9 Examples of Single Image Based Material Creation with Substance Alchemist

#ImageToPBR #photogrammetry #scanning #pbr #workflow #image2pbr
In this video I present the process used to turn 9 different surfaces into PBR materials using single image based reconstruction technique with Substance Alchemist.
In details I show:
- how I captured each image used to create textures
- how I tweaked all images with the photoediting software (PhotoLab3)
- how I generated set of 9 fully functional pbr environment materials using Substance Alchemist
- to finally compare them in Marmoset Toolbag 3 and share my opinion where this technique makes sense and where it does not
I hope someone finds this video useful and informative
If you like it and want to see even more like this one, please subsribe to my channel and leave the thumbs up.
Big thanks who did it already
Cheers!
Grzegorz Baran

[@UnrealVirtualUniversity]

Awesome, very helpfull. Also production is gettin better and better, very nice. thanks a lot for sharing.

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Thanks, appreciated :D

[@knartfocker_]

Your videos are great! Highly educational.

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Thank you!

[@Crypteed_]

wow

[@MihaelaClaudiaPuscas]

Great uploads! I am learning very much from you! You are very knowledgeable! Impressive! 👍😮🔔

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Thank you Michaela :)

[@user-ot7pz7ik6n]

Your dog is so cute，Video tutorials are very useful, thanks for your help

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Thank you very much

[@pclarkson85]

Great work!

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Thank you :D. I would suggest to watch also this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnWkhqqVmbigqpo where I used AI Powered Image to PBR reconstruction algorithm Substance Alchemist introduced. It does way better job to the B2M one. Cheers!

[@RossHallWeb]

Excellent video mate. Very thorough and informative. I've just added Alchemist to my workflow so this was perfectly timed. Thank you.

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Thanks. super happy to hear that :). Have fun with the Alchemist.. so far it gets significantly better with every single update :)

[@shadihammash7675]

Really great tutorial

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Thank you :D

[@viktorjamrich]

I really appreciate the fact, that you are not afraid to experiment with new workflows. The videos are extremely informative, but more importantly, you have a gift of explaining complex concepts in a really simple, easy to understand way (I never comment on videos, but now I simply had to)

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Big thanks Victor :). Comments like yours are freaking rewarding and motivating to keep movng forward so thanks you decided to comment this video. Really appreciated :D Cheers!

[@laurynasdvareckas7654]

Very helpful and enjoyable! Thank You so much for creating this

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

I am super happy to know you find it helpful! Thanks for watching

[@hfromero]

Appreaciate the effort bro, this is a real pro tutorial. SUSCRIBED!

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Thanks a lot. Appreciated :)

[@ceadarchitects8226]

Really enjoy your tutorials - always very thorough! Good understanding of the advantages and limitations of Alchemist. Also love the location - I live in Whitley Bay and know the 'cliff' texture well! :)

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Thanks! Yeah, the coast in this area is so magical and beautiful .. also I love it since it is just so varied and no matter where you go there is always something cool, interesting and different to anything else to capture :D. Cheers!

[@m198891]

Bardzo pomocne, dzięki wielkie :)

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Cala przyjemnosc po mojej stronie :)

[@Barnyz]

Very good and informative video. You should travel to London to make your next one as there are lots of good potential materials there 😀😁😀

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

I will .. as soon you publish your London video trip ;P

[@pamilyangmeridamixtv]

this is one the nice place

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Indeed it is :)

[@kirylkudrautsau896]

man, you re great! again :)

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Thank you Kirill, appreciated

[@kirylkudrautsau896]

@@GrzegorzBaranArt if you by chance some day will be in prague, would be nice to meet you!

[@seyferf]

Thank you for sharing a real texturing method, this is amazing

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

You are welcome, and thank you for your comment and watching :)

[@xman4509]

@Grzegorz Baran One more question please, Is their a benefit of HDR IMAGES In photogrammetry workflow specifically and for Texturing Generally(Note that I texture in Mari). If their is, please explain in details. Thank you so much for all your amazing help.

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Photogrammetry works this way that it builds map of shared points between images and estimates their position in 3D space. Image we capture is nothing more but just the source of data for reconstruction. As long we have these points visible for fhotogrammetry software the capture is well done. Quality and accuracy of this data affects the reconstruction. If some of the data is missing because it was out of the captured dynamic range .. or has poor quality .. it wont be used at all or will be interpreted incorrectly. All images we capture are being stored within a certain dynamic range which is measured with EVs. Sometimes, when there is a big luminance difference .. especially for outoor props with strong sunlight etc.. it is impossible to cover all data within a singe dynamic range .. and this is where HDR makes sense. HDR image shots underexposed, exposed and overexposed image and flatens and merge this data together. This way it brings things which would be outside of the histogram into it so in result we get the image which contains data which normally would be missing. So using HDR means that you get more useful data for photogrammetry reconstruction but you need to be careful as to capture a HDR image you need to capture a few images with different exposure so you risk that one of them.. especially the one with longer exposure .. might be blurred. Usually by camera micromovement caused by poor stabilisation or external factors like wind etc. So if a single image covers entire dynamic range, its safer and faster solution.. just make sure you store info in RAW as usually RAW covers slightly more as it shows (roughly about 2 additional EV). But of course.. when there is a lot of data out of standarnd dynamic range .. use HDR. The quality you get from HDR will be better as long the HDR image is well captured. Hope that makes sense and answer your question. Cheers!

[@teodorstaicu38]

this tutorial gets my seal of approval. where is this filmed?

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

:D most was recorded around the South Shields towards the coast. The seal was exactly in here: 54.993292, -1.403124

[@adamwrzesniewski1468]

Greetings, countryman! Can you make some tutorial about the cross-polarization technique? I have always problems :( with capturing glossy surfaces.

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Sure, I already made one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4jXoI2pZs-ahck .. planning to make a few more in a future.. this one was a kinf of an introduction to crosspolarisation. Enjoy :) .. and please read the decription there since I was wrong with a few things when I was recording .. but basic idea is totally correct.

[@chasearjun2744]

pro trick : you can watch series on Flixzone. Been using it for watching a lot of movies these days.

[@uausama]

Just started to like your work. Amazing work man. One question, you use so many different expensive softwares. Is it worthy??

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

It depends on what you do and what your expectations are. All the software I use is optional, I am trying to play with different tool to compare what I can get when I use it. You can see result on my Artstation profile: www.artstation.com/gbaran/albums/86576 or at the end of my videos. Regarding the price, if you want to use photogrammetry as a tool.. Metashape isnt as expensive as it might sound. I purchased mine over 4 years ago in starndard version for about 120USD and I never paid for any update as all are free so far. Regarding the ZBrush.. you can try Blender instead, I am planning to make a video with Blender used one day. Regading the Alchemist.. its a great tool.. unfortunatelly I prefer to pay once and keep the software forever, I am not a big fan of subscription model.. this is why I purchased Substance Designer and Painter on Steam as these are out of subscribtion model. Usualy paid software gives you better experience and more reliability. It is often more stable and predictable. It gets updates and quicker response when anything is broken. Blender is a kind of exception, but if you compare Blender with Maya or 3DMax for modeling and uvmapping.. or Zbrush for sculpting.. you will find paid software still way better to it. So is it worth to use paid software? Yes it is. Does it work with every piece of software? Definitelly not. There are some software worth to get and some I would question. But you are the one who defines the workflow and pick tools which works for you and suits you the best. The same applies to physical tools you use. Is it worth to use tripod to stabilise the camera when you take pictures or is it possible to stabilise it with hand. Or maybe hand held mobile is enough? For some it is.. for some not.. but its definitelly worth to know what tools are the and what impact they might have.. and thats the purpose of many of my videos :) Hope it makes sense and I didnt overcomplicated the answer :) Yes... its worth to pay for tools as usually paid counterparts are better to free versions.. but there are exceptions and it changes overtime. Cheers!

[@uausama]

Thanks for replying and detailed answer of my question. You explained it very well and didn't complicated the answer 👌. By the way, amazing work at artstation 🙂. Also thanks for the amazing tutorials.

[@Meteotrance]

nice practice and example, but i personnaly prefer to export with Darktable in DNG, since it's compatible with Substance Designer and Alchemist, it preserve most of the RAW data of the picture, to make better quality SBS file.

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

On what stage? Did you mean RAW conversion for input data? If yes, Alchemist so far doesnt utilse any data above 8bits.

[@Meteotrance]

@@GrzegorzBaranArt designer can.

[@Meteotrance]

@@GrzegorzBaranArt but you right alchemist probably could'nt treat input of DNG or EXR file yet.

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

@@Meteotrance Yeah, Substance Designer reads 16 bits data as well as 32bits. But this is the video about single image based PBR reconstruction with the Substance Alchemist which reads just 8 bits no matter what color depth is being used on input :D. Maybe in future version it is going to change but so far Alchemist utilises just 8 bits which can be carried even by JPEG file format. Cheers!

[@TheInsanity180]

Very interested in learning this pipeline. Do you mind posting your gear so I can use as a starting point?

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Of course, I made entire video about this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJLTmIKFaJ53npo Enjoy :)

[@FelipeTorrents]

I also encountered many frustrations with the luminance/slope blobby results. Hope some AI solves this problem someday

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

I am sure it will. Its just a matter of time

[@deastman2]

I think a material such as the leaves would work much better using the method of photographing it with highly directional light from different angles to arrive at a normal map. Unfortunately, a material capture system to do that would be fairly impractical for the large outdoor area you are attempting.

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Yeah, this is the technique called photometric stereo, I am planning to cover it very soon. Dave Riganellli mastered it (www.artstation.com/daverig) and he uses a photometric stereo scanner. Unfortunately the downside of this technique is limited capture area .. usually about 10-30 cm. This is why I think photogrammetry is the best way to go in this case :)

[@xman4509]

Hi Grzegorz, I hope you are having an amazing day, If you please can you spend 1min from your precious time to answer my question. How can I export 16 or 32bit maps from Metashape? What is the 16bit/32bit workflow for pbr texture making workflow? Thank you

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

I covered some info regarding to color depth in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nIO1mniOqbaohc0 (just jump to 23rd minute). To export 16 or 32 bits you need to use proper format.. for example TIFF or PNG supports 16 bits while EXR supports 32 bits. Jpeg stores just 8 bits so no matter how much color info you have , if you save the texture in JPG it will be trimmed down to 8bits. Color depth is relevant for teconstruction accuracy.. and especially for image alignment .. as it simply sores more data to be used. If you see the video I pointed out you should understand how much difference it makes. Hope that makes sense, Cheers!

[@xman4509]

@@GrzegorzBaranArt Thanks so much.All things are clear now!

[@xman4509]

@@GrzegorzBaranArt One more question please, Is their a benefit of HDR IMAGES In photogrammetry workflow specifically and for Texturing Generally(Note that I texture in Mari). If their is, please explain in details. Thank you so much for all your amazing help.

[@elsayedbadee6497]

thank you very much - how can i get free filters and materials please !?

[@Shubham-fk5oq]

why you doesn't used Image to material AI powered?

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

Because when I recorded this video it wasnt there yet :)

[@Shubham-fk5oq]

@@GrzegorzBaranArt ohh but did you find this feature useful, I haven't got hand on that cause I got AMD card...it is Nivida exclusive feature!!!

[@GrzegorzBaranArt]

@@Shubham-fk5oq Oh, I thought you were talking about updated version of AI based reconstruction algorithm used in next update of Alchemist :D as it was signifficantly improved :D. I have heard about 'deeppbr.io' as an option but never seen any good results from it. If this is something else I probably havent seen it in action and would appreciate if you can share a bit more details with me so I can try test it :). CHeers!

[@Shubham-fk5oq]

@@GrzegorzBaranArtThere are two img to mat filters(if you have Nivida GPU), the filter I'm taking is 'Image to material(AI powered)' I've seen many people using this filter, it saves time and gives great results But as in your video, I'm sure that this feature doesn't work for all surfaces (not sure), the version I'm using is 2020.2! I've asked substance but they said they can't do anything about the issue I'm facing. So I have to use image to material (B2M) for now. There is no video to explain different between these filters.. maybe you should make short video about it would be really helpful 🙂