Make the mesh file path relative, or an option for having it be that for easier collaboration

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
October 20, 2025
3 replies
93 views

I share my Substance Painter projects with others via cloud drives, and we keep the files alongside the mesh files (typically FBX) in the same folder, or in a neighboring subfolder. But reloading the mesh file after it's been changed often requires going the long way of Edit menu > Project Configuration. This is instead of simply hitting Ctrl + Shift + R to reload the file, because the last person who edited the file don't have the same absolute path to the mesh file. Could we have an option in project creation, and in Project Configuration to store a relative path in the project instead?

Example absolute paths...

"C:\Users\me\Nextcloud\Bridge House Materials\Mesh\BridgeHouse.fbx"

"C:\Users\them\Nextcloud\Bridge House Materials\Mesh\BridgeHouse.fbx"

"F:\Nextcloud\Bridge House Materials\Mesh\BridgeHouse.fbx"

Relative path for all:

..\Mesh\BridgeHouse.fbx

Nyx XaosAuthor

Inspiring

Having read up on the reprojection, @Cyril Dellenbach, I understand better what you mean.

Occasionally we need to adjust some masks, but using ID maps (by way of vertex colours) the work is usually tiny. Manual detail painting is something we keep until late in the process, so that's not a major issue. Painting paths have certainly made it easier to fix up issues due to reloading the mesh!

Nyx XaosAuthor

Inspiring

Hello and thank you for responding!

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "reprojection feature"?

We update the mesh often in our workflow, as we see things needing to change such as UVs, or reassigning materials in Blender (equates to texture sets in SP). It's a lot of back and forth. We are hobbyist, not professionals in any way, figuring things out as we go.

Thank you again!

Cyril Dellenbach

Community Manager

Hi @Nyx Xaos,

Thank you for the suggestion.

Substance Painter embbed almost every resources used in the project. In fact, that's why .SPP files can become a bit heavy, but that's also why it's very easy to share a project without losing resources.

However, as you mentioned it, it's true that the mesh's path is absolute, so if you need to reload an updated mesh, you'll need to relocate it. I'll share this inconvenience with the team.

I'm really curious, are you often reloading meshes in Painter? We know that the reprojection feature can be tedious to use properly. Don't you face problems with that workflow?

Let me know.

Cyril Dellenbach (Micro) | QA Support Artist | Adobe

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