12: Texturing 02 - Substance Designer

Substance Designer

I found this program very interesting and i wanted to learn how to use it and its workflow with other software.

I experimented with Designer before, watching other videos on YouTube, but this time i wanted to further improve on it.

I bought a short course from Domestika, in which an artist explained his workflow on how to make textures from real references.

He explained every detail and gave tips and tricks on how to create the Causeway of Giants using Designer. After this he also demonstrated how to take portfolio renders using Marmoset Toolbag and how to showcase them in Artstation.

Following a course like this was good. He spoke slow and clear and explained multiple things. The bad thing about following a course was that i had multiple questions. For example, what was the use of certain nodes and why we used one and not the other.

I was still able to learn a lot about the software and its workflow.

I followed this course by Carlos Perfume. We created a cathedral from Barcelona. His workflow was a little different in this case, but it was very useful, and it also helped me to understand many other nodes and how to use them.

After completing these tutorials i decided to practice on my own, to make sure keep what i learned and make sure i understand it all. I also wanted to start working towards the garage environment so i decided to create a damaged bricks wall that would later appear in the garage.

I was very proud of this as i was able to put the multiple nodes together, adjust all the settings and make the wall.

For a while i was going to use this material for the environment, but after receiving feedback, i decided to create a new one.

Comparing my work to senior artists and analyzing real plastered walls i was able to create a better version.

I also created a texture for the floor.

Because Substance Designer is node based i can go to any node and change it to have a different look, i can also create switches that can activate or deactivate a certain style.

From the courses i learned that i can export the Substance Designer file and import it as a smart material in Painter. Before doing this i had to create parameters that i would later use in Painter. In the case of a radio i made for the environment, i decided to make the speaker's cover in Substance Designer. I had to create parameters such as:

Creating a tab for colour correcting.

Changing the grid amount.

Moving the logo.

After adjusting the settings i also added extra details on top, using alphas and generators.