In this tutorial, we will look at three different ways, among the many possible ones, of quickly texturing a checkerboard in Substance Painter.
Video Transcript
Hello everyone! In this tutorial, we will look at three different ways, among the many possible ones, of quickly texturing a checkerboard in Substance Painter. Obviously, these are not the only three methods available. Our goal is not simply to assign black and white squares to the geometry, but to create a checkerboard pattern by overlaying it on a material that already has its own texture, such as wood or, even better, marble.
All three methods are based on the same principle: multiplying a black mask onto the Color channel of the base texture. Multiplying a color by black, or by any shade of gray, has the effect of darkening that color. As a result, we can multiply a checkerboard pattern with the Color channel of a Substance material and darken it only in specific areas.
For this example, I will always use White Marble as the base material for the checkerboard object. I have mapped the material using Tri-Planar projection and set the Scale parameter to 3 in order to place a good number of veins across the surface. I chose this material specifically because its veins are very visible, allowing us to clearly appreciate the effect of the masks on different parts of the surface.
The first method uses an external image texture as a texture, without any masks. The second method involves manually defining a layer mask. Finally, the third method uses a procedural mask available in Substance Painter.
From the very beginning, I encourage you not to think of these methods only in the context of this specific example. Instead, consider how they could be useful in other situations, especially by keeping in mind the strengths and weaknesses of each approach.
Let's get started!
The first method consists of importing a grayscale image texture into Substance Painter and mapping that image using UV mapping onto the areas that need to be affected.
To apply the texture mask to the White Marble material, I first create a Fill Layer with the default settings and disable all channels except Color, because I only want to modify the color of the underlying material by darkening it.
I then change the blending mode of the Fill Layer from Normal to Multiply. We can immediately see the effect of the multiplication.
By modifying the value located below Multiply in the Fill Layer we just created, we can adjust the intensity of the effect.
I then drag the image, which I previously imported into the project through File → Import Resources, from the Alphas section of the Shelf onto the Base Color slot of the Fill Layer. The image is essentially a black-and-white checkerboard mask that I am placing onto the surface. I also set the UV Wrap parameter to None, meaning no repetition of the image outside the mapped area, in order to avoid applying copies of the image to other parts of the surface.
Once again, we can adjust the intensity of the effect by changing the value located below Multiply.
The method we have just used does not even require a layer mask. This is possible because we are not defining areas with different colors or creating any special effects. We simply want to darken a material, so we can directly multiply an image with the existing material. This makes it a very fast method. Of course, the downside is that you must already have a suitable external image available.
The second method covered in this tutorial consists of manually creating a layer mask, specifically by using the Polygon Fill tool and, if necessary, brushes and some of Substance Painter's masking tools.
Remove the image texture from the Fill Layer created with the first method and set its color to pure black. We will control the intensity of the effect using the value below Multiply, just as we did in the previous example.
Right-click the Fill Layer in the Layers panel and choose Add Black Mask. This creates a black layer mask, meaning that the layer will initially have no effect on any part of the surface.
To manually specify which polygons should receive the effect, in other words, which areas of the mask should become white, select the layer mask and then click the Polygon Fill tool in the toolbar. Next, in the Properties - Polygon Fill panel, choose Polygon Fill mode, make sure Color is set to 1, which is white, and start clicking the squares you want to modify.
In this particular case, the operation can be performed more quickly by switching to the 2D view of the geometry's UV map and clicking the squares we want. Of course, those squares, meaning those faces, must already exist in the original geometry. Otherwise, we would not be able to limit the Polygon Fill operation to only the specific squares we are interested in.
In the standard chess setup, the queens start on squares matching their own color. The white queen starts on D1, so square A1, the one occupied by the white rook on the left side, must be black.
With this method, however, we are not defining letters, numbers, or any additional decorative elements. For those, you will most likely need to use brushes, assuming you do not want, or cannot, rely on an external image as in the first method.
Adjust the intensity of the effect by changing the value located below Multiply.
This method may appear to be the least effective of the three presented in this tutorial because, in the specific case of a checkerboard, it is clearly slower and requires geometry that has already been prepared for this purpose. However, because it allows us to define masks directly on individual faces without relying on external images, it can be very useful in other situations, which is exactly why I wanted to show it to you.
Reset the layer mask, this time making it pure white by right-clicking the Fill Layer and choosing Add White Mask, so that we can move on to the third and final method covered in this tutorial: using a Substance procedural map.
Procedural maps are special maps generated by algorithms. This means they are not image textures that are applied and repeated, but actual patterns that can be modified by changing the values of various parameters, much like Substance material textures themselves.
Procedural masks generally appear as grayscale images because they are used to define effect intensity, acting as masks, and they can be found in the Procedurals section of the Shelf.
The checkerboard pattern is one of the most commonly used patterns for various purposes, so Substance provides one called Checker, along with others such as those in the Fabric and Grunge categories.
Since Checker is black and white, we can apply it directly to the Color channel of the Fill Layer, just as we did with the image texture in the first method. This time, however, we will need a layer mask to limit the effect of the procedural map to the actual checkerboard squares.
Change the layer mask back to black by right-clicking the mask and choosing Add Black Mask. Switch to Polygon Fill selection mode and, this time, select all the playing squares with a rectangular selection in the 2D view.
All that remains is to adjust the Checker parameters. Select the Fill Layer and modify both the standard layer parameters, such as Scale and Offset in Properties - Fill, and the parameters specific to Checker. There are actually very few of them, and the one we are interested in is Tiling. The important concept, which you can explore further by experimenting with other Substance procedurals, is that these elements are parametric. They are not images.
Among the advantages of procedural masks, we certainly have speed, especially when compared to the manual face selection used in the second method. More importantly, they are highly versatile because their own parameters make it possible to modify and customize the original pattern, sometimes quite significantly.
Among the disadvantages of this method is the fact that there may not be a procedural mask available for the specific pattern you need. Also, just as with the second method, you will need other solutions for numbers, letters, and additional decorative elements.
Well, that's all for this tutorial! See you next time!