How to create a paint peeling effect in Substance Painter

In this video, I walk through creating a paint-peeling smart material in Substance Painter.
Project File: www.dropbox.com/s/muqgu8gyi6y...

[@yakipasandi9443]

These tutorials are just priceless! Thanks Wes!❤

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you!

[@MrVampura]

This is the best tutorial i've seen on KZbin so far.

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you much!

[@mr.N00003]

Wes, you are one of the excellent speakers I've found. you never messed up with creating mask. keep going, teacher!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you very much!

[@OmniRadio]

This tutorial has answered so many questions about Substance Painter that I've had for months, tysm!!

[@wes.mcdermott]

I'm so glad!

[@JA-vy1yw]

I've been waiting. Thank you so much for posting this tutorial!!!!!!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Awesome! Thanks much

[@FadyAkramHabashy]

FOR THE FIRST SECONDS I WAS SEND OFF TO THE WHOLE CHANNEL THANK YOU FOR THIS PRICELESS INFO

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you!

[@BarShendrovitz]

Wow, this outlining mask is so awesome! It has significantly sped up the process compared to how it used to be done before

[@wes.mcdermott]

Yes! It's been there for a while, and I totally overlooked it.

[@martacasalini4834]

Amazing video! I really liked the designer approach you had, I think it helps to better understand how painter works and it also gives that extra step to your texture process. Thank you for sharing!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks! So glad you liked the tutorial.

[@koroshghanbarzadeh1360]

You're the best Wes, thanks for sharing.

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks much!

[@MCCDEMON]

so amazing.. Thats waht I needed: Someone who explains exactly why he uses one tool and what it does. Thanks so much!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Glad it was helpful!

[@99joshmo]

Insane tutorial! I even added a wooden texture underneath the peeling paint and set the paint group to replace for the height! It absolutely looks wild! Thank you!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Nice work!

[@renderpeach]

Your tutorials are tutor worthy, and the fact you include the project files really puts the cherry on top! As a 3D artist, thank you!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Glad you like them! Thank you!

[@spacekitt.n]

​@@wes.mcdermott yeah thanks man. its been a steep learning curve even as someone who comes from a strong photoshop background. im actually starting to wish that photoshop did layers and masks like this! its confusing at first but is really powerful

[@sourabh_negi22]

Awesome tutorial I really love it

[@johnsullivan937]

I really like the way you explain things step by step, it really helps me understand what exactly is changing what. I still dont feel even remotely capable of doing some complex smart material like this from scratch lol. But it has given me a much better understanding of the different layers and filters. I bought a bunch of smart mask/smart material packs off of art station that are extremely high quality, but they are so much more complicated to adjust than the default smart materials that ship with substance painter. Now I feel a bit more confident reverse engineering the different layers and customizing them just right. Thanks

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you so much! So glad to hear the videos are helpful. Just take it one layer at a time : )

[@pashaasd5280]

Awesome tutorial!!!

[@sebastianjuradooo]

Thank you so much for this tutorial! It was very helpful. The way you explain and describe the process is super nice, really easy to follow and understand :)

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you much!

[@jepzu]

Wow. Awesome stuff!

[@FastTrackTutorials]

very nice tutorial man!

[@JoelBeaird]

excellent breakdown! Thanks for sharing

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks!

[@rayunited2010foryou]

I like your simple but detailed approach to making this material. That's what makes you special. Very few tutors teach the way you do.

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you very much!

[@rayunited2010foryou]

@@wes.mcdermott 🙂

[@monsterinsane2228]

Absolute useful and easy to understand. Thank you a lot!

[@wes.mcdermott]

You're very welcome!

[@donovanbaine8842]

way to go man im glad to see u its been a while hope u well forever

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you very much! Working on my own channel and also working on the official Substance 3D Channel as well.

[@NightVisionOfficial]

This is awesome man! Really love your materials tuts :)

[@wes.mcdermott]

Glad you like them! Thanks!

[@MahmudShuaib]

i really love this software. In 2015 whilst doing my masters in the UK, i grabbed a copy of painter and tried to learn it, but sadly my laptop would just freeze. 8 years later i was able to afford a system with a dedicated GPU. Am trying to learn again. Thanks for the tutorials Mr. Wes.

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you and so glad you liked the videos.

[@Death-Flower]

as always the best!!!

[@miladelemental3474]

Wow!,what an amazing material!...Thank you very much for sharing🙏

[@wes.mcdermott]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@elenabearzotti6118]

My materials are always boring because I often use the same masks and generators, but following these video makes me realize how creative you can be. I recreated all your stunning levels step by step and I had a lot of fun, thanks for this video, it was really inspiring!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Happy to help!

[@from_thecube]

Exactly

[@user-ng8ze5pj6c]

great presentation,learned a lot, thanks!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@noname_2108]

This is brilliant, I was thinking of gradient filter for colouring noise information but didn’t catch it in substance painter. Learned something from your tut! And I would say it’s all about experimenting, you can’t actually master it until you try and fail

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks! Totally agree, it's all about experimenting and trying to see what works best for you. So many ways to do things in Painter. I find it's not about right or wrong, but what works best for you.

[@mobamenace3591]

Mask outline is the MVP for this effect 😅 ( I forgot few steps so I am watching again)

[@jahandarwerewolf8480]

Thank you very much friend for this tutorial! A learn a lot from your tutorial! bravo!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Awesome! Thank you much.

[@cookie75730]

Your tutorial on Substance Painter was incredibly detailed and informative, to the point where one could confidently say they've learned the fundamentals. I really appreciate how you kindly explained the usage in such a meticulous manner. Among all the Substance Painter smart material tutorial videos I've watched so far, yours stands out as the best. The added bonus of demonstrating how to make adjustments using paint later on was also greatly appreciated. I look forward to applying these techniques when working with other smart materials in the future. It seems like you put in a tremendous amount of effort, and I want to express my gratitude for sharing this valuable knowledge.🥰

[@cookie75730]

If it's not too much trouble, I would like to name the 'smart material' I create by following this video after it. May I have your permission to cherish it in my library for a lifetime?

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you so much! I greatly appreciate it. Yes, please no permission needed :) Please feel free to use the material you create from the video as your own.

[@cookie75730]

@@wes.mcdermottThank you! Have a great day😁

[@kokosbaeuerin]

woooow thank you I learned sooo much!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you! Glad to hear it was helpful

[@maurofuentes8076]

Excellent!

[@bohdan_lvov]

That material is smarter than me! Seriously tho, that's a glorious tutorial, love every bit of it!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you much!

[@slackamacgaming6721]

10:10...it took me a while to figure it out...but that ONE LITTLE thing...totally changes how i make my materials now...and it's WAY better...

[@fevaz]

I'm normally scared of masks and always think I'm messing up... but patience and a little knowledge will help us create amazing effects. this video taught me a lot. Thank you!!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Awesome to hear! There are always multiple ways to tackle an effect. Never worry about messing up : )

[@fevaz]

@@wes.mcdermott Today I tried to add your paint effect to a wooden base but Im getting (still) the veins textures through the paint, I know that sometimes painting wood will get this effect (to be able to see the veins texture) but I was trying to achieve an effect where the paint would be overlapping the normal/height. I tried to change the layer mode in the normal channel, and it kinda helped in some places of my mesh, but didnt completely overlap. Do you have any tips for that? Ty in advance!

[@flint3Dx]

Great vid as always Wes, love the way you break down your process :) I'm not sure if this is already possible, but I'd love if you could promote filters or generators to the top of a folder - like the paint you used to add or cut into the paint. Would make sharing materials very powerful for artists!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you much! We can now add filters to folders. This was a new feature that was recently added. I think I might be misunderstanding. Can you give me some more details on what you mean by promote the filters to the top? I can send this to the dev team.

[@c_be]

@@wes.mcdermott I think they meant accessing the Paint layer on the top of the layer stack instead of having to scroll down and look for it. So when artists make this smart material and share it with each other, they don't have to scroll and find the Paint layer, it will just be sitting at the top which they can then edit.

[@jovanastrajnic]

Woww!! Amazing tutorial! Thank you so much for sharing ☺

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@sivaram6788]

Another banger!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks!

[@bendvfx]

So insightful and full of great information and ideas. Thanks for great Tutorials

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks for watching!

[@bendvfx]

@@wes.mcdermott Thank you for always sharing the best new tutorials

[@jairdeoliveiraneto605]

Very good tutorial!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@snrenders6909]

just awesome. you've got a new sub

[@wes.mcdermott]

Awesome, thank you!

[@petyavodolaz]

Great tutorial, always like how detailed you explain things step by step. Remember you from the sci-fi chest texturing tutorial on Substance painter official channel, didn't know you have your own youtube channel :D

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks very much! Wow, yeah that video was super long ago. I started up this channel in the past year. Thank you much for checking it out.

[@sergiovelandia3d370]

Amazing procces man I really learn a lot

[@wes.mcdermott]

Glad to hear it!

[@markflakezCG]

Thank you!

[@EMNM66]

You are the best ❤

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you!

[@therelaxingcgi]

Thank you so much I need it this for my project❤

[@wes.mcdermott]

You're welcome 😊

[@Sas-yz4uk]

Very helpful, thanks!!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Glad it was helpful!

[@user-ow9kq6fg6d]

I learnt lot of ❤

[@UCD33]

Had a few "ahh ha" moments.. super helpful. Thanks.

[@wes.mcdermott]

Glad it helped!

[@TheIcemanModdeler]

Thanks for sharing, use ancor point all the time for complex effects, they're great.

[@wes.mcdermott]

Yes! Love anchor points

[@mobamenace3591]

Great work 🔥

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks 🔥

[@anirudha301]

I just want to say Thank you 😊

[@wes.mcdermott]

You are so welcome!

[@Klaudius_yt]

Thank you ❤

[@TitusKrakenDesigns]

WOW! you did it againg! THX MASTER! ;)

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you much! So glad you liked the video.

[@jeanclaudethedarklord6205]

Amazing video, thanks

[@wes.mcdermott]

Glad you liked it!

[@reality990]

Good tutorial!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks!

[@peterrandall6761]

keep the content coming! Youve taught me so much about layered smart masks! Also, how are you getting displacement from the edge of the paint? is it tesselation, i might missed that step

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks! Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that. I did go to the shader and enable tessellation with a very small height scale. It does make a nice difference though.

[@motionbug4970]

It's really helpful thank you so much for providing file for Study ❤

[@wes.mcdermott]

Glad it was helpful!

[@TheNamishkashyap]

Great Video

[@wes.mcdermott]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@RariJay]

Nice🔥🔥

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks 🔥

[@lykan7865]

As Usual: WES is da BES !

[@mikegentile13]

Wes is da Bes!!

[@sivaram6788]

WES is da BES!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks very much! Greatly appreciate it : )

[@KipperTD]

The way you show how everything is affecting each other is really great for helping learn how to use these different effects ourselves. A lot of tutorials will just show what to do in order to achieve a specific result as opposed to explaining how/why everything is being done. Great tutorial as always! Also going to call it croncrete from now on 😂

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you much! So glad to hear the videos hare helpful.

[@cypher881]

love

[@cypher881]

HI SIR INSTAGRAM ID

[@STGaming00]

Great explanatory video, may I ask where you got the grunge maps?, because I don't see it in my Substance Painter...

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you! I was thinking I used all standard maps that ship with Painter. Do you have the name of the map that is not showing for you? Which version of Painter are you using. We did update to add new grunge maps a few versions back.

[@AlexPavlovic]

cool tutorial, I wonder why it's done in 60fps though

[@Moviesfire9315]

Please make more topic 🙏❤ your are osm

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thank you so much! Will do!

[@sketchturner8229]

Hello Wes! Thanks a lot! Very nice tutorial, but i have some issue at the start, my paint layer haven't shade and hight like yours, no any shading

[@wes.mcdermott]

Glad you liked the video! Can you provide some more details on what you mean with shade and height. I am sorry, I am little confused on what part is not working.

[@sketchturner8229]

@@wes.mcdermott Sure when i get to the PC))) P.s. have a nice day ))

[@PearrBearr]

Hi Wes, fantastic tutorial as always. I am having issues with the height information. So at 9:14 you start to slide the dirt level and there is a height separation from the material below. When I slide mine both materials are blending flat.

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks! So glad you liked the video. On the layer that has the mask applied for the dirt generator, do you have a little bit of height value? It could be that the layer has height set to zero.

[@peterrandall6761]

For texture artists, what do you suggest we render our textured assets in for a demo reel? Ive heard some people suggest stager and marmoset. Thanks

[@wes.mcdermott]

Either of those are good options. Both are good for showcasing models. The most important thing to keep in mind is not so much the renderer, but the aesthetic of your render. Lighting is key. You want to make sure you have really nice lighting to showcase your materials.

[@cain969]

Do a video with making a water like or saliva like material pls! would love to see that

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks for the suggestions!

[@dubtube6691]

It would be really help full if next to a layer (for instance a fill) where an anker point is used an anker appears in the layer stack. Sometimes I think visual information could be improved. Also when changing the channels from Base color to Height I miss this visual information. Because it can early been over seen

[@wes.mcdermott]

100% Agree. We really need to work on this feature and improve it. Thanks for the feedback.

[@chikin4939]

Hello, Great tutorial ! I'm beginner on substance, i have to raise the height value on the paint base color at 04:50 to have the same thickness effet which appears at 09:00 when you use the dirt generator. Is it normal or does it come from the version (im on V9) ?

[@wes.mcdermott]

It could be a discrepancy in the version. Sometimes there are tweaks to the generators between versions. However, this should be fine : ) It doesn't need the same values.

[@alwaysCuriousOne]

Thank you for this lovely tutorial. I wonder how SP treats the height and normal information when exported in case I have a low poly model. In that case, a displacement map will be a disaster and I may only want a normal map... I wish you could make a tutorial on low poly and height information. (I'm using blender 4.0) Thanks again!

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks! Good question. Painter generates normal data from height, so you will aways get a normal map and do not need displacement.

[@alwaysCuriousOne]

@@wes.mcdermott thanks for the fast reply. Sorry, but I'm still confused. SP has both height and norm channels to choose from in a layer. So which one to choose? And why both exist? If the exported displacement map and normal map both carry the same height information, what happens if we use both in the case of a high poly model back in blender?. And what is displayed in SP's viewport? Is it displacing the mesh or just treating the normal, or both?

[@anissar7301]

Hi Wes, I hope you can help me with this question. When I add the blue base layer in (4.54) on top of the first base later that you made it takes the hight information (in 02.00) and I don't know why.

[@wes.mcdermott]

Hi! The issue is that the height and normal information is passed up through the layer stack. You need to set the blending mode for the height and normal channels to the "Normal" setting. I will make a video to show how this works.

[@anissar7301]

Thanks for responding Wes. Really appreciate it @@wes.mcdermott

[@xxphantom93xx61]

Hi Wes! Thanks for this tutorial it's really helpful. I was trying to follow your steps and ran into some issues while placing the "Peel" layer with "Outline Mask" on my model. When I try to create the outline, I really have no leeway to change the settings. For example, I get a good result on 0.01 and a bad result already on 0.03. I saw you went from 0 to 1 with noticeable changes. Another thing that's causing me problems is the actual outline because it doesn't fit the edges of my mask properly when I do the peel. It appears to have an offset and looks weird. Do you have any suggestions?

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks! So glad you liked the video. I am sorry to hear you had some issues. I wonder if it might be UV related. The mask outline filter is using the UVs of the mesh to create the outline. It doesn't use baked map data. So in this case, your UVs can have an effect on the mask. Do you have a lot of padding between the UV shells on your mesh?

[@xxphantom93xx61]

@@wes.mcdermott thanks for the reply! Not so much pudding but since I’m doing complex game ready assets using a single 4K uv space due to optimization, probably the texel density is too low to manage this values? It’s the only thing I imagine could affect this. It is possible? Anyway I noticed that the highpass filter works in a similar way but with less control on sides (inner both or outer) and was a little bit better for my case 😁 I’ll wait for your opinion. Thanks a lot!

[@MrBfg586]

Are the dirt map masks in this program images or are the actual procedural?

[@wes.mcdermott]

I think they are a mix; however, they are mostly procedurally generated. You can also import your own grunge maps to the library for use in any project.

[@askyourdoubt254]

uffffffffff!!

[@masub7403]

i have a problem when a bottom layer with some hieght elements breaks through upper layer and i see that hieght effects on it in 4:48 dont have any hieght on blue layer from "base" layer wich including some hieght effects

[@wes.mcdermott]

I think the issue is coming from the blending mode for the height channel. Check out this video for the tip on how to address the blending modes. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGbCnoSAbqprnZI&lc=UgzGfybg89J9IoTAVux4AaABAg

[@ofcourse88]

is this being done just in the material level or is the actual geometry be adjusted?

[@wes.mcdermott]

This is done at the material level, but you can enable tessellation and displace the mesh as well. You can export a tessellated mesh from Painter.

[@MyNamaAdam]

I've been trying to replicate the depth effect but I can't seem to find the way to do it. It's quite bugging me haha. My layers just build up instead of that nice layer separation effect.

[@wes.mcdermott]

For the depth effect, do you mean the peeling or the shadowing in the peeled areas? The biggest part to getting the depth is in the layer that uses the Mask Outline effect.

[@EMNM66]

Hello Wes, i have a doubt. I have modeled a 3d door with multiple textures for diffrent parts of the mesh all the textures on the model are in the same uv space 1001-1005. how do i work on such a model in substance after texturing in export page i see it shows 330 textures selected. what am i doing wrong? :)

[@wes.mcdermott]

Hello! There are different ways to work with UVs. If you have 1001-1005 then I think you had the UV tiles feature checked. You can work this way and typically you would have one Material applied for the entire mesh and each set of UV shells are placed in different UDIM or tiles such as 1001-1005. The other method is to apply a material for each part of the mesh you want a texture set. In Painter, a material will become a texture set.

[@ssn4k3]

Another fantastic tutorial. Thanks a lot Wes! I did similar material in Designer recently buuuut I can't paint the peeling effect in Painter using that material. Why I did that this way? Don't know;-) It's not possible to expose mask as a parameter in Designer to use it in Painter right?:-)

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks! Yes you can make the effect in designer and have the mask as an input node in Painter so that paint strokes from Painter will work as input to your Designer filter.

[@ssn4k3]

@@wes.mcdermott I just checked and there is indeed input grayscale node in designer. I’ve never seen this in any tutorial online. Is this something you would be willing to cover? I bet there are a lot more applications for input nodes in designer than simple masking for painter.

[@anubis8370]

@ Wes do you have a link to sample material to study it closer?

[@wes.mcdermott]

Sure thing! Here is the Painter file: www.dropbox.com/s/muqgu8gyi6ydh84/PaintPeeling.zip?dl=0

[@anubis8370]

@@wes.mcdermott Thanks Wes !!!

[@LORENZOCOLALONGO]

it would be nice to see if this texture can be opened in UE5.... can you recommend a video?

[@wes.mcdermott]

I don't have a video on UE but these textures can be exported and used in UE. We have a UE preset for exporting textures.

[@LORENZOCOLALONGO]

thanks @@wes.mcdermott

[@ben_angel]

i've followed you step by step yet my blue doesnt look like it has any height to it. It doesnlt look like it is a layer of paint on top of the material below

[@wes.mcdermott]

Do you have a scale value set in the Shader? It could be that the Shader scale is set to zero.

[@ronnydwiputra]

Hi. Want to ask you. What is bake mean and what is the purpose bake in painter?

[@wes.mcdermott]

Hi, the bake is a process of computing mesh information into a 2D texture. For example, a curvature baker will create a 2D texture that is white around all of the curved areas of a mesh. The purpose of these "baked" maps is to aid in the texturing process. Our texture generators and filters use these baked maps. For example, the metal edge wear uses the curvature and ambient occlusion bakes to figure out how to place scratches on the edges of the object.

[@ControllerCrusade121]

how do you move the light from viewport?

[@wes.mcdermott]

The lighting in Painter is coming from an HDRI image. I use Shift + Right Mouse button to rotate the light.

[@ControllerCrusade121]

@@wes.mcdermott Thank you

[@manthanyagnik20]

Why i cant find the peel off effect in my substance painter software ?

[@wes.mcdermott]

Are you looking for a paint peel generator in Painter?

[@manthanyagnik20]

@@wes.mcdermott yes 😅😅😅😅

[@lucutes2936]

15:08 what is that ugly edge?

[@Aakash4722]

16:29 my blue paint is not looking the same as in the video its looking flat

[@wes.mcdermott]

Are you having an issue with the blue paint being revealed through the mask?

[@Aakash4722]

No it's just coming flat if i am giving it height it's not looking like yours

[@user-nw2zj7dw4s]

Hello, I am Korean. Can you make a lecture? And there are many types of programs, so please let me know what are the characteristics. Insufficient information.

[@wes.mcdermott]

Hello! Are you looking to see if we have any Korean courses? We do have some team members in Korea. I can take a look to see what they offer.

[@bobliving8452]

I understood everything, but the way you did it didn’t help at all, didn’t get the same look prolly mess up some where Bc u did do it from the start u just went over it,

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks for the feedback. I can look at making a step-by-step version.

[@markanthonymedina7845]

Please do a step by step from scratch. I don't know why, but mine's flat and completely different than what you have. Just new to substance. Thank you!

[@wes.mcdermott]

I can't believe I forgot to add the project file : ) I had it uploaded and ready to share and forgot to paste the link in the description. I updated the description with a link to the file. Here is the link. www.dropbox.com/s/muqgu8gyi6ydh84/PaintPeeling.zip?dl=0

[@user-ex3tr7ec8c]

Awesome tutorial! btw, for those who dont know how to separate the bottom height from the top one here is a tutorial for that kzbin.info/www/bejne/in-vZWV7m9-Wr5o

[@aicha9874]

Thanks

[@5copeiek699]

nothing works. It would be better to show realtime process of creating it.

[@wes.mcdermott]

Thanks for the feedback. Let me know what issues you are running into. Next time I will make sure that the video is step by step.

[@othoapproto9603]

What's the point of this? By not building from scratch, this is not a tutorial, it's just a ted talk.

[@wes.mcdermott]

It was meant to be more of an overview for advanced users, but I can see that not being a step-by-step does make it difficult to follow.

[@othoapproto9603]

@@wes.mcdermott Thanks for the kind reply to my angry, frustrated post.

[@wes.mcdermott]

No problem at all : ) I appreciate hearing your feedback. I totally understand getting frustrated trying learn software with videos that don't fully explain. I am taking note for my future videos.

[@user-bh3fe1sp7n]

dislike. Not for beginner

[@wes.mcdermott]

Sorry to hear you didn't like the video. It's not a beginner's tutorial. Please let me know of any specifics you are struggling with and I am happy to help.

[@ranger7460]