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Gradient map | Substance 3D Designer

Gradient map node icon

In: Atomic Nodes

Description

The Gradient Map is a node that serves a dual purpose. Most often it is simply used as a Grayscale-to-Color conversion node, as it is the cheapest and simplest way to do so. Aside from that it also serves as a way to remap a grayscale input to a custom-set color ramp.


Parameters

Color mode

Boolean

Sets the output mode to Color or Grayscale.

Gradient adressing

Boolean

Sets the gradient to either repeat (tile) or clamp values that are out of the [0, 1] range.

Gradient

The custom gradient ramp used to map the input grayscale values.

May be edited in place or using the Gradient Editor.


Gradient Editor

This window offers controls to edit the reference gradient used by the Gradient Map node to map grayscale values to colors.

It can be opened from the Gradient Map node's Properties in the following ways:

  • Click LMB on the Gradient Editor button;
  • Double-click LMB on a pin in the gradient bar. The clicked pin will then be automatically selected in the Gradient Editor so you can directly edit its values.
Gradient Editor

Editing the gradient pins

The colors and their positions along the gradient is controlled by pins placed along the gradient bar.

Each pin sets a color at its position along the gradient.

The portions of the gradient before and after the first and last pins are set to those pin's colors respectively.

Gradient Editor - Gradient view

The following controls are available to edit pins:

Interpolation modes

Once pins are set up, you can control how colors transition from one pin to the next using the available interpolation modes:

color picker

Gradient Editor - Color picker

The Color Picker lets you set a color in several ways:

The selected color is previewed in the upper half of the color thumbnail.
The lower half displays the previously used color. Double-click LMB on it to revert the tweaked color to it.

Color Picker - Revert color

When multiple pin are selected, the RGB, HSV and Alpha sliders turn into delta (Δ) sliders, meaning they are used to offset the value of each pin by the same amount.

Additionally, the following capabilities are available below the color thumbnail as buttons:

Invert: Switches the color to its negative;

To Gray: Desaturates the color;

Copy: Copy the currently selected color to the clipboard;

Paste: Switch to the color currently in the clipboard;

sRGB: Use the sRGB color space to display colors. When disabled, the Linear color space is used;

Float: Display RGB, HSV and Alpha slider values in floating point.

Color Picker - Buttons

Gradient Eyedropper

The Gradient Eyedropper is one of the most useful features this node offers, as you can create complex gradients just by drawing a line on a reference picture.

Gradient Editor - Gradient Picker

The Precision slider will help you adjust your newly created gradient by increasing or decreasing the number of keys: the lower their values, the more precise your gradient will match your picked values.


Examples

Gradient Map node - Example 1

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