Substance Painter: Complete Guide to Download, Import and Use New Materials to Texture With (3 Ways)
Substance Painter comes with a decent amount of starter content materials to use.
But there are many material types it doesn’t have. You will find yourself wanting to have more.
You can create your own with Substance Designer but that takes time to learn and implement. Sometimes you want to download something new quickly to texture with.
Here is how to download, import or install and start using new materials in Substance Painter.
Video Tutorial
Material File Types
There are 2 material types you will use in Substance Painter: SBSAR and SPSM.
- SBSAR: basic material
- SPSM: smart material
Each file type requires to be placed into specific folder location for it to work.
Where to Download Additional Materials
You can download additional materials to use from:
- Official Creative Cloud Marketplace
- Any website where the user is letting you download SBSAR or SPSM file types
There are two ways to get access to the Marketplace.
First is through Substance Painter by clicking on the icon:
Second is through Creative Cloud by going to Stock and Marketplace and 3D tab:
Option 1: Manually Downloading and Installing Materials
The first option will allow you to download the files and manually place them into specific folders.
These materials will then be always available upon Substance Painter start.
Download the material file:
Navigate to C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Adobe\Adobe Substance 3D Painter\assets
Replace USERNAME with your user name.
Tip: You may create subfolders within these folders to organize your usable materials.
In Substance Painter under the library section, search for the material. Then begin to use it.
Option 2: Importing from Substance Painter
Second option will allow you to import materials directly into Substance Painter with additional options.
In Substance Painter, go to File > Import Resources:
Select Add Resources and choose which materials you want to import:
Define Import Your Resources to: current session, project or library:
- Current Session: will only keep the material files in the library section for the active session. Once Substance Painter is closed, the imported section will no longer be available in the library to use.
- Project: into the existing project you have open. The material files will be saved into the library for this project only.
- Library: materials will be imported into Substance Painter library for you to use anytime. These files will be copied into C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Adobe\Adobe Substance 3D Painter\assets folder and upon Substance Painter restart will be always available in the library.
If you ever see Undefined in the import resources section, change it to basematerial:
You can then filter by imported Materials in the Library section by clicking on the arrow icon and choosing All libraries, your project, Starter assets or your assets. This helps to see only what you imported or everything available in Substance Painter:
Option 3: Send to App
Third option is the quickest and easiest but doesn’t offer any options.
In the Marketplace, click on Send to App and choose Substance Painter:
This will download and send the material to Substance Painter. It will place the file into the correct folder directory and it will become available in your Library.
The folder directory that the file will be placed is C:\Users\Alexander\Documents\Adobe\Adobe Substance 3D Painter\assets
And if it is an SBSAR, which most materials in the Marketplace are, it will be in the materials folder.
Send to App will make this material always accessible any time when you launch Substance Painter.
Substance painter material parameters
Hi, been trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong for far too long but I’m following a tutorial ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYC_ElMLxX0&list=RDCMUC-toy9WMImypmLAiU9h_SzQ&index=5 ) and whenever he adds a material to the brush or object like in the first image he still gets the option to add texture maps to his roughness.
However, when I add a material to the brush or object I lose that option like in the second photo.
Any help would be appreciated.
How do I import downloaded materials to Clip Studio Paint?
Materials downloaded from CLIP STUDIO ASSETS can be loaded by dragging and dropping from the download folder of the material palette.
Brush materials can be loaded into the subtool palette, and image materials can be dragged onto the canvas.
Example: For brushes
Example: For image material
Since the loading method differs depending on the type of material, please refer to the following list for detailed procedures for each type of material.
Please also check here for loading instructions for tablet and smartphone versions.
Type of material
| Layer type | Tool type |
| Image material | Brush |
| Layer | Tool settings (others) |
| Balloon | Gradient |
| Animation | Gradient set |
| Framing template | |
| Layer template | |
| 3D type | Other |
| 3D character | Color Set |
| 3D Object | Auto Action |
| Body shape | Workspace |
| Pose | |
| 3D Primitive | |
| Panorama | |
| 3D head |
How to check the material type
If you are not sure what the material type is, use the following steps to check.
Tablet/Computer
If you are using the Simple Mode on the tablet, see here.
1. Select any category in the Window > Material menu
2. When the Material palette appears, select Download from the list at the left.
3. From the list of downloaded materials, select the material you want to import.
4. Tap the “Show details” button at the bottom of the Material palette to show information about the material.
After confirming the type of material, go to the list of material types to check the steps for importing the material.
Smartphone
If you are using the Simple Mode, see here.
1. Select the Material palette from the palette bar, and tap the Save folder for materials icon.
2. In the Save folder for materials dialog, select the Download folder and tap OK.
3. From the list of downloaded materials, select the material you want to import.
4. Tap the “Show details” button at the bottom of the Material palette to show information about the material.
After confirming the type of material, go to the list of material types to check the steps for importing the material.