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Path | Substance 3D Painter

Path

Image showing the path tool used on a shoe

The Paint along Path or Path tool allows to create brush strokes via a curve defined by points on the surface of the 3D model.

Creating a path

Paths can be created on paint layers and paint effects. There are two ways to access the Path tool:

  • Via the interface: navigate to the tool's toolbar on the left-side and click the third icon from the top.  
  • Via a keyboard shortcut: by default the tool doesn't have any assigned. This can be changed in the Settings menu by editing the "Select paint along path tool" shortcut. 

Once the tool is selected, points can be placed by clicking on the surface of the 3D model within the 3D viewport. At least two points (or vertices) are needed to create a path.

Gif showing the selection of the path tool and the creation of points

The Path tool has 3 different modes, which are similar to other tools available in the application:

  • Paint along path: Draw a regular brush stroke along a defined path.
  • Erase along path: Draw a stroke that erase/remove information along a defined path.
  • Smudge along path: draw a stroke that smudge/blur information along a defined path.
Screenshot of the tool's toolbar showing the different path tool modes

For example, here is the path tool in Smudge mode affecting other painting information:

Gif showing a path tool in smudge mode

Note:

The Path tool only works in 3D space on the surface of the geometry. Creating a path in UV space or as a screen space projection is currently not supported.  

Editing a path

Path points (or vertices) adhere automatically to the surface of the mesh. They can be moved and adjusted at any time. It is possible to add new vertices to an existing path by clicking anywhere along the line. 

  • Pressing Escape or Enter will exit path edition.  
  • Once exited, clicking on a blank surface of the mesh will begin a new path.   
  • Hovering and clicking on an existing path will select it, allowing to continue or edit that path. Paths can also be re-selected via the Paths panel (see below).
Gif showing the addition of new points and move of existing points on a path

Some properties are specific to a path as a whole. This is the case for options found in the Properties window. Just like with a regular stroke (see the Paint tool documentation), it is possible to define the following properties for a path:  

  • Brush
  • Alpha
  • Material

The brush section contains additional options which are only available with the Path tool:

Setting Description
Projection depth
Determines how close the path needs to be to the mesh surface for the brush stamps to appear. To see this visual feedback directly in the viewport, it is possible to enable Normals in the Path display settings (see below).  
Up axis

The axis used to orient brush stamps when Follow path is off.

 

In some context, it makes more sense to have all the stamps aligned along a global axis/direcction and not along the path. For example with rivets on a metallic surface.

Other properties are defined per points (vertices) on the path, such as the pressure. To edit a specific point, simply click on it (or use the rectangular selection). Then use the contextual toolbar to edit the selected points values.

Gif showing the edition of pressure per vertex

Controlling tangents

There can be times where a smooth path is not ideal, either because it doesn't follow the best the 3D model surface or because it doesn't fit a specific look. To solve those issues, it is possible to modify the tangents of a given vertex. The tangents are the directions of a point that control how the path bend.

To switch between smooth or linear/broken tangents, simply double click on a vertex (or use the dedicated button in the contextual toolbar):

Gid showing how to control tangents on a path

To control more precisely the orientation of the tangents, use the Custom tangents button in the contextual toolbar to override them manually:

Gid showing how to control tangents on a path

Use the ALT keyboard shortcut to break the tangents while moving if the point wasn't already.

Use the CTRL keyboard shorcut to scale both tangents at the same time.

Note:

The tangent controls are defined along the plan that align with the normal of the given point in the path. This means that tangents cannot bend in some directions.

Contextual toolbar

Screenshot of the contextual toolbar in path mode

The contextual toolbar when the Path tool is selected provides several settings that allow to control the currently selected path:

Parameter

Description

Show / hide viewport interface

Path tool show hide icon

If enabled, the paths and vertices overlay will be visible in the viewport.

Display settings

Paht display settings icon

Control the look of the path visual feedback in the viewport:

  • Handle size: control how big the path's points look like.
  • Path width: control the thickness of the path line.
  • Path color: control the color of the path line.
  • Unselected path color: control the color of the non-active paths.
  • Normals: If enabled, show the projection direction on eahc points of a path.
  • Tangents: If enabled, show the curve direction of the control points of the path.
  • Path direction: If enabled, show a little arrow at the end of the path to indicate its painting direction. This is useful to know how stamps within the stroke will be oriented.
Screenshot of the path display settings panel

Size

Control the global size of the stamps. See the paint brush documentation for more information.

Size pen pressure

Icon of pen pressure

If enabled, the pressure setting (see below) will affect the size of the stamps along the path.

Flow

Control the global size of the stamps. See the paint brush documentation for more information.

Flow pen pressure

Icon of pen pressure

If enabled, the pressure setting (see below) will affect the flow of the stamps along the path.

Stroke opacity

Control the global size of the stamps. See the paint brush documentation for more information.

Spacing

Control the global size of the stamps. See the paint brush documentation for more information.

Reverse path direction

Icon of reverse path direction

Flip the direction of the current path. The direction defines the general orientation used to paint the stamps within the stroke. Inverting the path can help to re-orient the pattern drawn.

Pressure

The pressure of the currently selected vertices.

 

Similar to regular paint, each points on a path can have a different pressure amount. Adjusting this setting while pen pressure is enabled on the size/flow allow to change the look of stamps along the path.

 

Example of a path with pressure set to 0 on the middle point, with Size pen pressure enabled:

Screenshot of a path with different pressure per vertex

Toggle corner / smooth

Icon of toggle smooth corner

Break or align the tangent of the currently selected vertices, allowing to switch between a smooth or linear curve.

Screenshot of a path with both a smooth and linear path

Note:

Switch between the corner / smooth behavior can also be done by double-clicking on a point directly on the path.

Custom tangents

Paht tool icon for custom tangents

If enabled, allow to manually control the tangents of a given point on the path.

Image showing custom path tangents

Open / close path

Icon of open close path

Open or close the current path.

To close a path, one of the two end points of the current path need to be selected first.

Gif showing a path being open then closed

Delete vertex

Icon of delete path vertex

Remove the currently selected vertices on a path.

Symmetry

Icon of symmetry feature

Enable or not the symmetry for the current path. See the symmetry documentation for more information.

Gif showing a path being drawn in symmetry

Hide / ignore excluded geometry

Icon of geometry mask exclude feature

If enabled, make the current path paint through the hidden geometry. See the Geometry mask documentation for more information.

Paths panel

Path panel

Note:

The panel is hidden when the current tool is not the Path tool or if a fill layer/folder is selected.

Inside the viewport is the Paths panel where are listed all the paths of the currently selected paint layer / effect. It provides an easy way to select and manage paths.

With this panel, it is possible to:

  • Double-click on a path to rename it.
  • Delete a path by selecting it and then pressing the delete key.
  • Copy/Paste/Duplicate a path with the dedicated keyboard shortcuts.
  • Show or hide a path with the eye icon (which control if the path is applied to the texturing).

For convenience, it is also possible to right-click on a path to open the contextual menu which offers the same actions:

Path panel right click menu

The right-click menu also open actions to copy the properties or position of a path onto another path. This allows to easily share or synchronize features across different paths:

Gif showing how to copy and paste path properties

Gif showing how to copy and paste path positions

Note:

Copy and pasting properties only work when paths are based on the same painting tool. For example it is not possible to share properties between a path using smudge settings and another using brush settings.

Creating path presets

Like other tools, presets can be create to quickly restore brush settings / configurations. To do so, simply right-click in the Properties window and choose Create tool preset. This newly created preset will automatically switch to the Path tool when selected in the Assets window.

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