How to import substance painter to UE?

Hi

I use Rhino to model simple table for testing. It consist of table top and legs

Then I export obj and import to Substance Painter

When I export
image

They will consist of 2 set. One of leg and other for table top. How could I use these texture in UE?
Attached file

Thank
Travis

Hello,

I assume that you’ve exported your textures from Substance Painter with the default UE4 packed settings. :slight_smile:

So here’s what you need to do from there:

  • Directly import each texture inside Unreal.
  • For both Occlusion Metallic Roughness maps, either uncheck the sRGB checker or change the compression profile to **Masks (No sRGB) ** (see screenshot 1)
    According to this, “in compression profiles that support it, sRGB can be enabled/disabled via a checkbox under the Texture subheading in the Properties Editor. The Masks profile is functionally the same as the Default profile with the sRGB setting manually unchecked.”
  • Make sure each normal map is imported as normal map
  • Create 2 materials and import each set of textures (the leg & the table top).
  • In each material, plug each texture to specific nodes, exactly like I did in the screenshot 2.

Just a bit more info, each RGB channel used in the occlusion/ metallic/ roughness map (Red = Ambiant Occlusion, Blue = Metallic & Green = Roughness) is customizable inside the Substance export settings (that’s why my screenshot works only if you didn’t changed the default settings).

Enjoy :slight_smile:

Screenshot 1

Screenshot 2

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Hi @Goldanniyatech
This is export setting:



image

It’s single Mesh(table and legs) with single slot for material.
Follow your instruction, I can create 2 set of material but can not apply. Because Mesh have single slot for material.
Your should try attached file.

Thank
Travis

I’ve tested it, and ran across the same issue: only one material is available in Unreal.

It’s related to the obj file format exported from Rhino. If you still need to use the OBJ format for various reasons, you might need to “Organize objects by layer & material” in Rhino, according to this exporting guide:

You will export objects so that all objects on each layer will be treated as a SINGLE OBJECT in Unreal. This means that every object that will need a separate material or texture-mapping will need to be on its own layer in Rhino

Perhaps you can also play with the layer settings inside Rhino when exporting the mesh. I don’t have Rhino so I cannot test it out.

If you can’t solve this issue through Rhino, you could still import your OBJ in Blender (it’s free) & re-export it (either in OBJ or FBX), then bring it to Unreal.

However, according to the Rhino 3D doc, you can also export in FBX file format. Although the FBX version is not clearly mentioned (they are talking about version 6 and 7, but is it 7.0 or 7.5?), I would suggest to use the FBX file format instead, it’s a common standard used in the gaming industry.

Hope it helps.

Hi @Goldanniyatech

From Substance Painter, I export Mesh as FBX

They will include 5 Mesh, 1 table top and 4 legs.
I can create 2 material then apply for table top and legs.

Thank
Travis

Yes, I forgot to mention about the FBX exporter from Substance!

Although you can still get one mesh inside Unreal: just check “combine meshes” in Unreal FBX import options (see this)

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Hi @Goldanniyatech
If I want to adjust roughness, glossiness, and normal in UE. What should I do?

Thank
Travis

Hi there @travis.designer!

If you’re bringing a whole set of textures inside Unreal Engine, you cannot theoretically readjust each texture separately, whether it’s your Normal or your Roughness Map (just to let you know, there is actually no Glossiness Map in UE because the engine is using the Metalness Workflow, but you probably meant the Roughness Map :sweat_smile: ) you will need to get back to Substance Painter to slightly adjust your maps I’m afraid.

Now, there are multiple ways to “bypass” this limitation:

:arrow_right: A - Scene Post-Process Volume
Post-process Volumes can be used to change/ improve the overall look of your scene, and can greatly change your mesh appearance. You can add it in your scene by using the “Place Actors” window (in Unreal Engine 5) and searching for “Post Process Volume”.
If you want to apply the volume to the whole scene, just check “Infinite Extent” in the detail panel. The ambient cubemap setting can change your scene quite a lot, and you can find High Quality (& Free) HDRI Maps in Poly Haven!

:arrow_right: B - Blend Layers
A nice trick is to use some Material Functions (from within the Material Editor) to change the color of your texture, such as Blend nodes. It can help to slightly tweak the visual aspect of your texture without changing the original file!

:arrow_right: C - Substance3D UE Plugin
There is an official plugin to be able to tweak parameters from your maps in Substance3D and directly see the result (in real-time) inside Unreal Engine. However, I don’t know if it’s reliable enough or if it’s working properly with the latest version of Unreal (4.26/4.27 or 5). I never tested it. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Although you have more tricks (Per-Material Post-Process…), it’s still very limited and it will be probably better to either make sure your scene settings is good (light, PostProcess, SkyLight…) or to change it from Substance Painter3D, otherwise the aforementioned tricks can be a bit more complex and most of the time useful for real-time (in-game) changes (if your you want your players to be able to customize the table Material during the game, for example).

Hope it helps :smiley:

Hi
Did you try live link tool? I see this link

Thank
Travis

Nope, I didn’t try (at all :sweat_smile:) the Substance3D plugin I’ve mentioned in my answer, but the Live Link part is probably the most interesting thing with it.
Some reviews say it doesn’t work with UE 4.27, but I do not know if it is true or not. :man_shrugging:t3:

Hi @Goldanniyatech
I think about other way. If I want to more adjust of material in UE. I will export textures from Substance Painter follow Metallic Workflow.
image

Could you give me advice to how create material with these texture.
Attached file
Table top Metallic Workflow.zip (4.1 MB)

Thank
Travis

Hello @travis.designer

Well, there is no need to export in another way than with the default UE4 packed output template in Substance Painter if you are a beginner or if you just need to slightly tweak some parameters. :wink:

So, what you can do in order to tweak your maps is to use nodes (material functions or else) available from within the Unreal Engine material editor (like I mentioned with Blend nodes).

You can still do it with the Occlusion Metallic Roughness map and directly tweak with each individual pin (R, G, B). You can also use the Desaturation node on a pin if you would like to see each original map separately (previewing the node with right click).

UnrealEditor_Ts76MPm30b

Hope it helps. :slight_smile:

Hey guys, I solved the rougness rgb issue thanks to your post.
But I still have problems when exporting the normal texture, they all looks like this picture and not as the usual color in normal maps, do you know why?
Thanks!

This happens even in windows or in a image editor, isn’t only in Unreal

That looks possibly like the colors of a world space normal map.

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