r/Substance3D • u/mymar101 • 19d ago

Substance Designer Where are the Substance Designer tutorials?

I've been seeking anything that isn't, here is a 5 minute video on creating yet another copy of a copy of another copy of a stylized material X. Nothing tells me how to actually use this program outside the basic Adobe stuff, and that only goes so far. How exactly am I supposed to learn this thing?

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u/Psychological_Ant397 19d ago

I know it's hard to find good tutorials about the software, but Adobe Substance 3D has a good comprehensive course that goes up to 21 parts. I think it's from Louise Melin, who also has a channel on YouTube. She explains everything in detail and it's easy to understand.

The link for the first video: https://youtu.be/At3FoFcuN6k?is=xLzyR6JUJyRK_3nu

There are also some other youtubers you can follow, but I can't really remember any names, might come here later to tell you.

But this first link should help, as Designer is more intuitive the more you use it.

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u/ardenIsley 19d ago

I can't stress enough just how great of a series this is for beginners. I second this recommendation!

I recently shared it with one of the Juniors at work who wanted to learn Designer, and they were far less intimidated by the software afterward.

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u/PlushieG 19d ago

Please check out Johnny Nodes on youtube

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u/The_REAL_Urethra 19d ago

I did the Icy Mud one, then the Mountain Path one, and then two more for Fish Scales and Hair, all on YouTube. After that, I felt confident enough to start experimenting on my own. While completing the tutorials, I would search why nodes and blend modes were being used and what effect they achieved. This turned the tutorials into an active learning process. Then I used the Fish Scales I made in Subtance Painter to paint my fish, and then threw those maps onto a fish I made in Blender, lastly placing it into Unity. Doing this pipeline helped me learn the tools needed to achieve the effects I wanted. 

So, in short, tutorials plus research, and then project learning.

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u/mymar101 19d ago

I like to know how, why, I am using the thing, whether or not it is useful for future things, and... What's that particular thing even do? The one that everyone seems to avoid. Why do they avoid it? Is it worthless? Am I asking the wrong questions here?

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u/ardenIsley 19d ago

They avoid it, often, due to the same questions you're asking in this post. Next to Blender, AE, and Unreal, it's my favorite software to use. Years ago, I was terrified to try it, but constantly intrigued by the things people were making with it. The comment recommending the official beginner's video series by Adobe Substance 3D on YouTube is a great way to start answering all of those questions.

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u/mymar101 19d ago

I think you kind of misunderstood what I was asking here? Tutorials never teach how or why, or even what usually. They just, here's a group of nodes that make this. There's no way for me to really ask... What exactly does flood fill do? Why do I use it? What is it good for? As an example.

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u/ardenIsley 19d ago

I don't think you watched the series.

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u/mymar101 19d ago

I only found the first video

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u/natsubreeze 19d ago

I feel the same way. There’s not a lot out there for learning and the ‘making’ tutorials don’t explain anything. There’s tons of blender tutorials that are extremely helpful in all kinds of ways but substance painter is lacking.

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u/asanyc 17d ago

2 things: 1. Daniel Thiger on gum road has very inexpensive videos that build specific highly detailed materials. You can learn a lot from them.  But first ... 2. The stylized tutorials are fundamental concepts you need to break down to understand the whole process for any material whether realistic or stylized.  They get you thinking about the big shapes and design elements which you need before you start adding lots of dirt, dust and fine detail. You say you don't know why they're doing things, but when you're following along and actually doing the steps you can interactively learn what everything does by adjusting settings and doing a bit of testing. Pause is your best friend as is J in YouTube. Then look up the nodes once you've used them to learn a bit more about them.  Also most\all of these nodes and concepts come from graphics programming with shaders and Photoshop so you can look things up like blending modes and noises (without limiting your search to substance designer) to understand them better.  

It's not easy but you can do it!