Substance Painter Tutorial for Beginner

1. Start a New Project

• Open a new Substance Painter project.
• Go to File → New.
• Set the Document Resolution to what your system can handle (recommended: 2048).
• Keep DirectX as the Normal Map format.
• Select and import your “Axe” model.

2. Viewport & Navigation Controls

• Alt + Left Click → rotate model
• Alt + Middle Mouse → pan
• Scroll wheel → zoom in/out
• Shift + Right Click → rotate HDRI light

3. Bake Mesh Maps

• Go to Texture Set Settings.
• Scroll to Bake Mesh Maps.
• Set resolution to 2048 or 4096.
• Set Anti-Aliasing to 4x or 16x.
• Click Bake Selected Maps.
• Wait for all maps to complete before painting.

4. Prepare Material Groups

You create groups for different parts of the axe:

4.1 Create Wood Group

• Add a Fill Layer.
• Assign a wood color.
• Press Ctrl + G to group → rename group Wood.
• Right-click on the group → Add Black Mask.
• Use Mesh Fill to select only wooden parts.

4.2 Create Leather Group

• Add new Fill Layer → choose leather-like color.
• Group it (Ctrl + G) → name Leather.
• Add Black Mask.
• Use Mesh Fill to select only leather straps.

4.3 Create Metal Group

• Add new Fill Layer → choose steel/metal color.
• Group it → name Metal.
• Add Black Mask.
• Use Mesh Fill to select all metal parts.

5. Apply Smart Materials

Wood

• Open Smart Materials.
• Choose a wood preset and drag it onto the Wood group.

Leather

• Drag a leather smart material onto the Leather group.

Metal

• Drag a metal or rusty metal smart material onto the Metal group.

6. Add Dirt & Wear (Optional)

• Add a Fill Layer on top.
• Choose a dark brown color for dirt.
• Add Black Mask.
• Right-click mask → Add Generator.
• Select the Dirt generator.
• Adjust sliders to control edge dirt, cavity dirt, and grunge intensity.

7. Export Textures

• Go to File → Export Textures.
• Choose a folder for output.
• Set resolution to 4K (4096).
• Choose template: Blender (Principled BSDF).
• Click Export.

8. Import Textures Into Blender

• Open Blender.
• Split screen → open Shader Editor.
• Delete the default Principled BSDF nodes.
• Press Shift + T → select all exported textures.
• Blender automatically connects them to the Principled shader.
• The model is now fully textured.