Documentation for Substance Designer 3D is now available on Experience League. After March 14th, HelpX pages will automatically redirect to the equivalent Experience League page.
Refer to the FAQ for more information about which documentation is affected.
Last updated on
Jul 13, 2023
- Substance 3D home
- User guide
- Glossary
- Getting started
- Workspace
- Workspace
- Customizing your workspace
- Home screen
- Main toolbar
- Preferences
- Explorer
- Graph view
- Library
- Properties
- 2D view
- 3D view
- Dependency manager
- Resources
- Resources
- Importing, linking and new resources
- Bitmap resource
- Vector graphics (SVG) resource
- 3D scene resource
- AxF (Appearance eXchange Format)
- Font resource
- Warnings from dependencies
- Substance graphs
- Substance graphs
- Substance graph key concepts
- Creating a Substance graph
- Instances and subgraphs
- Graph parameters
- Manage parameters
- 'Visible if' expressions
- Inheritance in Substance graphs
- Output size
- Values in Substance graphs
- Publishing Substance 3D asset files (SBSAR)
- Exporting bitmaps
- Exporting PSD files
- Sample Substance graphs
- Warnings in Substance graphs
- Nodes reference for Substance graphs
- Nodes reference for Substance graphs
- Atomic nodes
- Node library
- Node library
- Texture generators
- Texture generators
- Noises
- Noises
- 3D Perlin noise
- 3D Perlin noise fractal
- 3D Ridged noise fractal
- 3D Simplex noise
- 3D Voronoi
- 3D Voronoi fractal
- 3D Worley noise
- Anisotropic noise
- Blue noise fast
- BnW spots 1
- BnW spots 2
- BnW spots 3
- Cells 1
- Cells 2
- Cells 3
- Cells 4
- Clouds 1
- Clouds 2
- Clouds 3
- Creased
- Crystal 1
- Crystal 2
- Directional noise 1
- Directional noise 2
- Directional noise 3
- Directional noise 4
- Directional scratches
- Dirt 1
- Dirt 2
- Dirt 3
- Dirt 4
- Dirt 5
- Dirt gradient
- Fluid
- Fractal sum 1
- Fractal sum 2
- Fractal sum 3
- Fractal sum 4
- Fractal sum base
- Fur 1
- Fur 2
- Fur 3
- Gaussian noise
- Gaussian spots 1
- Gaussian spots 2
- Grunge concrete
- Grunge Damas
- Grunge galvanic large
- Grunge galvanic small
- Grunge leaks
- Grunge leaky paint
- Grunge map 001
- Grunge map 002
- Grunge map 003
- Grunge map 004
- Grunge map 005
- Grunge map 006
- Grunge map 007
- Grunge map 008
- Grunge map 009
- Grunge map 010
- Grunge map 011
- Grunge map 012
- Grunge map 013
- Grunge map 014
- Grunge map 015
- Grunge rough dirty
- Grunge rust fine
- Grunge scratches dirty
- Grunge scratches fine
- Grunge scratches rough
- Grunge shavings
- Grunge splashes dusty
- Grunge spots
- Grunge spots dirty
- Liquid
- Messy fibers 1
- Messy fibers 2
- Messy fibers 3
- Microscope view
- Moisture noise 1
- Moisture noise 2
- Perlin noise
- Plasma
- Caustics
- Voronoi
- Voronoi fractal
- Waveform 1
- White noise
- White noise fast
- Patterns
- Patterns
- 3D linear gradient
- 3D volume mask
- Alveolus
- Arc pavement
- Brick 1
- Brick 2
- Brick generator
- Checker 1
- Cube 3D
- Cube 3D GBuffers
- Fibers 1
- Fibers 2
- Gaussian 1
- Gaussian 2
- Gradient axial
- Gradient axial reflected
- Gradient circular
- Gradient linear 1
- Gradient linear 2
- Gradient linear 3
- Gradient radial
- Height extrude
- Mesh 1
- Mesh 2
- Panorama shape
- Polygon 1
- Polygon 2
- Scratches generator
- Shape
- Shape extrude
- Shape mapper
- Shape splatter
- Shape splatter blend
- Shape splatter data extract
- Shape splatter to mask
- Splatter
- Splatter circular
- Star
- Starburst
- Stripes
- Tile generator
- Tile random
- Tile random 2
- Tile sampler
- Triangle grid
- Weave 1
- Weave 2
- Weave generator
- Filters
- Filters
- Adjustments
- Adjustments
- Apply color palette
- Auto levels
- Channel mixer
- Chrominance extract
- Clamp
- Color match
- Color to mask
- Contrast/Luminosity
- Convert to linear
- Convert to sRGB
- Create color palette (16)
- Grayscale conversion advanced
- Hald CLUT
- HDR range viewer
- Height map frequencies mapper
- Highpass
- Histogram compute
- Histogram equalize
- Histogram range
- Histogram render
- Histogram scan
- Non-uniform histogram scan
- Histogram select
- Histogram shift
- ID to mask grayscale
- Invert
- Lighting cancel high frequencies
- Lighting cancel low frequencies
- Luminance highpass
- Min max
- Modify color palette
- Pow
- Quantize color (Simple)
- Quantize color
- Quantize grayscale
- Replace color
- Replace color range
- Threshold
- View color palette
- Blending
- Blurs
- Channels
- Effects
- Effects
- 3D texture position
- 3D texture SDF
- 3D texture surface render
- 3D texture volume render
- Ambient occlusion (HBAO)
- Ambient occlusion (RTAO)
- Anisotropic Kuwahara color
- Anisotropic Kuwahara grayscale
- Bevel
- Bevel smooth
- Cross section
- Curvature
- Curvature smooth
- Curvature sobel
- Diffusion color
- Diffusion grayscale
- Diffusion UV
- Directional distance
- Edge detect
- Emboss with gloss
- Extend shape
- Flood fill
- Flood fill mapper
- Flood fill to Bbox size
- Flood Fill to gradient
- Flood Fill to grayscale/color
- Flood Fill to index
- Flood Fill to position
- Flood Fill to random color
- Flood Fill to random grayscale
- FXAA
- Glow
- Mosaic
- Multi directional warp
- Non-uniform directional warp
- Reaction diffusion fast
- RT irradiance
- RT shadow
- Shadows
- Shape drop shadow
- Shape glow
- Shape stroke
- Summed area table
- Swirl
- Uber emboss
- Vector morph
- Vector warp
- Normal map
- Tiling
- Transforms
- Material filters
- Material filters
- 1-click
- Effects (Material)
- Transforms (Material)
- Blending (Material)
- PBR utilities
- Scan processing
- Mesh-based generators
- Mesh-based generators
- Mask generators
- Weathering
- Utilities (Mesh-based generators)
- Spline & Path tools
- Spline & Path tools
- Working with Path & Spline tools
- Paths to spline
- Path tools
- Spline tools
- Spline tools
- Point list
- Scatter on Spline color
- Scatter on Spline grayscale
- Scatter Splines on Splines
- Spline 2D transform
- Spline (Cubic)
- Spline (Poly quadratic)
- Spline (Quadratic)
- Spline append
- Spline bridge (2 Splines)
- Spline bridge (List)
- Spline bridge mapper color
- Spline bridge mapper grayscale
- Spline circle
- Spline fill
- Spline flow mapper
- Spline mapper color
- Spline mapper grayscale
- Spline merge list
- Spline render
- Spline sample height
- Spline sample thickness
- Spline select
- Spline warp
- UV mapper color
- UV mapper grayscale
- 3D view (Library)
- 3D view (Library)
- HDRI tools
- Node library
- Substance function graphs
- Substance function graphs
- What is a Substance function graph?
- Create and edit a function
- The Substance function graph
- Variables
- FX-maps
- FX-Maps
- How it works
- The Iterate node
- The Quadrant node
- Using Substance function graphs in FX-Maps
- Warnings in Substance function graphs
- Sample Substance function graphs
- Nodes reference for Substance function graphs
- Nodes reference for Substance function graphs
- Function nodes overview
- Atomic function nodes
- Function node library
- MDL graphs
- Working with 3D scenes
- Bakers
- Best practices
- Pipeline and project configuration
- Color management
- Package metadata
- Scripting
- Scripting
- Plugin basics
- Plugin search paths
- Plugins packages
- Plugin manager
- Python editor
- Accessing graphs and selections
- Nodes and properties
- Undo and redo
- Application callbacks
- Creating user interface elements
- Adding actions to the Explorer toolbar
- Using color management
- Using spot colors
- Logging
- Using threads
- Debugging plugins using Visual Studio Code
- Porting previous plugins
- Packaging plugins
- Scripting API reference
- Technical issues
- Release notes
Using the Set/Sequence nodes
This page describes the Set and Sequence nodes, and provides an example use case in the context of FX-Maps.
Overview
While working with functions in FX-Maps, you will occasionally be in situations where you want to output a value from a parameter's Substance function graph, so you can use it into another. But by default a Substance function graph only outputs one value: the one which drives the related parameter.
In this case, you may use the combination of Set and Sequence nodes, which will allow you to control variables across a single or multiple functions.
This process involves two steps:
- The Set node will let you create a new variable so you can call it somewhere else and assign a value to it.
- The Sequence node is used to execute the logic in step 1 in its entirety, before executing another branch of the graph – e.g. the logic actually involved in outputting the expected value for the current graph
The Set node
The Set node lets you set a new variable and assign it the type and value connected to the node's input.
The name of the variable is input by the user in the node's properties.
By default, the variable set by this node is only accessible within the scope of the parent of this Substance function graph – e.g. the node which hosts the parameter defined by the function.
In this example, the variable name has been set to myVariable and its value is 1.
The Sequence node
The Sequence node gives you control over the execution flow of Substance function graphs, by making sure the first branch is fully executed before the second branch.
The output of the second branch is then passed to the node's output.
In this example, the Sequence node is set as the output of the graph. The output of the function is thus the 0.5 value output by the Float node.
However, before that happens the myVariable variable is set with a float value of 1.0. This variable may then be used elsewhere in the context of the node.
Sequence nodes can be chained to control the graph's execution flow.
For instance, you may set a variable first, update its value at a later point then read its final value, while making sure these actions occur in a specific order.
Variable visibility
Be aware that a declared variable is not accessible from anywhere!
While a variable declared at a parent level can be accessible at child levels, the contrary is not true.
Thus, variables set in the node are not accessible at the graph level, while variables set at the graph's level can be accessed in its node's parameter functions.
For instance, this rule is at the core of exposing a parameter, for exposing actually involves these steps:
- Creating a graph input parameter
- Accessing it in the parameter's Substance function graph
- Setting its value as the function's output
Let us build a small example: imagine that we want a Quadrant node's Rotation value to be influenced by the Color/Luminosity value: the brighter the luminosity, the more rotation.
What we will do is to make all the computation in the Color/Luminosity parameter function. This parameter will be computed first thus any variable set in it will be available to the other node parameters.
Our function is going to be simple: the luminosity will be a random value between 0 and 1, this value will be stored into the myRotation variable, then we set the value as the function's output.
This means the Color/Luminosity parameter's value will be random and be stored in the myRotation variable.
Note that the Position property is already defined by a random value, and an Iterate node is used to get multiple randomly placed patterns.
Now that the myRotation variable exists and has a value, let us access the Substance function graph of the Pattern Rotation property.
In the function, we read the value of the myRotation parameter using a Get Float node – we know the variable contains a float value – and set it as the function's output.
The luminosity now also controls the rotation.
