- Home
- Getting started
- Interface
- Interface
- Home screen
- Customizing your workspace
- The main toolbar
- Preferences window
- Explorer window
- The graph view
- The 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
- Exposing a parameter
- Graph parameters
- 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
- 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
- Auto Levels
- Channel Mixer
- Chrominance Extract
- Clamp
- Color Match
- Color To Mask
- Contrast/Luminosity
- Convert To Linear
- Convert to sRGB
- Grayscale Conversion Advanced
- Hald CLUT
- HDR Range Viewer
- Height Map Frequencies Mapper
- Highpass
- Histogram Range
- Histogram Scan
- Histogram Scan Non-Uniform
- Histogram Select
- Histogram Shift
- Invert
- Lighting Cancel High Frequencies
- Lighting Cancel Low Frequencies
- Luminance Highpass
- Min Max
- Pow
- Quantize
- Replace Color
- Replace Color Range
- Threshold
- Blending
- Blurs
- Channels
- Effects
- Effects
- 3D Texture Position
- 3D Texture SDF
- 3D Texture Surface Render
- 3D Texture Volume Render
- Ambient Occlusion (HBAO) (Filter Node)
- Ambient Occlusion (RTAO)
- Bevel (Filter Node)
- Cross Section
- Curvature (Filter Node)
- Curvature Smooth
- Curvature Sobel
- Diffusion Color
- Diffusion Grayscale
- Diffusion UV
- 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 (Filter Node)
- 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)
- 3D View (Library)
- 3D View (Library)
- HDRI Tools
- Node library
- Graph items
- Substance function graphs
- Substance function graphs
- What is a Substance function graph?
- Create and edit a Substance function graph
- 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
- MDL graphs
- 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
Overview
On this page:
Overview
Substance 3D Designer is an application intended for creating 2D textures, materials and filters in a node-based interface, with a heavy focus on procedural generation, parametrisation and non-destructive workflows. It is the longest-running application in the Substance 3D ecosystem and resources made with it are the most versatile and dynamic possible.
Here is how it compares to other applications
![]()
Substance 3D |
![]()
Substance 3D |
![]()
Substance 3D |
|
---|---|---|---|
Learning Curve |
Low |
Medium |
High |
Author Materials |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Author 3D Models |
No |
Limited (displacement only) |
Limited (displacement only) |
Author Filters, Patterns, Effects |
No |
Limited |
Yes |
Texture UV-mapped meshes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Export Parametric content |
No |
No |
Yes |
In short, Substance 3D Designer should be seen as the most technical, advanced texturing application available. It allows you to author content for almost any usecase or scenario. It means you are not limited to a single type of output (such as a unique material/set of textures for a UV-mapped mesh), but can create content for a much more extended set of uses. For example, most of the procedural, smart content in Painter and Sampler was authored and exported from Designer. Things like Brush Alphas, Generators, Filters and Base Materials can all be authored in Designer.
Workflow
Substance 3D Designer is a Node-based editor that allows you to build content in many different ways with varying complexities. The workflow is further explained on dedicated pages, but the following are benefits of working with the software:
- Non-linear : you can can author a multitude of texture outputs at once. Edit one mask or slider, and automatically any connected output is re-calculated. No more need to separately author maps such as Basecolor, Roughness, Normal, etc..
- Non-destructive : you can reverse any action without losing any of your work. It becomes much quicker to iterate and experiment, finding even more efficient workflows.
- Integrated Baking : access advanced, blazing-fast mesh baking tools right inside the software. You no longer have to perform baking in a separate software and perform lengthy import and export processes.
- Parametric : you can set-up to control nearly any aspect of a texture through a single slider or dropdown. This allows you to add endless control and variation to just a single asset.

Substance 3D File
(*.SBS)
Substance Files are the main source files for Designer. When you open a Substance File, you can view and edit all nodes in a Graph. They are represented as packages, that can contain any number of resources such as Graphs, Functions, Bitmaps, Meshes, etc... They are harder to share and less fast to calculate. They can only be opened in Substance 3D Designer and the Substance Player.

(*.SBSAR)
Substance Archives are compiled, optimized Substance files. They are much faster to calculate and can easily be shared without reference issues. Parameters can still be tweaked, but editing the graph is locked down. Substance Archives can be used in all Substance 3D applications and any application that has a Substance Integration (some with an external plugin) such as Autodesk 3DS Max & Maya, Unreal Engine or Unity Engine.

(*.TGA, *.BMP, *.PNG, *.FBX, *.OBJ etc...)
Substance 3D Designer always supports exporting to static file types. A 2D image can be exported to a bitmap file, a 3D model can be exported to common 3D filetypes. When exported to static files, all dynamic functionality is lost. Images are locked in resolution, 3D models are locked in polycount.
This generally means you will keep your work in the SBS format when working inside Designer, you'll export to SBSAR if the target supports it (Painter for example), or you will use static bitmap files if there is no need or no support for SBSAR.
Substance graphs
Substance graphs allow you to generate and process 2D image data and then output it to one or more texture outputs. In many use cases, a project will revolve around one or more Substance graphs.
Substance function graphs
Functions are a higher level of abstraction and complexity: rather than processing image data (sets of pixel values), you process single values (integers, floats, vectors). Functions are used when you want to perform more complicated operations or if you want to finetune specific behaviors. Functions generally do not work standalone, and they are not used outside the context of Substance graphs.
There is a section of the documentation dedicated to Functions.
MDL graphs
MDL Graphs are a special type of Graph resource that can be authored. MDL stands for Material Definition Language. These Graphs are not meant for generating and processing texture files and image data, but rather to generate the look of a material in a format that is portable and exchangeable between applications and renderers.
Non-graph resources
Non-Graph resources can come from external applications (such as Photoshop or Autodesk Maya), while some can also be created inside Designer. The major difference is that they are not Node-based Graphs; most of them are elements to be used inside or alongside the previously mentioned Graph types.
The following Resource types exist:
Sign in to your account