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Personal · 2024

Substrate Material Studies

Car paint, carbon fiber, glass and metals built with Unreal Engine's Substrate material system.

This is a study of the Substrate material system in Unreal Engine 5.3. The new setup excels in blending material types (essentially a LERP of root nodes) down to the pixel, so metal/dielectric can co-exist without any artifacts and various setup (clearcoat, SSS, translucency) can all blend and be part of the final output. While very beneficial for high end real-time rendering, Substrate still needs some optimization and may not be quite ready for game production.

This is a revisit of a previous post, here are the updates: The cube map was updated and high resolution reflections were enabled in addition to better clear coat and glass setups, plus breakdowns of some of the graph constructions are now included.

Substrate Material Studies, image 1
Substrate Material Studies: Carbon Fiber, Dirty
Carbon Fiber, Dirty
Substrate Material Studies: Car Paint (Flake with Clearcoat)
Car Paint (Flake with Clearcoat)
Substrate Material Studies: Car Paint, Dirty (Flake with Clearcoat and Smudges)
Car Paint, Dirty (Flake with Clearcoat and Smudges)
Substrate Material Studies: Brass, Aged with Oily Fingerprints
Brass, Aged with Oily Fingerprints
Substrate Material Studies: Steel
Steel
Substrate Material Studies: Painted Steel - Demonstrates the transition between metal and dielectric that excels in Substrate (by mixing dielectric/metallic slabs)
Painted Steel - Demonstrates the transition between metal and dielectric that excels in Substrate (by mixing dielectric/metallic slabs)
Substrate Material Studies: Marble
Marble
Substrate Material Studies: Bubbles, using iridescent setup
Bubbles, using iridescent setup
Substrate Material Studies: Glass
Glass
Substrate Material Studies: Glass (with checker background for better refraction analysis)
Glass (with checker background for better refraction analysis)
Substrate Material Studies: Dirty Glass
Dirty Glass
Substrate Material Studies: Dirty Glass (with checker background for better refraction analysis)
Dirty Glass (with checker background for better refraction analysis)
Substrate Material Studies: Glass Prop
Glass Prop
Substrate Material Studies: Glass Prop (with checker background for better refraction analysis)
Glass Prop (with checker background for better refraction analysis)
Substrate Material Studies: Brass Breakdown (refer to following 'Standard Opaque Master' image for graph)
Brass Breakdown (refer to following 'Standard Opaque Master' image for graph)
Substrate Material Studies: Steel Breakdown with secondary roughness example (refer to following 'Standard Opaque Master' image for graph)
Steel Breakdown with secondary roughness example (refer to following 'Standard Opaque Master' image for graph)
Substrate Material Studies: Standard Opaque Master Material
Standard Opaque Master Material
Substrate Material Studies: Car Paint Breakdown (refer to following 'Standard Clearcoat Master' image for graph)
Car Paint Breakdown (refer to following 'Standard Clearcoat Master' image for graph)
Substrate Material Studies: Standard Clearcoat Master Material
Standard Clearcoat Master Material