Substance Painter Extends Layer Referencing With New Anchors

Allegorithmic introduces a new system for referencing make and layers with Substance Painters summer release. A new Anchors system lets you create Anchor Points which can then be referenced by other layers, effects and generators. Now you can tell any resource or element within Substance Painter’s layer stack to reference different areas in your project.

This summer release introduces the concept of Anchor Points, or References, while also bringing new scripting options, new filters, and an overall performance boost.

“We updated all the default generators to allow them to take advantage of the new Anchor Points. Each generator now features 2 new inputs: Micro Normal and Micro Height as well as a set of settings to control how these inputs blend with the baked information.” Allegorithmic says of the new feature.

The new Anchors system transforms SP to a truly nonlinear experience. For example, you can create new surface details to the normals of an asset, and with the new Anchors system, you can have a project’s edge wear generator affect the new layers, even though it didn’t exist during the initial bake process.

Check out The 3D Ninja, Wes McDermott’s example showing off the new Anchors in action. The system can be analogous to a tagging system, and takes a bit of setup. Once it’s all set though, it’s an extremely powerful feature.