Old PBR Painter Tutorials
This page contains all of the old tutorials for PBR Painter 2. These are not listed on YouTube but can still be accessed directly through the links below, should you find them useful!
PBR Painter 2.4
PBR Painter 2.4 was the final version in the PBR Painter 2 series! Check out everything that was added in this version:
Getting Started
Installation and Loading the PBR Painter Workspace
When you purchase PBR Painter, you will have access to the .zip file that contains the entire addon package.
This can be installed in Blender using the normal approach:
Updating to New Versions
If you already have an old version of PBR Painter installed, and wish to update to a new version, please follow the following steps:
Setting up the Asset Browser (Blender 3.x and 4.x Only)
If you are using Blender 3, it is recommended that you choose an asset directory, within the addon preferences. This will create a new filepath to tell Blender where you're PBR Painter assets will be stored.
Overview of the Main UI
Everythign you need to know about the main UI and panels in PBR Painter is explained here:
Introduction to Layered Texturing
PBR Painter uses a layer-based system to allow you to build complex and realistic looking materials. While the details behind this system are complex, the general concepts are easy to understand and intuitive. This part of the documentation is focused on explaining these concepts, both generally and specific to PBR Painter.
General Concepts and Ideas
The video below explains the general concepts behind layered texturing, and is a great introduction if you have no experience working with layers.
PBR Painter Layer Types explained
The specific layer types used within PBR Painter are explained in the video below. This video explains exactly how each layer works and how best to use them for your materials.
Layer Masks
Layer masks are a critical component of any layer based texturing system. Masks let you choose where on the model your layers should appear, which can be achieved in numerous ways, including using procedural effects, texture painting, image textures and much more.
This section of the documentation is dedicated to explaining how and why to use masks more generally, while also covering the masks that are available in PBR Painter.
Introduction to Layer Masks
The video below introduces layer masks generally, and explains the masking system used in PBR Painter. With this video you should be able to understand the concepts behind masking and also be able to implement masks into your own PBR Painter workflow.
PBR Painter Masks Explained
There are many different masks in PBR Painter, and therefore the video below is dedicated to explaining each of these individually. This will give you an overview of what is available in the addon so you can use these masks more effectively in your own projects.
Using the Asset Browser in Blender 3 & 4
The asset browser is a powerful tool, which was released as part of Blender 3.0. The asset browser, generally speaking, allows you to save and reuse your Blender assets in different projects, meaning you don't have to redo the same work over and over again, thereby saving precious time and energy.
The asset browser is perfectly suited to be used with PBR Painter, however the setup is not intuitive. Therefore, the video below is dedicated to explaining the asset browser more generally and exactly how it works, while also explaining how to use it most effectively within PBR Painter.
ID Maps
ID Maps provide a valuable way to segment your model using colours. Essentially, an ID Map assigns different colours to different parts of your model, which is then used to mask your layers in different ways.
The video below explains ID Maps more generally and provides a step-by-step tutorial showing how to use them in PBR Painter.
Baking
PBR Painter offers a comprehensive baking system, allowing you to take your complex, multilayer materials and turn them into a set of textures. Below are two videos explaining the various baking features in PBR Painter, with the first covering the basics and the second covering the more advanced features.
Basics
This video gives an overview of PBR Painter's baking system, explaining how to take your finished material and turn it into a set of baked textures.
Advanced
This video explains the advanced features in PBR Painter's baking system, mostly related to channel-packing.
Hands-On Tutorials
In addition to the Fundamentals tutorial videos mentioned throughout this documentation, there are also a number of hands-on tutorials available. These are essential as they put your theoretical understanding of the addon to use in real projects.
These tutorials are currently separated into two separate YouTube series: Making Materials and Project-Based Tutorials.
Making Materials
Making Materials is dedicated to making different materials with PBR Painter, covering topics such as procedural textures, masking, decal painting and much more.
Episode 1 - Procedural Rust
This hands-on tutorial demonstrate how to use PBR Painter to generate amazing and tuneable procedural rust, which can be applied to your favourite metal materials. This video gives a great overview of some of the key features in PBR Painter, including masking and procedural texturing.
Episode 2 - Decal Painting
This video demonstrates how to take advantage of PBR Painter's amazing decal painting features. Learn how to quickly paint on your favourite decal onto a material, with complete control of the roughness, metallic, normals etc. of the decal.
Episode 3 - Normal Stamps
Similar to Episode 3, this video demonstrates how to use PBR Painter's decal painting process to add normal (or bump) stamps to your materials. Check it out below!
Episode 4 - Peeling Paint
This video is a step-by-step guide showing how to make realistic looking peeling paint masks using PBR Painter's layered masking system.
Episode 5 - Photorealistic Puddles
This video shows how to create photorealistic puddles within Blender using PBR Painter 2.4.
Project-Based Tutorials
Project-Based Tutorials are focused on texturing real 3D models, and show how to best take advantage of PBR Painter's layered texturing system to texture your models. These tutorials cover everything from masking and ID maps, through to importing textures and hand-painting imperfections and other details. These are highly recommended for beginner to intermediate PBR Painter users.
Episode 1 - Viking Shield
This hands-on tutorial will guide you from start to finish texturing a viking shield model. Learn a bunch of PBR Painter's most important features, such texture importing and mapping, ID maps, layer masking, decal painting and much more, while actually making an interesting and useful asset!