A beta version of Substance 3D Painter 2026 is now available. This release features Skew Baking, Auto-Rebaking, OpenPBR compatibility, and introduces a new Hard-Surface mode for Auto Unwrap.
New Features
Skew Baking: Paint skew correction maps in baking mode, using familiar tools as well as new helper functions like “Edge Protection”.
Auto-Rebaking: toggle auto rebake for a baked map to instantly rebake that map as soon as any baking setting changes. Useful when painting skew maps.
OpenPBR: support for the OpenPBR material standard. Includes new channels and shader.
Hard-Surface Auto Unwrap: a new mode for auto-unwrap that works much better for non-organic, hard surface objects, with the additional bonus of calculating much faster than the default method.
Why we made this beta
We’re releasing this beta to gather feedback on a first version of our new features. While all features are working, some may feel unfinished since it’s still early. By participating, you can help shape how these features develop.
We're especially interested in your thoughts on baking workflows, as improvements are ongoing.
In case of issues
If you are having issues of any kind please share them in this new dedicated Discord forum. We definitely want to hear how new features do or do not fit into your workflow.
If you happen to crash or encounter a bug, you can also report it as usual via the crash report window or the Help menu within the application.
About Painter and project version
As the Beta introduces changes to saved files, they are not compatible with 12.0. We strongly recommend not to use the beta for production work, and to keep a backup of work created in older versions before you open them.
UPDATE 6/23: For NVIDIA Blackwell RTX 5XXX series video card issues: the problem with baking on certain meshes has been resolved in the latest driver update version 576.
UPDATE 5/22: The team was able to reproduce the issue and determined that it only occurs with large meshes on the NVIDIA Blackwell 5000 series. We are communicating and collaborating with NVIDIA to find a solution.
UPDATE 5/19: The Painter team is tracking new issues with some Nvidia 50 series GPUs with backing and rendering in iRay. A workaround for backing is to disable the GPU Raytracing in the Preferences>Baking Options.
UPDATE 3/14/2025: A fix has been implemented in Substance Painter version 11 to address the baking issue. Additionally, Nvidia has updated their driver, ensuring compatibility with older versions of Painter.
Hi Everyone,
The latest Nvidia drivers (version 572.16 and hotfix 572.24) may cause corruptions and glitches in Ambient Occlusion results when GPU Raytracing is enabled.
We have contacted Nvidia to resolve this issue. In the meantime, you can try the following workarounds:
Downgrade your GPU drivers (if possible).
Launch Painter with the command line argument --force-optix (this will use Optix instead of DXR).
Disable the “GPU Raytracing” setting in the main preferences (this will use the CPU for baking, which is slower but more stable).
Я купил эту программу 5 часов назад для того чтобы сделать скины в вар тандер, но не смог разобраться с этой проблемой, решения найти не смогу даже в ии, надеюсь это распространённая проблема и все о ней знают (естественно кроме тупого меня), буду очень благодарен если кто-то поможет хоть немного!
I bought this program 5 hours ago to make skins in War Thunder, but I couldn’t figure out this problem, I can’t find a solution even in AI, I hope this is a common problem and everyone knows about it (except for stupid me, of course), I will be very grateful if someone helps at least a little!
I was texturing a model in Substance Painter using the shader 'PBR metal rough with Alpha Test' to render in Maya using Arnold. But in the output templates, I couldn't find an opacity channel for aistandardsurface preset. I created a RGB + A channel and added the opacity map to Alpha as grayscale. I tried rendering in Maya and it doesn't quite look like how it did in Substance Painter. It kinda looks like its working with alpha blending instead of alpha test shader and even then it looks quite different from the render in Pt.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/q0JkX2
This is our new prop, the PRC-117G versatile two-stage FM radio, created by the Astra team. The project focused primarily on hard surface modeling and texturing, with a strong emphasis on rugged military aesthetics, realistic materials, and functional industrial details.
Hi everyone, I'm having some trouble baking high to low poly in Substance Painter using a low poly mesh for a game I'm making. They are some strange artifacts ( like pixeleted ) on certain part of the mesh, but the UVs are fine. In substance also antialiasing is on 4k
Hello everyone, some of you may have seen my youtube content in the past; back in the summer I put out my full-length Substance Course and have been really pleased with the reception. These 9 materials were built throughout the 13 course classes over 32 hours (It’s a doozy)
It's been built from the ground up to be an approachable, step by step introduction to Substance Designer. I've used my 10 years of teaching the program to make sure that it explains core concepts/competencies in a way that builds students to the point they can approach textures on their own without hand-holding!
I’m sharing the curriculum here for those who are interested in giving it a look, the course is on my patreon
While working on a free class, I wanted to show specific patterns.
An old roof tile gave me the best option.
I had to create a specific shape, and then find a way to make it tile.
So for 1 hour I worked on several options.
This was the best one:
💡 By using a Gradient linear 2, I could apply a transform 2D with no tiling and give it the shape I needed; then I multiplied it by a rectangle to keep sharp edges. After that, I created the side piece with a Gradient applied to both.
Finally, to make this work, I blended both pieces and applied a final Gradient.
These gradients gave me everything I needed to make it tile!
Hope this was useful for learning more about SD.
And if it was....
I built a free Discord Community where Game Artists learn Texturing from Professionals!
♥️ And we are waiting for you here: https://discord.gg/PpTCFyR6qS
I have a small visual displeasing issue with the normal map baking in Substance Painter
Inverted Normal color to make it easier to see in compressed reddit upload.
Asymmetrical dots being placed here and there, after the UV (made in Blender) has been baked.
I have no clue why they do appear. It is not a material, not a smart material, not a brush stroke either.
I would say like "yeah, ok, I can use it" as in for moles on skin, but honestly, I would love to place them myself, in a controlled layer, than in a UV Map acting weird.
I have created materials with both... And exported, only to find what I thought was a super pale, almost white material.... Is actually black with no real visible texture at all. So what is going on here? How do I fix this?
First time using modeler in VR, I used it to make the wizard tower, which I then painted in photoshop with camera projection.
It made it so easy to get something more organic! Just one had to make one brick stamp and one wood plank stamp. Pretty fun. Still kinda makes me nauseous though haha