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3D scene resource | Substance 3D Designer

3D scene resource

This page describes the 3D scene resource type in Substance 3D Designer, including its supported file formats and how it may be used.

Overview

3D scene resources can be used in various workflows:

The following 3D scene file formats are supported:


Mesh storage

3D scenes can only be linked, which means they stay at their location on disk, and are just referenced in the application.

When a package with a 3D scene resource is published as a Substance 3D asset (SBSAR), the mesh is not embedded, but discarded.


Baking mesh maps

Linking a 3D scene into your package is the only way to bake mesh maps out of that scene geometry. You may perform the following steps to get started:

  • Click RMB on a package and select the Link > 3D Mesh option in the contextual menu
  • Choose any supported 3D scene file
  • If the Link as Udim mesh dialog prompt appears, click No unless you want to bake UV tiles
  • With the resource loaded in the Explorer, click RMB on it and select the Bake Model Information option in the contextual menu
  • The Bake model information dialog appears for you to set up and run any mesh maps bakes
Baking mesh maps


UDIM/UV-tile usage

When a mesh resource is linked and the application detects it has UVs outside of the 0-1 range, you'll be asked if this mesh should be treated as a UDIM mesh (also known as UV Tiles). This is a setting that can be changed afterwards, and unless you are sure you are using using UV-Tiles, should be answered as No.

If UV-Tile behavior is active, baking behaves differently and will bake textures for each detected UV-Tile.


Resource/Scene vs state

The application separates what you see in the 3D view into two distinct files. The actual 3D model or mesh, is a resource visible in the Explorer. The setup of lights, cameras and other settings is called the "State". States can be saved to external .sbsscn files, to be loaded in again later. .sbsscn files are not resources, they are additional configuration files that can only be loaded through the Scene menu in the 3D View.

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