Substance Painter: Snap to edge/vertex with path tool. Also valuable with brush tool

[Journeyman05]

If I wish to add painted embellishments that follow modeled geometry, it's suprisingly difficult to be precise, even with the newish Path tool. My goal is often to snap a painted line along an edge, or to snap a brush stroke to an edge or vertex, and I cannot find a way to do this precisely; I keep needing to zoom wayyy in to wiggle path control points around to get the paint to fold around corners and follor edges reliably.

[Cyril Dellenbach]

Hi @Journeyman05,

Thank you for the suggestion.

I couldn't agree more. Substance 3D Painter would benefit of a deeper understanding of the model's geometry in general.

Regards,

[Just Another Rappy5C4A]

I agree, this sounds like a great feature to have. I would also like to suggest adding a wireframe setting with additional options, particularly for highlighting elements like vertices and adjusting the opacity of the wireframe.

Another related idea would be an option to offset a curve path from a set of snapped edges. As for how to offset it, I’m not entirely sure, but using normals could be a possibility. Alternatively, implementing a method similar to sliding edge loops in a 3D application, potentially with some smoothing involved, could be very interesting. I would be super excited to see something like this.

[Just Another Rappy5C4A]

I had another quick idea: What if we could quickly generate paths along an edge selection? A more advanced, though less likely, version could involve a system that references vertices or base geometry, allowing individual points to snap and project specific brushes or patterns across a large section, making it easier to work over seams. However, the performance for this latter approach might be quite demanding.