# materials in substance stager Creating 3D mesh geometry is only part of the 3D modeling process. Materials add color and texture, both real and implied, to your geometric meshes. You can emulate real world materials or create completely unreal possibilities. The materials used in the Substance suite are called [Physically-Based Rendering](https://substance3d.adobe.com/tutorials/courses/the-pbr-guide-part-1) (PBR) materials. They are built with material information on how light and matter interact with variables for things like color and reflectance, light absorption and scattering, translucency and transparency. This is a common system used in many 3D modeling packages and gaming environments. --- ## panels The information related to using and tweaking materials is organized in a series of panels spread throughout the interface. ![[stagerMaterialsPanels.png]] ### starter assets The starter assets are all the premade materials you can apply to your objects. Found on the left side of the interface, near the top. Press the **Sphere** icon. ![[stagerMaterialStarterAssets.png]] ### project materials panel The list of any materials used currently or in the past in the project. Can rename, duplicate, delete, group materials as needed. The panel is found on the left side of the interface, near the bottom. ![[stagerMaterialsProjectPanel.png]] The materials are saved as part of your project file. When cleaning up your project, press the **three-dot-row** icon and choose **Select Unused** and then press the **Trash** icon. That gets rid of old and unused materials which can shrink your file size considerably. ### properties panel This is where you will adjust and tweak all the different settings related to your materials. The panel is found on the right side of the interface. Choose your object and then press **Material**. ![[stagerMaterialProperties.png]] --- ## materials ### basic materials Default starter materials ready for tweaking. All six choices have slightly different material settings to adjust. ![[stagerMaterialBasicMaterial.png]] ### materials These are the more specific defined materials. Stager ships with quite a few premade materials. Of course, all of these can be tweaked and refined in the material settings. ![[stagerMaterialMaterials.png]] Of course, you can find plenty of other materials online ([here are a few sites to explore](https://mister-chad.com/3d+modeling+-+substance/substance+stager#assets)) and you can make your own in Adobe Substance Painter. --- ## apply materials There are several ways to apply a material to an object: 1. Select your object and select a material from the Starter Assets panel (upper-left of the interface) or the Project Materials panel (lower-left of the interface) 2. Drag a material from the Starter Assets (upper-left of the interface) or Project Material panels (lower-left of the interface) onto an object in the workspace 3. Drag a material from the Starter Assets (upper-left of the interface) or Project Material panels (lower-left of the interface) onto an object or sub-object in the Properties panel (upper-right of the interface) Once a material has been applied, you should see the changes immediately in the workspace. New materials will appear in the Project Materials panel. --- ## material settings Adjust the material options to tweak and refine your material. ### transform material Projection affects how a 2D material is applied to an 3D object. **UV Projection** is like a shrink-wrapped sticker applied to the mesh and will be the option you use most of the time. **Triplanar** options apply the material several times from several different directions at once. It is more resource-intensive and is only ever used on overly complex meshes where UV Projection doesn’t work. Materials are often built from 2D images repeating seamlessly, such as in a tile grid. The **Repeat** value affects the size of the tile, a larger number creates a smaller tile. The **Offset** values affect where the tile starts and its rotation. ![[stagerMaterialTransform.png]] ### substance materials More advanced options related to the specific material. Materials made in Substance Painter or Substance Designer will have these programmatic options. Not all of the starter assets materials will have options in this category. If there aren’t any options, you won’t see this category. ### material settings Common material attributes for things like what color an object is, how shiny it is, whether it is glowing, and how translucent it is. [Adobe Help](https://helpx.adobe.com/substance-3d-stager/objects/materials.html) has a great visual breakdown on what the different settings are and how they affect the material. A few common options include: - **Base Color** - the color, of course - **Roughness** - smooth or grainy texture - **Metallic** - shiny and reflective - **Normal** - thickness of surface material, can add extra geometry - **Opacity** - visibility - **Translucency** - light passing through, like glass - **Coat** - adds a shiny clearcoat on top of the material Interestingly named settings include: - **Ambient Occlusion** - darker shadows in the creases where light wouldn’t normally hit - **Specular** - quality of reflection based on shininess - **Anisotropy** - how the reflections stretch across the surface - **Emission** - glow effect - **Refraction** - how the light bends when passing through a translucent material - **Subsurface scattering** - color below the surface, good for skin --- ## image maps on material properties [[stager image maps|You can go deeper and control how the material properties are applied by using Image Maps.]] --- ## displacement for height Displacement uses a grayscale image file to add height information to a material. This turns a flat surface into a fully three-dimensional surface. It is pretty powerful. A quirk of Substance Stager is that you must first turn on Displacement by going to **Properties > Object** and then toggling on **Displacement**. Then you can switch back to **Properties > Material** and adjusting the **Material > Base Surface > Height** options. --- Learn more… - [materials panel from Adobe Help](https://helpx.adobe.com/substance-3d-stager/interface/project-materials-panel.html) - [materials from Adobe Help](https://helpx.adobe.com/substance-3d-stager/objects/materials.html) - [add materials from Adobe Help](https://helpx.adobe.com/in/substance-3d-stager/using/add-materials-and-textures.html) - [material displacement from Adobe Help](https://helpx.adobe.com/substance-3d-stager/features/material-displacement.html) - [applying materials video from Substance 3D](https://youtu.be/gp13OU5YxGM?si=oFtyG6r_TfKJReJ0) - [materials & lighting video from Substance 3D](https://youtu.be/OVMwkUvxWPQ?si=rc19tdk9rARsUIRR) --- tags: #3d #resources #substance #stager home: [[! 3d modeling - substance]]