Xolotl Substance Plugin for Blender

This add-on allows you to import substance files (*.sbsar) into Blender and create materials from them. 

Since the SBSAR format is proprietary and protected by Substance3D, to use this Plug-in is required that you have installed the Substance Automation Toolkit  which is not included here, you need to directly download it from Substance3D's website. 

Version 2.1.3 compatible with Blender 2.9.1

Requirements

• Blender 2.8+
• Substance Automation Toolkit 2019.3.0 and higher

Installation

You can see a video about this here.

For the Substance Automation Toolkit

1. Follow the process to install the Substance Automation Toolkit. 

For the XOL-SBSAR

1. Download the zip file. 
2. Install the zip via blender preferences.

Once installed you will need to configure some preferences:

1. Check if "SAT PATH" is set to the correct path of your SAT
2. Click the  "Connect SAT" button
3. Define  a default output path*
4. Define a name for the relative path*
5. If you want to use the "Substance Gallery"** add the path where your substances are located.
6. Restart Blender
7. Check in the "Shader Editor" for the "Xolotl" tab

*The output path is the directory where the baked textures will be saved every time you create a material. 

** If you want to save the textures next to the *.blend you are using, enable the "Use Relative Path" checkbox, define a name in relative path and make sure your file has been saved at least once.

Add-on Preferences

You can see a video about this here.

SAT Path --> The path where the Substance Automation Toolkit is installed

Connect SAT --> A button that connects the Substance Automation Toolkit to Blender

Output Path --> A path where the baked textures will be saved if "Use Relative Path" is disabled

Relative Path --> The name of the folder where the baked textures will be saved. This folder is located next to the current .blend if the file has been saved at least once

SBSAR Engine --> [GPU/CPU]  Engine that will be used to bake the textures

Texture Default Format --> Format to use for output textures. Formats Supported: dds, bmp, jpg, jif, jpeg, jpe, png, tga, targa, tif, tiff, wap, wbmp, wbm, psd, psb, hdr, exr, webp 

Height Scale --> Initial amount for the height map if applicable

Emission Intensity --> Initial amount for the emission intensity if applicable

Resolution--> Size of the baked textures. If the lock is enabled 'x' and 'y' will be the same

Tiling--> Times a texture will be tiled. If the lock is enabled 'x' and 'y' will be the same

Use Relative Path--> If enabled, the baked textures will be saved within the same folder the current .blend file is saved. Inside the path defined in "Relative Path"

Auto-refresh render--> If enabled, while rendering (especially Cycles) will be stop and restarted when the textures are reloaded

Assign to selected object--> If enabled, once a material is created, this will be assigned to the object selected

Live update (experimental)--> If enabled, every time there is a change in a parameter of a substance. The textures will be baked. *This feature can be performance intensive

How to use it

You can see a video about this here

1. Search for the add-on panel in the Shader Editor
2. Click the 'Xolotl' tab
3. If you are using the version 2.0.4:
   1. On top you will see "File Path" browse and select the substance you want to add.
   2. If you have the "Live Update" enabled, the material will be created
   3. If not, click create material to create the material.
4. If you are using the version 2.1.0:
   1. On top, if you had added the library path, you will see a preview image of a material. Browse through your library and click on the substance you want. 
   2. If you have the "Live Update" enabled, the material will be created
   3. If not, click create material to create the material.

In the panel we have five sections:

• Substance Information - displays the information of the substance we are using.  
• Output configuration - here we defined properties for the baked textures
• Outputs - available output maps from the substance
• Parameters - here we make the changes to the substance
• Technical Parameters

Substances Gallery

You can see a video about this here

*This is only available in version 2.1.0+

This feature allows you to have a visualization of your materials. Making faster to browse through your sbsar files.  You just need to set a Library Path and generate the previews with the generate previews button. 

If you want to change the files path, just remember to refresh the gallery with the refresh library button.

Now you can have a list of your substances folders for quick access.