Maybe you don’t know it yet, or maybe you are still a beginner but you want to finally try your hand at rendering your first 3D model and you have some difficulty untangling the various parameters in your rendering engine (V-Ray, Mental Ray. Corona, etc.)
Fortunately, 3D modeling is one of my many passions and I like to keep myself constantly updated and in my most recent research I learned, more or less accidentally, of two truly exceptional programs to create textures and materials of extraordinary realism.
Creating fottorealistic renderings is a work that requires time and excellent knowledge of how light, shadows and basic knowledge of photography and composition work.
But everything also comes from the materials we apply to the objects on stage, and how they are rendered through the use of textures and the various parameters associated with them.
Until a few years ago, everything was left to the different modeling programs that, through the specific modifiers, allowed to work precisely on the texturing of materials, but without losing much time looking for the right combinations and settings that would produce a satisfactory final yield, sometimes also with the help of photo editing programs such as Photoshop, and endless proofing with rendering engines to modify, adjust and make the whole set perfect.
For some years now, fortunately, some programs and tools have entered the market to help 3D artists create materials and textures from scratch, literally “painting” objects through the use of tools and materials that can be modified in real time .
So today I will talk about two fundamental programs, and I only learned about them a short time ago, to create really incredible and realistic textures for your models, in a simple and really amazing way.
I’m talking about Substance Painter and Quixel.
SUBSTANCE PAINTER
Substance Painter is a 3D painting program that allows modelers to create magnificent textures, literally painting their own models.
The program is equipped with a considerable number of tools that allow you to manage every single aspect, thanks to commands very similar to those of other 2D graphics programs, so you will have the possibility to better manage the shape and size of your brushes, and to use many options, exactly as if you were working in Photoshop.
Substance Painter is the most widely used texturing program in different graphics and gaming studios, and among the many possibilities it offers there is also a vast library of materials and textures.
The most innovative part of Substance Painter is the fact of being equipped with an internal rendering engine, able to provide feedback on our work in real time, to see how materials and textures will appear when we export them to other programs.
Substance Painter is equipped with a quick and immediate export system, which makes integration with other programs rather simple and intuitive.
On the official website you can download the trial version, valid for 30 days and available for both Windows and Mac, or purchase a full license directly.
Link Substance Painter
On the site there is also a section completely dedicated to tutorials, which will help new users to better orient themselves in the program and become familiar with the commands.
QUIXEL SUITE
Quixel SUITE is a texture creation tool that works directly with Photoshop. This suite consists of three different programs: NDO Painter, DDO Painter and 3DO Baker. Tools highly appreciated especially in the field of gaming for creating textures and mapping.
NDO Painter and DDO Painter are tools that integrate perfectly with Photoshop and serve respectively to create NormalMap and Texture, optimizing them for PBR (Phisically Based Rendering).
While 3DO Baker is a tool that allows the real-time preview of rendered models. A useful tool to get your work flow under control immediately.
Link Quixel
Until next time
Valerio