Ribbon path | Substance 3D Painter

Last updated on Nov 18, 2025

Ribbon path

The Ribbon path tool allows you to create patterns that deform along a curve defined by points on the surface of the 3D model. The Ribbon can also be used to write text along a curve.

The Ribbon tool can be selected from the Path tool menu in the toolbar:

Or via the Path type button:

Overview

The Ribbon path tool differ from the Paint along path tool in how it draw images and materials.

While with the Paint/Brush based tool an image is repetated multiple times on a path, with the Ribbon the image repeated alongside the path and deformed to follow it curves. Individual component of a Paint brush are called stamps, while those in the ribbon are called patches.

Settings

Size

Parameter	Description
Stroke width	Control the global width of the current stroke.

Opacity

Parameter	Description
Stroke opacity	Control the final opacity of the current stroke.

Stroke

Parameter	Description
Image orientation	Define the direction of the input image. This direction will control how the image is put alongside the path.
Flip image	Flip the image along the axis/width of the path.
Corner	Define how broken corner (split tangents) should result on the path. Possible behaviors are: Miter join: sharp/pointy corner Round join: smoothed/rounded corner Bevel join: squared/flatened corner Cut join: start the path again. This mode will create a new path with dedicated start/end sections. Below are what the corner looks like, in order:
Omit ends when closed	If enabled, the start/end sections will be removed when a path is closed to make a continous loop. This applies to both stretch offsets and dynamic strokes.

Stretching & Tiling

The Ribbon path can use two different modes to control how an image is repeated and stretched along a path:

Stretch along path: (default) the image repeated along the path will be stretched to fit the path length
Keep aspect ratio: the image repeated along the path will have its aspect ratio preserved. If the image is too long compared to the path it will be cropped.

Stretch along path

Parameter	Description
Stretch between offsets only	If enabled, allows to keep the start and end sections of an image intact while stretching the middle. Use the Start offset and End offset parameters to defined the size of these sections. The middle section will be implicitely computed based on the start/end.
Tiling mode	Define how an image is repetated or not along the path. Possible values are: None: the image will not be repeated. It will be stretched along the whole path. Auto: (default) the image is automatically repetated a certain amount of time based on its size and the stroke width. Custom: the imaged is repetated by the amount of time defined by the Tiling amount parameter.
Tiling amount	Specify how many times an image is repeated in Custom tiling mode.
Mirror every 2nd tile	Flip the image used along the lenght of the path every second repetition.
Aspect ratio factor	Stretch or squeeze the current image aspect ratio.

Keep aspect ratio

Parameter	Description
Ratio	Define how the image is scaled while preserving its ratio: Fit to path width: (default) Scale the image to fit the path width. This can result in the image being cropped if too long. Fit to path length: Adapt the image's dimension so that an exact number fits along the path while approximately keeping the aspect ratio.
Remove clipped tiles	If enabled, will remove repetitions along the path that cannot be fully visible (if they are cropped). This setting is disabled if the Ratio setting is set to Fit to path length.
Tiling mode	Define how an image is repetated or not along the path. Possible values are: None: the image will not be repeated. It will be stretched along the whole path. Auto: (default) the image is automatically repetated a certain amount of time based on its size and the stroke width. Custom: the imaged is repetated by the amount of time defined by the Tiling amount parameter.
Mirror every 2nd tile	Flip the image used along the length of the path every second repetition.
Alignment	Define where the image should start along the path. Possible values are: Align at start: the image is drawn starting from the first point on the path. Align at center: the image is drawn in the middle of the path. Align at end: the image is drawn starting from the last point on the path.
Aspect ratio factor	Stretch or squeeze the current image aspect ratio.

Channel blending

This section control the blending result for when the path overlaps itself.

Parameter	Description
Alpha	Control how the Alpha section of the Ribbon path is blended in regions where overlaps iteself, which affects the intensity of the blending of all the other channels. Possible values are: Normal: uses the alpha of the topmost segment. Lighten (Max): (default) uses the maximum alpha value, preserving the most opaque segment. Linear dodge (Add): adds the alpha of the segments to accumulate them together, resulting in a more saturated value.
Normal	Define how the Normal channel is blended in regions where the path overlaps itself. Possible values are: Normal: uses the result of the topmost segment. Normal map combine: (default) combine the segments with equal intensity. Normal map details: combine segment with the topmost segment considered as additional details, bottom regions will preserve their intensity. This setting is separate from the Normal blending mode defined for the whole layer, which is applied after the path's own self-overlap blending. Note: this setting is disabled if the channel is a uniform color. It is compatible only with bitmaps and Substance resources.
Height	Define how the Height channel is blended in regions where the path overlaps itself. Possible values are: Normal: uses the result of the topmost segment. Linear dodge (Add): adds segments together while preserving their original intensity. Darken (Min): keep only the darkest/lower value of the overlapping segments. Light (Max): (default) keep the lightest/highest value of the overlapping segments. Screen: similar to the Linear Doge, but result in a less saturated result. This setting is separate from the Height blending mode defined for the whole layer, which is applied after the path's own self-overlap blending. Note: this setting is disabled if the channel is a uniform color. It is compatible only with bitmaps and Substance resources.