Concrete Material Generator

This is a custom material generator built entirely with procedural nodes in Substance 3D Designer. The purpose of this project was to see how far I can push a single custom node graph to deliver a significant amount of flexibility and functionality. This tool allows for the generation of a virtually unlimited number of custom, concrete-focused PBR textures for use across various apps and engines. Including final renders and presentation, this project took a little over 1.5 months to complete.

2024

Material Art | Technical Art

This project was highlighted by Pierre Maheut (Director, Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships, 3D & Immersive at Adobe) via this LinkedIn post. An early progress update of this project was posted to the Motion Designers Community Instagram page.

The following still renders/breakdowns include just a few material examples I built for the sake of this presentation.

Each procedurally generated effect seamlessly interacts with others in real-time, while building the custom texture maps.

A couple of early tests from the development of the generator.

Custom mask and pattern input support.

Preset Material Examples (as shown throughout this presentation). Previewed in Substance 3D Designer, using OpenGL.

Large Crack Erosion (Height Map Customization Example)

Base Rocks (Height Map Customization Example)

Small Cracks "Type 1" (Height Map Customization Example)

Small Cracks "Type 2" (Height Map Customization Example)

Rebar [with Erosion] (Height Map Customization Example)

Sparse Erosion (Height Map Customization Example)

Surface Textures (Height Map Customization Example)

Surface Holes (Height Map Customization Example)

Pipe Access Covers "Type 1" and "Type 2" (Height Map Customization Example)

Creating a scalable organization system early on in development was paramount.

Many of the Function Graph examples shown here are widely reused and are only slightly modified to fit each of their respective nodes. The flexibility these relatively simple equations offered was vital to the overall user experience.