Substance 3D Painter is an industry-standard tool that allows for efficient, high-quality texturing—essential for creating realistic and detailed game assets. Inside Painter, Niels will guide you through the process of developing high-quality custom smart materials and smart masks. You’ll gain hands-on experience with texturing and layering principles, mastering techniques that are essential for creating professional-quality assets.
Throughout the course, you will learn how to texture various material types such as rust, wood and metal. Niels will share the knowledge he’s gained over the years, along with valuable tips and tricks to help you work more efficiently and effectively—so you can create realistic textures and carry that expertise into future projects.
Additionally, you’ll learn how to use various tools to support your texturing workflow and know how to deliver optimized workfiles with packed maps. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to render your assets in Omniverse, showcasing your work in a polished, presentation-ready format with strong storytelling elements.
This course is perfect for artists with beginner to intermediate knowledge of texturing and who want to strengthen their skills and take their texturing skills to the next level.
BENEFITS
-
Acquire a wide understanding of the base principles of texturing and layering
-
Learn to create custom 3D materials
-
Master techniques essential for creating professional-quality assets
-
Further your knowledge and skills with Substance 3D Painter
-
Learn from a top artist at Sierra Division
-
Course content and Miro board access for 1-year
-
Learn alongside your peers on a shared Miro board - see the feedback they receive to gain insights, spark new ideas, and refine your own creations
COURSE FORMAT
-
Pre-recorded lessons
-
Live Q&A sessions with instructor
-
Personalized feedback on assignments
-
Certificate of Completion delivered by Sierra Division
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
-
Adobe 3D Painter
- Photoshop or similar software (free online version: Photopea)
-
Rendering, either software works, both are covered
-
Paid: Marmoset Toolbag 5 (older version works too)
-
Free: Nvidia Omniverse USD Composer
-
- Any 3D Modeling software (moving around assets for the final renders)
-
PureRef or Miro (Provided) or any other reference software
Week 1 - Introduction and Foundations. References and Building a base metal smart material
In week one, students will get the chance to learn about the course structure, expectations and goals. Students will learn how to set up a Painter scene correctly to resemble Unreal Engine. Students will also learn how to look for reference and analyze them correctly, ultimately setting up their own organized reference board. A base texturing workflow will be established by analyzing our references.
Students will learn different chemical reactions that can appear on a metal. Students will have an understanding of how to make a base metal look interesting using different techniques such as; gradient filter and using tools and filters that Adobe 3D painter has to offer. Students will learn how to ‘lookdev’ their material by adjusting layer properties and filters.
Week 2 - Establishing a rust smart material
Students will learn how to create a visually compelling rust smart material with all the knowledge they’ve gained so far. The students will learn about rust in general from real life reference, and learn how to apply it in Painter. Students will have an in-depth understanding of the Anchor Point system within Adobe 3D Painter. In the end, students will have a customisable rust smart material to be used on the tool box. Students will see how to apply the created smart material to a mesh, and will be explained why creating a material on a basic sphere is not advised, they will also learn how to fix any issues that might appear with different projection methods. Students will also learn how to create a leaking rust effect.
Week 3 - Creating a base realistic wood material
Students will learn how to create a tiling texture from an image using Photoshop, delighting an image and making it tile seamlessly.
Students will be taught how to texture different types of wood meshes. Including different types of wooden handles using a variety of different projection methods to get the desired result. They will also have a better understanding of how to set up a wood material for future projects, keeping in mind the direction of the wood grain.
Week 4 - Going over the other assets & Establishing the base layers for the toolbox
Students will learn how to apply the metal smart material to other meshes within the project, and explore additional techniques, including scratches, height maps, and other editing techniques for the metal smart material.
Students will set up the base materials for the toolbox.
Week 5 - Establishing the imperfections layers for toolbox
Students will learn how to take their base texture to the next level by adding a layer of imperfections and storytelling elements. They will learn how to set up a dust layer, how to create stains, dirt and grime. Students will learn how to create a rust peeling effect. They will learn how to create stencils from images in Photoshop to be used on our toolbox.
Week 6 - Export preset and Rendering in Nvidia Omniverse
Students will learn how to create their own export presets and how to pack ORM maps. They will learn the basics of both Marmoset Toolbag 5 and Nvidia Omniverse to render their assets in. They will learn a basic lighting setup, and we will go over render settings and a basic sequencer setup.
COURSE GOALS
-
Students will be able to create their own materials from scratch
-
Students will have a selection of ready to use smart materials and will be able to create their own
-
Students will be able to create their own smart masks
-
Students will have a wide understanding of the base principles of texturing and layering
-
Students will be able to use external software to aid in the texturing process
-
Students will be able to deliver an optimised workfile
-
Students will be able to create their own export presets with packed maps
-
Students will be able to render out their assets in Omniverse
WATCH NIELS' PORTFOLIO FEEDBACK SESSION
- Teacher: Niels Couvreur
In this course, you will gain a thorough understanding of how to optimize and streamline your texturing workflow, specifically tailored for the requirements of AAA game asset creation. Using a fun motorcycle as your hero asset, you'll develop professional texturing skills using industry-standard tools like Substance Painter, Substance Designer, and Marmoset Toolbag.
Each week, your instructor Robin Mariancik will guide you through each step of the procedural texturing pipeline. You’ll begin by refining your UVs and bakes to ensure clean, distortion-free maps. From there, you'll gather references, design custom stencils and labels, and explore a variety of texturing tools and effects to craft believable, high-quality materials. As the course progresses, you’ll focus on visual storytelling through material variation, unique detailing, and layering techniques to create visually appealing and realistic materials. Finally, you’ll bring it all together with professional lighting and rendering setups in Marmoset.
This course is designed for artists with an intermediate knowledge of the texturing pipeline who are looking to refine their skills and work on AAA games.
See more images on Robin's ArtStation HERE!
BENEFITS
-
Master the procedural texturing pipeline
-
Gain a thorough understanding of how to optimize and streamline a texturing workflow
-
Have a portfolio showcasing 5-10 high-quality texture images
-
Learn from a top artist at Sierra Division
-
Course content and Miro board access for 1-year
- Learn alongside your peers on a shared Miro board - see the feedback they receive to gain insights, spark new ideas, and refine your own creations
- 1-year FREE license for RizomUV software*
COURSE FORMAT
-
Pre-recorded lessons
-
Live Q&A sessions with instructor
-
Personalized feedback on assignments
-
Certificate of Completion delivered by Sierra Division
SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
-
Substance Painter
- Substance Designer
- Marmoset Toolbag (for baking)
- RizomUV (1-year license provided)*
Week 1 - UVs and Baking
In week one, students will be provided with a pre-cut Model. On this Model, they will be packing the UVs with the goal of hitting the minimum target texel density by using techniques like mirroring, downscaling certain islands and upscaling others to capture high-density detail areas better. Both Models — high poly and low poly — will be unorganized. Students will be required to prepare them for Baking and import them in Marmoset Toolbag. After this, they will be creating Bakes there. The final Bakes must have no Baking errors and no skewed details caused from projecting it to a flat surface. The final part of this week will be the preparation of the Substance Painter scene for Texturing.
Lessons
-
Preparing UV islands
-
Common issues
-
Mirroring UV islands
-
Scaling UV islands
-
Overlaying UV islands
-
Low poly shading
-
Bake start and scaling
-
AO Baking
-
Skew painting
Week 2 - Texturing Preparations
In week two, students will be tasked with collecting references related to the provided Models and their materials. They will create an organized collection of them in PureRef. Secondly, one of their goals will be to create their own stencils for Texturing. They will also be encouraged, but not required, to go outside and take their own pictures and use them for creating stencils. Lastly, based on the collected references and their imagination, they will be making their own 2D graphic labels which will later be used in Substance Painter.
Lessons
-
Collecting references
-
Reference gathering
-
Making stencils
-
Creating graphics PT1
-
Creating graphics PT2
Week 3 - Painter tools
In the third week, we will take an in-depth look at the various tools used for Texturing, including generators, filters, anchors, and other effects. Additionally, students will learn how to create simple custom filters in Substance Designer, which will be utilized later in Substance Painter.
Lessons
-
Creating custom filters
-
Overview of generators
-
Overview of filters
-
Overview of other effects
-
Working with anchors
-
Layering filters
Week 4 - Base materials
In week four, students will learn how to organize their layers and folders in Substance Painter. This will help them orient themselves in complex files, with a substantial amount of material. They will also learn how to set up base materials as a solid foundation for further Texturing. They will learn about variation which is necessary for creating interesting Textures.
Lessons
-
Layer organization
-
Mask types
-
Base material setup
-
Checking with Marmoset
-
Creating variation
-
External resources
Week 5 - Texturing approach
In week five, students will learn the importance of variation in their Textures and how to look for it in references. They will also build upon their base materials and learn how to start creating unique elements, through the combination of anchors and different effects.
Lessons
-
Texture Variation
-
Analyzing references
-
Using references
-
Working with stencils
-
Working with height channel
Week 6 - Creating uniqueness
In week six, students will start building more complex unique effects with the help of various grunges, stencils, filters, generators, anchors, and custom painting. They will be adding unique details, like peeling paint, leaky rust, height variation, unique scratches, and marks. Layering different effects and experimentation will be important during this course.
Lessons
-
Building with anchors
-
Enhancing our labels
-
Experimenting with effects
-
Adding complexity
-
Layering effects
-
Finishing up
Week 7 - Unifying Textures
In week seven, students will finish up their Textures by adding overall dirt and grunge that will help unify the entire look of the asset. They will learn how to layer different types of dirt and how important it is to add some unique touches to break the uniformity of the asset. They will also be doing final adjustments before the final Renders.
Lessons
-
Overall dirt
-
Layering dirt
-
Unique touches
-
Final changes
-
Overall adjustments
Week 8 - Making Renders
The last week of the course will be dedicated to importing the Model and Textures into Marmoset Toolbag and setting up a scene for final Renders. Students will gain hands-on experience in setting up lights, cameras, and post-processing effects. They will also learn how to create a simple environment and experiment with various lighting scenarios within the same file to discover the most captivating results.
Lessons
-
Model preparations
-
Scene setup
-
Lighting scenarios
-
Camera effects
-
Render settings
CLASS GOALS
-
Students will have between 5-10 final images of their Textures they have created at this point.
-
They will have added to their library of stencils and smart materials.
-
Students will have learned how to approach Texturing various different materials and how to work with different Substance Painter components to create appealing effects.
WATCH ROBIN'S PORTFOLIO FEEDBACK SESSION
*Subject to RizomUV's approval, terms, and eligibility.
- Teacher: Robin Mariancik
