User Guide

Version 12.0 | Substance 3D Painter

  1. Substance 3D home
  2. Home
  3. Getting Started
    1. Getting Started overview
    2. Activation and licenses
    3. System requirements
    4. Project creation
    5. Export
      1. Export overview
      2. Export window
        1. Export window overview
        2. Export settings
        3. Output templates
        4. List of exports
      3. Output templates
        1. Output templates overview
        2. Default Output templates
          1. Default output templates
          2. Predefined output templates
          3. USD PBR Metal Roughness Preset
        3. Creating Output templates
    6. Glossary
  4. Interface
    1. Interface overview
    2. Assets
      1. Assets overview
      2. Navigation
      3. Customizing the layout
      4. Filter by path
      5. Saved searches
      6. Advanced search queries
      7. Adding a new library
      8. Sub-library tab
    3. Substance 3D Assets
    4. Color picker
    5. Display settings
      1. Display settings overview
      2. Environment settings
      3. Camera settings
      4. Viewport settings
    6. History
    7. Layer stack
      1. Layer stack overview
      2. Creating layers
      3. Managing layers
      4. Masking and effects
      5. Blending modes
      6. Layer instancing
      7. Geometry mask
      8. Flatten layers
    8. Main menu
      1. Main menu overview
      2. File menu
      3. Edit menu
      4. Mode menu
      5. Window menu
      6. Viewport menu
      7. Plugins menu
      8. Help menu
    9. Project configuration
    10. Properties
    11. Settings
      1. Settings overview
      2. General preferences
      3. Shortcuts
      4. Libraries configuration
    12. Shader settings
      1. Shader settings overview
      2. Updating a shader
    13. Texture Set
      1. Texture Set overview
      2. Texture Set list
      3. Texture Set settings
      4. Texture Set reassignment
    14. Toolbars
    15. Viewport
      1. Viewport overview
      2. 2D view
      3. 3D view
      4. Camera management
    16. Miscellaneous
      1. Sliders
      2. Log
      3. Update checker
  5. Painting
    1. Painting overview
    2. Paint tools
      1. Paint tool overview
      2. Paint brush
      3. Eraser
      4. Projection
      5. Polygon fill
      6. Smudge tool
      7. Clone Tool
      8. Quick mask
    3. Path tools
      1. Path tool overview
      2. Paint along path
      3. Ribbon path
      4. Filled path
      5. Erase along path
      6. Smudge along path    
    4. Straight line   
    5. Lazy mouse 
    6. Symmetry
      1. Symmetry overview
      2. Mirror symmetry
      3. Radial symmetry
    7. Fill projections
      1. Fill projections overview
      2. Fill (match per UV Tile)
      3. UV projection
      4. Tri-planar projection
      5. Planar projection
      6. Spherical projection
      7. Cylindrical projection
      8. Warp projection
    8. Presets
      1. Presets overview
      2. Creating and saving presets
      3. Creating particles presets
        1. Creating particles overview
        2. Installing the particle editor
        3. Overview of the particle editor
        4. Creating a new particle script
      4. Photoshop brush presets
        1. Photoshop brush presets overview
        2. Exporting Brush Presets from Photoshop
        3. Importing Photoshop Brush Presets
        4. Photoshop Brush Parameters Compatibility
    9. Dynamic strokes
      1. Dynamic strokes overview
      2. Enabling Dynamic Stroke feature
      3. Dynamic Stroke Performances
      4. Creating custom Dynamic Strokes
    10. Advanced channel painting
      1. Channel painting overview
      2. Ambient Occlusion
      3. Flow Map
      4. Height Map
      5. Normal Map
    11. Vector graphic (.svg & .ai)
    12. Text resource
  6. Effects
    1. Effects overview
    2. Generator
    3. Paint
    4. Fill
    5. Levels
    6. Compare Mask
    7. Filter
    8. Anchor Point
  7. Baking
    1. Baking overview
    2. How to bake mesh maps
    3. Mesh map settings
    4. Baking visualization settings
  8. Content
    1. Creating custom effects
      1. Creating custom effects overview
      2. Generic filter
      3. Channel specific filter
      4. Generators
      5. Mesh map
      6. Mesh based input
      7. User data
    2. Importing assets
      1. Adding resources via drag and drop
      2. Adding resources via the import window
      3. Adding content on the hard drive
      4. Receiving assets from other Substance 3D applications
  9. Features
    1. Automatic resource update
    2. Automatic UV Unwrapping
    3. Physical size
    4. Smart Materials and Masks
    5. Subsurface Scattering
      1. Subsurface Scattering overview
      2. Enabling Subsurface in a Project
      3. Subsurface Parameters
      4. Subsurface Material Type
    6. Dynamic Material Layering
    7. UV Reprojection
    8. UV Tiles
      1. UV Tiles overview
      2. Image Sequence
    9. Color Management
      1. Color management overview
      2. Color management with Adobe ACE - ICC
      3. Color management with OpenColorIO
    10. Post Processing
      1. Overview
      2. Depth of Field
      3. Bloom
      4. Glare
      5. Lens flare
      6. Lateral aberration
      7. Vignette
      8. Sharpen
      9. Film grain
      10. Tone mapping
      11. Color correction
      12. Color profile
    11. Iray Renderer
      1. Iray Renderer overview
      2. Iray Settings
      3. Viewer and MDL Settings
    12. Plugins
      1. Plugins overview
      2. Autosave
      3. Resources Updater
    13. Sparse Virtual Textures
    14. Custom Shaders
    15. SpaceMouse® by 3Dconnexion
    16. Universal Scene Description (USD)
    17. Send to
  10. Technical Support
    1. Performance Guidelines
      1. Performance guidelines overview
      2. Mesh and UV setup
      3. Layer management
      4. Project resources and settings
      5. Conflict with background applications
      6. GPU VRAM and Drivers
    2. Configuring Pens and Tablets
    3. Exporting the log file
    4. Exporting a DXDiag
    5. Technical issues
      1. GPU Issues
        1. Crash when working with overclocked GPU
        2. Forcing the external GPU on Mac OS
        3. GPU drivers compatibility
        4. GPU drivers crash with long computations (TDR crash)
        5. GPU has outdated drivers
        6. GPU is not recognized
        7. GPU is not recognized and is mentionned as GDI Generic
        8. Issues with Nvidia GPUs on recent Mac OS versions
        9. Multi/Bi-GPU
        10. Running on integrated GPU
        11. Painter doesn't start on the right GPU
      2. Startup Issues
        1. Application failed to start because of Qt
        2. Crash or freeze during startup
        3. Software conflicts
      3. Rendering Issues
        1. Artifacts and glitches on Mac OS with Custom GPUs
        2. Blocky artifacts appear on textures in the viewport
        3. Mesh appears pink in the viewport
        4. Mesh flash to white when moving camera
        5. Some HDPI scaling values are not working
        6. Viewport appears broken or unresponsive on Ubuntu
      4. Stability Issues
        1. Crash during export
        2. Crash when opening or saving a file
        3. Crash while baking
        4. Crash with low virtual memory
        5. Windows Blue Screens
      5. Miscellaneous Issues
        1. Corrupted texture error message
        2. Shelf resources are gone after 7.2 update
        3. Error there is no disk in the drive
        4. Error with missing api-ms-crt dll
        5. Impossible to drag and drop files into the shelf
        6. Impossible to use the ALT keyboard shortcut on Linux
        7. Assets (or shelf) previews are empty
    6. Workflow Issues
      1. Export Issues
        1. My exported opacity map is totally black
        2. Texture dilation or Padding
      2. Tools Issues
        1. Normal map looks incorrect
        2. Paint Tool bleeds on other UV islands
      3. Project Issues
        1. Corrupted project file
        2. Loading files from a network
        3. Preserve brush strokes setting stays disabled
        4. Projects are really big
      4. Library Issues
        1. Thumbnails in the shelf look incorrect
        2. Error when importing a Font
      5. Viewport Issues
        1. Mesh faces disappear when looking at them from behind
        2. Viewports and textures are blurry or lack sharpness
      6. Plugins Issues
        1. Substance Source plugin doesn't load
      7. License Issues
        1. Maintenance is expired dialog on startup
  11. Pipeline and integration
    1. Installation and preferences
      1. Preferences and application data location
      2. Automated installation
      3. Retrieving the installation path
    2. Configuration
      1. Command lines
      2. Environment variables
      3. Firewall Configuration
      4. Querying Current Software Version
      5. Remote Desktop
    3. Resource management
      1. Shelf and Assets location
      2. Resource paths
        1. Add resource paths manually
        2. Editing resource paths manually
        3. Edit Shelf Preferences with Python
      3. Adding saved searches manually
      4. Preferences and content migration
      5. Excluding resources in a resource path
  12. Scripting and development
    1. Scripts and plugins
      1. Creating a Javascript plugin
      2. Remote control with scripting
    2. Shader API Reference
      1. Shader API overview
      2. Changelog - Shader API
      3. Libraries - Shader API
        1. Lib Alpha - Shader API
        2. Lib Bayer - Shader API
        3. Lib Defines - Shader API
        4. Lib Emissive - Shader API
        5. Lib Env - Shader API
        6. Lib Normal - Shader API
        7. Lib PBR - Shader API
        8. Lib PBR Aniso - Shader API
        9. Lib Pom - Shader API
        10. Lib Random - Shader API
        11. Lib Sampler - Shader API
        12. Lib Sparse - Shader API
        13. Lib SSS - Shader API
        14. Lib Utils - Shader API
        15. Lib Vectors - Shader API
      4. Parameters - Shader API
        1. All Custom Params - Shader API
        2. All Engine Params - Shader API
        3. All Rendering States Params - Shader API
        4. Layering Bind Materials - Shader API
        5. Layering Declare Stacks - Shader API
      5. Shaders - Shader API
        1. PBR Material Layering - Shader API
        2. PBR Metal Rough - Shader API
        3. Pixelated - Shader API
        4. Surface Shader - Shader API
        5. Toon - Shader API
  13. Release notes
    1. Release notes overview
    2. All Changes
    3. Version 12.0
    4. Version 11.1
    5. Version 11.0
    6. Known issues
    7. Old versions
      1. Version 10.1
      2. Version 10.0
      3. Version 9.1
      4. Version 9.0
      5. Version 8.3
      6. Version 8.2
      7. Version 8.1
      8. Version 7.4
      9. Version 7.3
      10. Version 7.2
      11. Version 2021.1 (7.1.0)
      12. Version 2020.2 (6.2.0)
      13. Version 2020.1 (6.1.0)
      14. Version 2019.3
      15. Version 2019.2
      16. Version 2019.1
      17. Version 2018.3
      18. Version 2018.2
      19. Version 2018.1
      20. Version 2017.4
      21. Version 2017.3
      22. Version 2017.2
      23. Version 2017.1
      24. Version 2.6
      25. Version 2.5
      26. Version 2.4
      27. Version 2.3
      28. Version 2.2

Version 12.0

Substance 3D Painter 12.0 offers texture flattening directly in the layer stack, a new automatic mode for warp projection, a revamped set of post-processing effects, and an improved project creation and settings workflow. 

Release date: 9 March 2026

Note

In this version the support of integrated GPUs with unified/shared memory has been improved. Better detection of video memory can be expected which should lead to better performance and fewer graphical issues.

Major features

New flattening of LAYERS

A new Flatten action is now available in the right-click context menu of the layer stack. Several layers can be quickly merged by grouping them (Ctrl/Cmd + G) and creating a flattened copy (Ctrl/Cmd + M). The source group is automatically disabled, leaving the choice to either delete it or alternatively save it as a Smart Material for later editing.

Flattened elements of the layer stack can also be exported directly to disk for quick iterations in other applications. Groups, layers, or masks can be exported individually or in batch via the right-click menu of the layer stack.

  • Flatten textures directly in the layer stack
    Any group can be flattened by pressing Ctrl/Cmd + M or by selecting the Flatten group entry in the right-click contextual menu. This generates a merged copy of the selected content while automatically disabling the source group, keeping the original layers intact until a decision is made to remove or restore them.

  • Flatten and export textures to the disk
    A dedicated export action in the right-click menu bakes the flattened result of a layer, mask, or group and saves it directly to disk. This is useful for transferring baked content to other applications without going through the full texture export pipeline.

  • Batch operations
    Multiple layers, groups, or masks can be selected at once and flattened or exported individually in a single operation, making it efficient to process large portions of a layer stack in one step.

Note

More information about the flattening of layers is available in the dedicated documentation page.

New warp to geometry mode for projections

Decals can now automatically adapt to complex surfaces, reducing the need for manual adjustments. The Warp to geometry toggle is available in the contextual toolbar while the Warp projection is active.

  • New parameter in contextual toolbar
    A new Warp to geometry toggle is available in the contextual toolbar whenever the Warp projection mode is active. It can be turned off at any time without resetting the current projection setup.

  • Automatic wrapping to mesh surface
    When enabled, the warp projection automatically follows the curvature and topology of the underlying mesh. Dragging the projection across the surface will make it smoothly conform to the geometry, significantly reducing the amount of manual fine-tuning needed when placing decals on complex or curved shapes.

  • Preservation of local deformations
    When editing the warp projection grid vertices, the warp to geometry mode will try to retain the pre-defined deformation to ensure the same shape is always projected.

Note

For more information about the warp projection, check out the dedicated documentation page.

New Post effects

Renders inside Painter can now be enhanced with a brand new set of post-processing effects available in the Display Settings window. New additions such as Lens flare and Film grain are now available, alongside improved Depth of field and Glare effects among many others.

Here is an example of what you can achieve with the new effects:

  • New post-processing effects
    All post-processing effects can be enabled and configured individually from the Display Settings window. Effects are applied in stack order and each one can be toggled on or off independently, making it easy to combine and experiment with different results.

  • New list of effects:

    • Depth of field: Blurs objects outside the focal range to simulate camera lens focus.
    • Bloom: Adds a soft glow emanating from bright areas of the image.
    • Glare: Creates light streaks around sources of light.
    • Lens flare: Simulates optical reflections of the lens when a bright light shines in the camera.
    • Lateral aberration: Simulates chromatic fringing at the image edges caused by lens imperfections.
    • Vignette: Darkens the corners and edges of the frame to draw focus toward the center.
    • Sharpen: Increases edge contrast to make the rendered image appear crisper.
    • Film grain: Overlays subtle noise to replicate the texture of analog film.
    • Tone mapping: Remaps HDR luminance values into a displayable range for a more cinematic look.
    • Color correction: Adjusts contrast, saturation, brightness, and temperature to fine-tune the overall color balance.
Note

For more information about the new effects, take a look at the dedicated documentation.

Improved new project and settings window

The new project window and the project settings dialog have been redesigned to be easier to navigate. Parameters have been re-ordered and grouped for better readability, and the mesh re-importing workflow has been improved to reduce repetitive steps when iterating on a project.

  • Improved new project window
    Parameters in the new project window have been reorganized and re-ordered so that the most commonly used settings are more prominently placed. The overall layout is now easier to scan, reducing the time needed to configure a new project.

  • New workflow for re-importing meshes in project settings
    A new checkbox Reimport mesh in the project settings allows re-importing the project mesh more easily thanks to the file path of the previously loaded file now being saved and pre-filled automatically.

Release Notes

Version 12

12.0.0

Release date: 2026/03/09
Summary: This is a major release. This release contains the features flatten layers, warp on geometry, new post effects, improvement to the new project window and other improvements.

Added:

  • [Flatten Layers] Flatten layers inside the layer stack
  • [Flatten Layers] Export flattened layers to disk
  • [Warp to geometry] Add new auto-warping functionality to Warp projections
  • [Post-effects] Replace post effects with addition of new ones
  • [Post-effects] Update tone mapper
  • [Post-effects] Add new usage for Post-effects assets
  • [Content][Post-effects] Integrate default post-effects assets in library
  • [New Project] Improve UI for Project Creation
  • [New project] Changes to reimport mesh functionality
  • [New project] Allow for *.geo.usd files to be opened
  • [Project Configuration] Improve UI for Project Configuration
  • Update USD library to version 25.05
  • Update Substance Engine to version 9.3.4
  • Raise minimum drivers to 25.3.1/25.Q2 for AMD GPUs
  • Update Qt to 6.8.6
  • [Scripting] Update JavaScript API to version 1.1.20
  • Update Python to 3.13

Fixed:

  • [Crash] Changing a material channel output in a mask can crash
  • [Import] EXR textures are forced into sRGB instead of linear when importing USD files
  • [UV Tiles] Image sequence with a single image also fills other UV Tiles
  • [Baking] AO is different between CPU and GPU baking
  • [Color Management][MacOS] Viewport BaseColor does not match colorpicker
  • [USD] Uniform values are not imported in some cases

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