3
          15. Maya 2.1.2
          16. Maya 2.1.1
          17. Maya 2.1.0
          18. Maya 2.0.3
          19. Maya 0.9.11
        2. Substance in Maya Overview
        3. Installation
        4. Substance Output Node
        5. Using Workflows
        6. Working with Outputs
        7. Procedural Sampling
        8. Presets
        9. Settings
        10. Arnold Support
        11. Apply Workflow To Maps
        12. Maya Scripting
        13. Physical Size in Maya
      2. 3ds Max
        1. 3ds Max Plugin Release Notes
          1. 3ds Max 3.0.0+
          2. 3ds Max 2.8.0
          3. 3ds Max 2.7.0
          4. 3ds Max 2.4.2
          5. 3ds Max 2.4.1
          6. 3ds Max 2.4.0
          7. 3ds Max 2.3.4
          8. 3ds Max 2.3.3
          9. 3ds Max 2.3.2
          10. 3ds Max 2.3.1
          11. 3ds Max 2.2.0
        2. Substance in 3ds Max Overview
        3. Substance Settings
        4. Using Presets
        5. Batch Import
        6. Using Workflows in 3ds Max
        7. Substance Source
        8. Animating a Substance material
        9. 3ds MAX Scripting API
        10. Troubleshooting
      3. MODO
        1. MODO overview
        2. Modo Plugin Release Notes
          1. Modo 2.7.3
          2. Modo v. 2.7.5
          3. Modo v. 2.7.4
          4. Modo v. 2.7.3
          5. Modo v. 2.7.2
          6. Modo v. 2.7.1
          7. Modo v. 2.7.0
        3. Substance in MODO Overview
        4. Modo Installation
        5. Parameters
        6. Custom Materials
        7. Working with Normals
        8. Working with Emissive
        9. Bump and Displacement
        10. Working with References
        11. Animating Substances
        12. Copy/Duplicate Substance
        13. Environment and Rendering Setup
        14. Modo Switch Engine
        15. Tiling Modo textures
      4. Cinema 4D
        1. Cinema 4D overview
        2. Set-Up
        3. Using the Substance Plugin
        4. Substance Asset Manager
        5. Substance Shader
        6. Attribute Manager
        7. Visual Feedback of Animated Substances
      5. Houdini
      6. Blender
        1. Blender overview
        2. Release Notes
          1. Add-on 2.0.0+
          2. Add-on 1.0.2
          3. Add-on 0.9.5
          4. Add-on 0.9.3
          5. Add-on 0.9.2
          6. Add-on 0.9.1
        3. Substance in Blender Overview
        4. Downloading and Installing the Plugin
        5. Preferences
        6. The Substance 3D Panel
        7. Shortcuts and Navigation
        8. Workflows
        9. Physical size in Blender
        10. Substance 3D Assets Library
        11. Troubleshooting
        12. Uninstalling the Add-on
        13. Substance 3D Add-on for Blender Tutorials
    4. Creative Cloud Applications
      1. Photoshop
    5. Renderers
      1. Converting Substance outputs
      2. Color Management
        1. Color Management overview
        2. Substance textures in Maya
        3. Substance textures in 3ds Max
      3. Arnold
        1. Arnold overview
        2. Arnold - Substance in 3ds Max
        3. Arnold - Substance in Maya
        4. Arnold - Substance Painter
      4. Vray
        1. Vray overview
        2. Vray Next - Substance in Maya
        3. Vray Next - Substance in 3ds Max
        4. Vray Next - Substance Painter
      5. Renderman
        1. Renderman overview
        2. Renderman for Maya
        3. Renderman - Substance Painter
      6. Redshift
        1. Redshift overview
        2. Redshift for 3ds Max
        3. Redshift for Maya
        4. Redshift - Substance Painter
      7. Maxwell
        1. Maxwell overview
        2. Maxwell - Substance in Maya
        3. Maxwell - Substance Painter
      8. Corona
        1. Corona overview
        2. Corona for 3ds Max
        3. Corona - Substance Painter
      9. Octane
        1. Octane overview
        2. Octane for 3ds Max
        3. Octane for MODO
      10. Keyshot
      11. Thea
      12. Maverick
        1. Maverick overview
        2. Substance Painter Integration
        3. Substance SBSAR Integration
      13. Toolbag
      14. Cycles and Eevee
        1. Cycles and Eevee overview
        2. Cycles and Eevee - Substance 3D for Blender
        3. Cycles and Eevee - Susbtance Painter
    6. Partnerships
      1. Substance 3D and Maxon One
      2. Substance 3D and Maxon One FAQ

Workflows

Working with Cycles

By default, parameter changes do not automatically update in the 3D viewport when viewed in Cycles render view. To see updates in Cycles render view, enable Cycles Auto-update textures in Preferences to force updating.

Multigraph .sbsar Files

The add-on supports .sbrar files with multiple substance graphs. When loading a file with multiple graphs, a new Graphs dropdown will appear on the Substance 3D Panel. Unlike with other parameter changes, switching graphs will not automatically update the material. Because of this, the Apply button must be used to assign the material again after changing graphs.

Note:

By default, the Apply button adds the material in a new slot without overriding previous material assignments. Remove previous materials, or use the material dropdown to reassign newly applied materials.

Working with Image Inputs

When using a Substance material that allows custom image inputs, an image selection parameter Substance 3D Panel will allow you to open the file browser for an image (folder icon) or select from an image that exists in your project (image icon drop down).

The Export Image Format preference can be used to to save image inputs generated within Blender to the temporary folder. See the Preferences page for more details.

Shader Network Presets.

The shader preset can be quickly adjusted via the dropdown in the Outputs section of the Substance 3D Panel. These shader presets adjust the way that image textures are applied.Cycles/Eevee Standard uses regular UV texture coordinate mapping. The other three Cycles/Eevee Projection presets use generated texture coordinate mapping for box, sphere, or cylinder projection methods.

The default shader preset used by materials can be selected in the add-on Preferences.

Filtering and Adjusting Outputs

The Outputs section of the Substance 3D Panel also has options for filtering outputs. Three buttons next to the shader preset dropdown can be used to filter by enabled outputs (checkmark), shader outputs (sphere), and all available outputs (lines).

Outputs can enabled individually using the checkbox. When an output is enabled, a corresponding output in the texture node group will be created. If that output is supported by the Principled BSDF material node, it will be automatically connected to it. Height will connect to a displacement node and Ambient Occlusion will combine with the base color in a MixRGB node.
The file format dropdown next to the checkmark can be used to set the file type that the output texture is saved as.

Additionally, the default file output preferences can be changed in the add-on Preferences.

Swapping Materials on Objects

Click on the sphere icon in Blender's material properties panel to open a list of materials in your Blende project. Substance materials that have been created in the panel will also appear in the list. Selecting a material from this list will replaces the active material in that material slot.

Displacement

Displacement of the mesh from textures in supported in the Cycles renderer, but not in Eevee. To see displacement, make sure that the Height output is enabled. The add-on will automatically set the material's displacement setting to Displacement and Bump. Viewing the material on an object will now show displacement in the render view. The displacement scale can be adjusted in the material panel or on the displacement node.

For best results, use higher subdivision levels or high-poly meshes for materials with complex displacement details.

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