Substance Designer for Architectural Visualization

Course details

Creating procedural materials is an important part of a modern visualization workflow, for both real-time and rendered applications. In this course, learn how to quickly create a variety of architectural materials in Allegorithmic Substance Designer, for application in design-visualization projects. Structured as a series of case studies on common material types such as carpet, vinyl flooring, and ceiling tile, this course incorporates techniques for crafting custom materials as needed for a design while staying true to the manufacturer's intentions. Discover how to create height, normal, and ambient occlusion maps for your substances, mask pattern components to simulate custom material blending such as mixed tile, and more.

Learning objectives
Creating acoustic ceiling tile
Adjusting tile roughness
Adding ambient occlusion
Creating vinyl flooring
Using noise to modulate metalness
Creating a color base
Adjusting the size of a fine pattern
Tracing an image in Adobe Illustrator
Creating a cast concrete surface

Concepts

Introduction

create photorealistic arch viz materials with substance designer
what you need to know

Creating Acoustic Ceiling Tile (ACT-1)

establishing the tile height
adding surface detail
creating the normal map
adjusting roughness and metalness
adding ambient occlusion
using a height map to add to the normal
challenge - how to test down-facing materials
solution - changing the sample geometry

Creating Vinyl Flooring (LVT-2)

starting the herringbone
creating horizontal rows
creating vertical rows
blending the herringbone rows
randomizing surface slope
adjusting roughness
adding color to the albedo
using noise to modulate metalness
exposing hues in the herringbone

Creating Vinyl Flooring (LVT-1)

creating a color base
arranging the herringbone pattern
creating a base material
adjusting roughness
using noise to modulate metalness
normal map and final adjustments

Creating Vinyl Flooring (LVT-3)

matching the manufacturer's colors
creating a color base sheet
adding edge darkness
adjusting the size of a fine pattern
using noise to modulate metalness

Creating Carpet Tile (CPT-1)

creating the micro-pattern in grayscale
creating the macro-pattern in grayscale
adding color to the macro-pattern
blending the pattern colors
creating the normal map
fine-tuning metalness and roughness

Drawing Crazy Pattern Materials (TX-1)

tracing an image in adobe illustrator
creating a normal map
generating a roughness map
crafting subtle metallic properties
creating the albedo
setting up a function to swap colors

Creating a Cast Concrete Surface

establishing a form tie pattern
creating the form panels
combining the normal map
subtracting small surface bubbles
adjusting the roughness
calibrating the occlusion and metalness
creating the varied albedo

Substance Designer for Architectural Visualization

Authors

Adam Crespi