ES-Shape
Procedural Shape Generator For Substance 3D Hosts
Shapes in Substance 3D hosts
ES-Shape 2.0 generates shapes into Substance 3D hosts, Painter, Sampler, Designer, but also third party hosts such as Blender. With a uniform interface across hosts, design simple or complex shapes and integrate them with the own functionalities of the host.
In Substance 3D Sampler, ES-Shape is designed to work smoothly with the Embroidery filter, enabling to create embroidery motifs directly into Sampler. In Substance 3D Painter, ES-Shape may be used as a decal to create procedural masks integrated into your layers.
Coming with many examples, video tutorials and documentation, ES-Shape is also free for personal use!
What's new in 2.0?
ES-Shape 2.0 brings the tool to all supporting Substance 3D platforms such as Painter and Sampler, and nearly doubles the amount of functionalities since 1.x. Among the new features are:
- Multi-host: specific variants of ES-Shape for Sampler, Painter (decal) and generic hosts.
- Multi-Curves: a drawing type enabling a single component to draw several curves, related by progressions on various attributes.
- Sweep effect: samples the shape multiple times with progressions along luminosity, size, direction etc.
- Radial Symmetry: layout shapes in circle with various operating attributes, works great with the Sweep effect.
- Custom Modulation: draw your own modulation with a Curve node.
- Effect ordering: main effects may be applied in any order, leading to different results.
- New effects: outline, pre/post rotations, partially reversed symmetry and other improvements.
- Styling: dashed, variable-dashed and dotted curves.
- Partial component drawing and partial modulation.
- Step Drawing: various options to use custom patterns.
- Relative Thickness: drawing thickness relative to drawing position.
- Modularity: in Designer, drawing and effects may be used separately enabling to chain effects and improve performance.
- Parametric Profiles: applying to Thickness and Luminosity, enable to define profiles using parameters only (without using Curve nodes).
- All new Tutorial Series with more than 50 short videos.
- And numerous improvements in several areas of the tool.
Shape Components
ES-Shape articulates around Components, being independent entities within an ES-Shape instance. Each of the five Components of an ES-Shape instance may define its own shape and properties, or be linked together to create more complex shapes, while other properties are common to all the components.
The distribution of ES-Shape properties between specific per Component and global to all Components enable to design complex shapes with a very little amount of ES-Shape instances, a single one in most cases.
Each design below was made using a single ES-Shape instance/node:
Multi-Curves
Multi-Curves, introduced in version 2.0 of ES-Shape, enable to generate multiple curves sharing a common path, handling progressions among them on various attributes such as length, thickness, luminosity and randomization of properties.
Modulations
Modulation enables to distort the path of a curve repeatidly, for example to create waves, crenels etc. Modulations have several properties, including distortion enabling to bend or reverse them, and partial modulation applying to a portion of the Component only.
ES-Shape supports built-in as well as custom modulations:
- Waves
- Pseudo-triangle
- Pseudo-square (multiple modes)
- Arcade
- Custom - Available for Substance 3D Designer, shape your own modulation with a Curve node.
Effects
Effects are applied to Components after they are being drawn, globally affecting the design. The ordering of the main effects can be chosen, leading to a variety of outcomes just changing the ordering. Here are the main available effects:
- Basic Symmetry - Horizontal, vertical, horizontal+vertical mirror as well as partial inversion (symmetry on one axis and reversed on the other).
- Radial Symmetry - Distributes shape samples into a circle with several properties.
- Fill Closed Shapes - Fills up closed shapes.
- Sweep - Repeats the design multiple times with variations on several attributes such as position, luminosity etc.
- Outline - Creates an outline of configurable width and luminosity around the shapes.
- Invert - Inverts luminosity levels.
- 3D Transform - Simulates rotation of the shape in 3D space.
Below are a few examples of Sweep and Radial Symmetry effects:
Feature Rich
ES-Shape includes many other features to help artist create shapes, here are some of them:
- Relative Thickness - Variable drawing thickness relative to position properties of the Component parts.
- Styling - Dashed, dotted curves etc.
- Custom Patterns - Provide custom drawing patterns to draw along curve paths.
- Luminosity and Thickness Profiles - Control luminosity and thickness along the Component's length using profile.
- Snap To Grid - Snap Control Points to a virtual grid for better precision.
- Auto-close Shapes - Create an open shape and close it automatically.
- Partial Visibility - Components may be partially displayed without altering their properties.
And more...
Tutorial Series
ES-Shape comes with a series of short tutorial videos, each one detailing a specific feature, so you may discover the tool step by step, at your own pace. Videos are available with the package and also online.
ES-Shape also comes with a written documentation detailing the function of each paramater.
ES-Shape is free for evaluation and Personal Use, check the links below to try it!
