Working with ZBrush and Substance Painter

In this video tutorial, we'll show you how to work with ZBrush and Substance Painter with this simple workflow.
- Decimate your model (with UVs)
- Merge subtools into one (with UVs)
- Make polygroups based on how you want your texture sets to be
- Export as FBX (smooth normals and export materials based on polypaint
- Import into Substance Painter
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[@Ayjari]

I honestly don't know what I would be doing without this channel. You can't find educational videos this good anywhere without paying for it (or even if you ARE actually paying for it on an educational platform!). Endless gratitude from Germany, keep it up guys

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you so much! Happy to hear your'e enjoying the content :)

[@tamaradeschepper5744]

I've been searching youtube for this and found nothing as clear and well explained as this. THANK YOU!

[@TaylorStine]

Finally, I understand what an "id map" is in Substance. By far the best explanation of any tutorial I've seen.

[@quincyvadan9176]

I have been requesting this from so many instructors for the last couple of years as I really needed to learn this workflow. Thank you for making this video, it saves me endless hours of trying to piecemeal this information from various tutorials (with no success) Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

[@FlippedNormals]

Really glad it helped you! Let us know if you have any questions about the workflow :)

[@iEatClayArt]

This is exactly what I've been wanting to do with a few of my zbrush models. You're the best guys!

[@hotbergina]

hello do you have discord please ? just to send pictures of my layers etc. I am a bit lost on what to do.... thank you very much

[@artacopia]

Thanks guys, just the video I needed! You never dissapoint : )

[@richmo5d]

Yes I been waiting awhile for this to be explained. Bringing over high Rez models the right way. Thanks a lot!!!!

[@DMCvsKILLER]

i love you guys so so much. beeen struggling like crazy and now its just so easy. thought i might let you know that you saved my mental health

[@foreviam1012]

Been waiting for this for so long Great video once again!

[@reddaneali5997]

Now i just hit like when i see a new Flipped Normals video before even watching it, and i know it won't disapoint!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you so much 🙏

[@JoshFryer]

You guys always put a video out when I most need it! Thank you!

[@FlippedNormals]

Really happy to hear!

[@TheHylden]

This seams like a much better way to go, especially since baking normal maps often times makes for seam issues. Thanks for this.

[@faithrakhajiit9773]

I was waiting for this tutorial for a long time, I made my first sculpture in zbrush and I did not see the time to use it in the substance painter, now I just need to find a beginner tutorial for substance painter, thank you

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks! We actually have a beginner tutorial on Painter on our channel :) Everything you need in order to get started

[@justinjamison8678]

"Dispair feeling"... so accurate. Haha. Another great tutorial, guys. Thank you.

[@k4bal]

I think it was the first time for me to leave a video and just came back to give a like. You guys deserve it, thank you.

[@Zamalshkay]

Wow this is perfect for sculpting concepts then right away painting in substance for portfolio, amazing stuff cause i hate painting in zbrush this is a straight solution

[@dannyl5771]

awesome guys as always ! thank for the tips !

[@darkwoodstudio2355]

you guys are amazing. Thanks a million

[@ashleechan22]

Thanks for the great start!!

[@nooro5766]

You have saved my life ! Thank you!

[@FlippedNormals]

Glad it helped! Its a great workflow once you figure it out.

[@Stillenacht3D]

Pretty nifty tricks! Thanks again!

[@teapotmclaren]

11:59pm: "you need to have your model ready for production" 00:00am: "We won't be dealing with normals, we're just exporting the hi res mesh and decimating it" Come on, guys....

[@ricardoao19]

As always, nice tutorial! Could do one on the specifics for game models? What would be the differences? Would I import my low poly and do my bake within painter using the maps? Or the decymate mesh? These doubts are a pain in my a*** Thanks guys! Awesome work you r doing!

[@michaelsama]

Good stuff. Thanks guys!

[@caiphilms]

Great tutorial... been looking for something like this!!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thanks! Really appreciate it

[@RicardorVFX]

Thx! great tutorial

[@cyffrowy2882]

cool stuff as always guys

[@Jeet3D]

Awesome tutorial as always! I wanted to ask what did you do the default white windows? It shows a dark background.

[@nathanielscheurer1821]

Great as always! Could you maybe do a video or a course on flipped normals on texturing the body? I find it very hard to find good resources for the body

[@tenzindala457]

Thank you for this

[@goodgoldisrare]

This tutorial is very good. Thank you !

[@hotbergina]

hello do you have discord please ? just to send pictures of my layers etc. I am a bit lost on what to do.... thank you very much

[@jfcomposition]

Flipped normals isnt normal 😁 Yes thumbs up before watching !!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you Joerg :D

[@Roughpaws_Studio]

Thanks for the video but I've got a quick question if you have the time..? What's the difference between using Decimation Master to cut down the polys and using the lowest subdivision..? I'm creating an asteroid for VR so I'm going to want the low res shape I end up with being as close as possible to my high res normal map, because normal maps only show micro detail in VR. Many thanks in advance for any help!

[@littledarkize]

This is sooooo helpful.Thx you guys so much

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you!

[@vasiligavoyani1819]

I cant believe you thank me . i thank you . :) Your both really helpful .

[@FlippedNormals]

Really appreciated!

[@Shilin_GG]

THANKS!VERY HELPFUL!!!!

[@matintorabi7051]

Where were this video 2 weeks ago guys!!! ;D I had to discover all this on my on own. I was working on my first project in Substance Painter. It was a design for HUM3D's Three D Guns 2 challenge. I'm sure it would have taken at list twice the amount of time in Mari. now I'm in love with Substance! Thank you guys your videos are so awesome, so informative and also they are in the best format that I've seen on youtube, the most amount of info in the least amount of time possible!

[@FlippedNormals]

Thank you! Really appreciate the sypport. Glad you figured it out on your own! Any tips for us you might want to share?

[@matintorabi7051]

The fact is your use of pipeline was more robust than what I did. I didn't use UVs on my decimated model and I used my lower poly base mesh in SP because I thought it would be more memory efficient and also I wasn't sure about UV seams errors in the subdivided model in Maya. I'll try Your way next time. But I have a question, I want to texture an old wall in SP and then sculpt the details in Zbrush based on the textures. Do you have any tips for the backward compatibility? In this case, I think UV stretching would be a problem. I know that I can use texture Displacement here in SP but it's not as good as ZB. Thanks again.

[@James_mundy_67]

Hi guys amazing videos I’ve learned a lot from you guys! I’m having a problem with this one tho I’ve followed all and done it a couple of times but when I bake maps nothing bakes ?

[@charliemakescartoons]

They forgot to mention you need to decimate each subtool and the subtools need to be fairly high poly or else you'll end up with fragments. Thank you for this brilliant tutorial by the way, this saved me tons of headache in unwrapping etc. in ZBrush. This workflow is absolutely brilliant!

[@DavidDentonArt]

I'm relatively new to digital sculpting and I've found your videos to be the best at getting me through the steep learning curve of ZBrush. I'm still trying to work out my overall workflow. At the moment I want to produce 2D images from my 3D models using Keyshot and Photoshop. I have ZBrush, Keyshot for ZBrush, and Photoshop. Is there a way that I can use Substance Painter to texture my models and then export them back into Zbrush so that I can then render them in Keyshot? I can't export directly from Painter to Keyshot because I only have the Keyshot for ZBrush version. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[@dariabonecrack5607]

That was really helpful 😃

[@pixelatedwarrior8990]

This is a good tutorial.

[@errolmanibuy3745]

Nice tutorial guys, I just wanna ask do we need to unwrapped the UV before exporting it to FBX? Because I use the unwrap feature in Zplugin and it's sometime doesn't work

[@philjpark]

For a Concept Artist such as myself, Do you think Substance Painter workflow is more efficient for Zbrush Creature Designs than Polypainting is? I use Keyshot for Zbrush Bridge for to get down fast renders and Ideations (with Photoshop before and after). I normally use Polypainting, but Painter seems intriguing. However I haven't seen it used much in a Concept Art workflow other than some prop and weapons designs.

[@perigosu8449]

in regards to the ID map - what if I'm doing a lizard and I want the same level of control for scales/skin. Do I have to paint every individual scale a different color? Or do I sculpt the scales with RGB turned on? Or is there a better way to handle something like that? (I was thinking of duplicating main mesh, deflating and sculpting scales on that so that only the scales show up over the "skin" mesh and then basically having a separate texture map for the scales... but idk if that would work as I expect.)

[@mathewmorgan7011]

I think it is worth noting that poly paint is vertex color. The reason you need UV maps and to separately export an ID map is because when you decimate the model, you move all the verticies and so your poly paint doesn't work anymore. If you are working with a low poly model and a high poly model, substance is going to read the UV maps from the low poly model, so unless your high and low poly models have the same UV's the exported ID map isn't going to work. If however you export your high poly undecimated as an obj (or fbx I guess, but I never export fbx so I don't really know) the obj will retain your polypaint as vertex color and when you bake in substance you will get your ID map regardless of UV maps. Just make sure you have some time on your hands. Exporting a 20mill point obj from zbrush will take a long time. No zbrush didn't crash. It is just going to sit there looking like it has crashed for .... 10 mins or so. Substance doesn't seem to care how big your high poly is. mb it does. I haven't tried it with more than 20 mill points.

[@brianhall8440]

I was wondering about this - as I was trying to figure out if there was a similar work flow to just applying materials in maya to a HP mesh that didn't have UVS and just exporting that "color" without needing to unwrap uvs for the HP since the LP was going to be the one unwrapped.

[@ytubeyou]

Could this be combined with your other tutorial about sending the displacement map from ZBrush to Arnold (Maya)? To texture the character in Substance Painter and then apply the textures in Maya in a low mesh with the displacement from ZBrush.

[@jameswales2122]

How do you use a displacement map to be able to edit it in substance or would you not do that. I tried it but it meant when I brought the new height map as displacement into arnold it was way to strong is there any way you would recommend

[@andrejginoski8255]

Uploaded just in time to start painting my sculpt for first time in substance 😀

[@naughtyadventuresofmcbrouh5410]

YOU GUYS ARE SO CLEAR

[@FlippedNormals]

THANK YOU

[@swarmX]

I know you guys get a lot of requests, so sorry I'm gonna add to that load. Texturing and rendering realistic looking eyes has been a pain in my butt for a while. I'm currently following a decent tutorial by an amazing artist, but he primarily uses mari to texture (which i dont own) and when he inputs maps in maya just uses hypershade nodes which im completely inept with. So my request is if you guys, in the future can go over texturing/rendering realistic eyes for games/film. You guys always take things that seem complex and make it easily digestible so it's worth a shot asking. Either way you guys are the best, and thanks for all the amazing videos and insight into the industry!

[@FlippedNormals]

Funny you should ask, already on the list!

[@swarmX]

Hell yea, that's great to hear! Cheers!

[@deepelements]

Wish you guys would do more game related stuff most of us don't work in film.

[@LordOfHam]

Nice! I gotta say, though, that it would've been nice if you got into the mess of dealing with normal maps and all that, because it's never as easy as pressing a couple buttons and some help with dealing with that would've been great hahaha

[@KRGraphicsCG]

This is actually a very intuitive work flow. I will have to try this out on my next design, especially for game characters and creatures. Kind wish Painter had the painting across texture sets, and using Displacement maps from ZBRUSH.

[@FlippedNormals]

It really is! Means you can quickly go between the two packages

[@KRGraphicsCG]

@@FlippedNormals so far, I go through Modo to set up UDIMs

[@k-vandan4289]

Quality content

[@ferxx0294]

Thanks! How do I get my model prepaired (uvmapped) after detailing in zbrush? I mean if I make a model from scratch in zbrush, how do you get the uv maps? Which is the workflow before this video? I will really appreciate your answers! :)

[@ShawarmaBaby]

You can use a tool like RizomUV

[@aayushaggarwal2236]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKGTaHqNaNeBepI

[@Vandegraff]

Thanx! An advice that textures should be flipV! decided my problem :)

[@mikkelmelby]

awesome as always! how about some more Mari and zbrush alpha photoshop cleanup workflows :D? The one video u have is superawesome

[@anhellsay]

PERFECT!!!! 🤩🤩🤩 THANKS!!!!

[@hotbergina]

hello do you have discord please ? just to send pictures of my layers etc. I am a bit lost on what to do.... thank you very much

[@bennettklein7285]

thanks guys!

[@OchiMochi]

Guys I just wanna ask, after this do you render in Substance Painter? Sorry if this is a stupid question cuz usually after I export the textures, I put them back in Maya then render it in arnold. But since this is for zbrush, I dont really know what's next after we're done texturing in Substance...

[@TheBlondie616]

What size would you recommend I decimate my subtool to?

[@SantiagoLemos]

niceeee

[@singwithvg2496]

Thankyu sir for this

[@thallaputra3331]

hi sorry i already followed the steps given in this video which is very helpful but i seem to encounter a problem where i import it to substance it decided to combine all the subtool into one, is there any solution to this problem? thank you

[@neosyoshiranquake6160]

great work. How can I paint an entire miniature (.stl) that is purchased? what would be the workflow?

[@noobmaster998]

hey ! I unwrapped my 3d model in blender and used UDIMs but when I morph uv of the same 3d model after importing it in zbrush , Its overlapping both the tiles and using a single tile .. Anyway to view uv with udims in zbrush

[@valentinernault8869]

Lamp thanks for the help on polygroupds…

[@mb24black6]

is it possible to make changes to an object in zbrush after finishing work in substance painter ? i discovered that i have a bad part in my mesh but I'm afraid if i fix it in zbrush may maps wont work anymore . any advice ?

[@Luxalpa]

10:52 the reason it says 14 sec is because it counted from when you opened the file selection dialog.

[@hysnasiart]

nice tutorial, but every i import the mesh in substance painter the app will crash automaticaly, it because my pc or i did something wrong? spec : intel core i 7 gtx 1650 ram 16gb totalpoint 227k point can you help me? please

[@alirezasheikhy6326]

Hi, Thanks for this video. have a problem. after i baking meshes, those are black and have nothing to see. can you help me? thanks.

[@supermolio]

buena! me ayudó mucho

[@mae2309]

are you selling this tutorial series.??? is the a previous video on how you prep the model?

[@raymondsinclair4]

I have a face texture in zbrush(polypaint), how do i export it to continue to paint on in substance please?

[@sweesse]

What can I do if my polycount it’s around 50mil and the process just blows my machine? Any other way to get a fbx file out of it without the machine crashing?

[@nisianglian6263]

I really wanted to know the next step. "How to render in Maya with this texture and FBX file"

[@shonnnly1899]

Puedo poner cabello en cinema 4d con ornatrix en esa clase de malla?

[@Reitbajdesign]

I have just started on substance painter, I ask myself why did you export two models, low and high? Allmost all tutorial I have watching do like this

[@animdrag518]

is this retopoed n baked in zbrush ? bcuz u chnged it to 150k verts?

[@vedanttiwari6287]

70 people disliking this are coming from blender

[@Fetteremo]

So what do i do wehn i dont have the UV anymore? start over or what?

[@alekjwrgnwekfgn]

Im a noob- sorry. Can you then have the textured model back into ZBrush- I'm kind of interested in some of the non-realistic renders in ZBrush (once fully textured)

[@stellersandria5471]

Oh hey so can I ask a thing? Should we decimate this before we do retopology or after? Thanks a bunch!

[@FlippedNormals]

Decimation destroys your mesh. It triangulates everything. So you want to use it to decrease the amount of ploys in your mesh, making it easier to work with in other software. So before :)

[@ZephrusPrime]

Did you do the UV's in ZBrush -quick and dirty or did you use another application?

[@FlippedNormals]

The uvs were actually properly done in Maya, but you definitely could have done then quick and dirty in ZBrush

[@ronybuster]

Has any one used the latest Substance painter 2020 with the new feature where we can use the paint across all the UDIMS , I want to know how do we apply normal maps to all the udims at once or some link that i can follow

[@CariagaXIII]

bruh i'm working with zbrush and substance right now. and this tutorial is just in time.

[@UndeadGrowl]

Dude exactly the same, that's amazing, i just finished a sculpt like 2hours ago. This guy can read our mind

[@hotbergina]

hello do you have discord please ? just to send pictures of my layers etc. I am a bit lost on what to do.... thank you very much

[@hillmanh2854]

if i have an object with multiple subtools, i have to merge them together first right

[@hotbergina]

its necessary to merge them all ?

[@TimV777]

how to UV the high poly model? its taking ages??

[@emodedsec2523]

I hope I'm not bothering you, but there is a question, how to get the UV map in high poly model without retopology, plz tell me 😭

[@defmaka]

UV are an awful pain in the neck. I hope someday there will be a really fully automated solution to avoid losing all the time needed to layout them decently

[@nicolasmejiavfx]

for me is just like making a easy puzzle that take few minutes, i think is just a matter of practice

[@slamostart]

thanks

[@kristanbenson803]

I haven’t got the same layout as you guys… tricky stuff.

[@shafqatshaf5000]

great video can you do a video on hair card for games

[@MikeSmith3D]

Maybe I'm having trouble imaging what happens next. But how would you eventually get a good normal map out of this if there's no high/low res mesh to bake? Like for instance if this were a game character head and you eventually need that normal map?

[@FlippedNormals]

This method wouldn't use a normal map. This is great for film or personal projects. If you need a normal map, you'll export the high and low res and then bake the normal maps in Painter or in another baker

[@MikeSmith3D]

@@FlippedNormals Thanks that's what I was thinking. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing some magical new workflow I'd never heard of :)

[@davidharris3d938]

Mike Smith, I have question that seems related to yours. I have a character model that I want to animate in cinema 4d. Im a few tutorials deep on grasping an understanding the correct workflow (model zbrush, texture in substance painter, add hair/ animate in cinema4d). Could you tell me if this sounds correct for my goal of animation a high detailed character? you only use substance painter for the high detail colors and textures while you also create a high and low normal/displacement map out of zbrush, to help for low poly animation with detail materials? I spent a lot of time re-topologizing a low poly version with nicely set up UV’s to allow for animation. So now after watching this tutorial and baking between the Hi-low I am confused as to the correct workflow. am I going about this the correct way? Any tutorial suggestions?

[@JoshJay]

I'm having a problem with Substance Painter where my imported .FBXs are all rotated onto their side. I can't find anything in the ZB export settings that corrects or prevents this

[@ahmedyasser8927]

Please help when i auto groub my project and send it to substance painter my project lost the maps(UV)

[@rKringtonezone]

Can you upload sclupting technique tutorial for absolute beginner??. I want to learn sclupting technique and make some portrait sculpting art.

[@FlippedNormals]

Free video we have kzbin.info/www/bejne/laqueJmZpZetac0 Premium courses on faces as well :) flippednormals.com/downloads/sculpting-a-realistic-female-face-in-zbrush/ flippednormals.com/downloads/sculpting-a-realistic-male-face-in-zbrush/

[@AKno47372]

where do you render it after this?anyone???

[@manhattanvalleyofthedead2425]

All I want to know is how to take my reprojected model into Substance Painter, but I can't find it in any tutorials :(