topic Re: Problems Creating An ID Map For Substance Painter! in Maya Forum

Problems Creating An ID Map For Substance Painter!

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 22:02:05 GMT

Hello everyone!

I've created a model of a large crate in SketchUp and exported it as an OBJ file. I've then imported the OBJ file into Maya 2017 because SketchUp has this annoying habit of not having the vertices connected for some starnge reason. So in Maya I've joined up the vertices using the Merge tool and exported it as an OBJ file again, replacing the one I imported.

I've then used UV Layout Pro to do the UV Map and saved the changes to the OBJ file.

I need to create an ID Map and convert it to an FBX file because it seems that the developers of UV Layout Pro are the ONLY people on the planet that work with OBJ files, the world and his wife just use FBX files. So I've imported it into Maya and exported that file as an FBX file.

Now that I'm working with the FBX file I want to assign materials of different colours to different parts of the model to create my ID Map. So I've done this, screenshot here:

But as you can see the UV Map is gray which is the original material that the model had before I started adding new materials. Now, if I go to face mode by right clicking and selecting Face and I click on one of the coloured faces the entire UV Map changes from gray to whatever colour the material I've clicked is. Here in the screenshot below you can see that I've clicked on a face with the red material and the entire UV has gone red.

Have I done something wrong? Shouldn't the UV Map reflect the colours on the model? When I've brought either the OBJ or FBX file into Substance Painter and pressed the Bake Maps button you can just see several different colours filling a square rather than the ID Map that I want.

I'm completely new to all this sort of stuff so any help will be much appreciated, many thanks in advance for any help given!

Re: Problems Creating An ID Map For Substance Painter!

sean.heasley — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 14:25:45 GMT

Hi @Anonymous

I can explain how to bake the color ID maps but its a bit of a long post 😛

Before I do out of curiosity, would you happen to have substance designer as well? Personally I find baking color maps in designer and then exporting to Painter a much easier process.

Re: Problems Creating An ID Map For Substance Painter!

sean.heasley — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 14:54:45 GMT

Hi again!

Made a quick video to go along with it that hopefully helps you out!

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if my post fully solves your issue, or reply with additional details if the problem persists.

Kudos are greatly appreciated. Everyone likes a thumbs up!

Re: Problems Creating An ID Map For Substance Painter!

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 14:26:15 GMT

Thanks a lot for that! It turns out that the problem I was having was switching from SketchUp 2016 to 2017. SketchUp 2016 has this annoying habit of not having vertices joined when exporting as OBJ files so before I started messing around with different materials and colours I always had to highlight all of the vertices and Edit Mesh > Merge them.

I was doing the same with 2017 but didn't need to because they fixed that issue and doing that messed things up. My ID Maps were always one colour lol

Once I cut out merging those vertices it all worked as it should.

Thanks a lot for your help, very much appreciated!

Re: Problems Creating An ID Map For Substance Painter!

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Mar 2018 18:47:45 GMT

NICE! You're awesome. Thanks for making that video.

Re: Problems Creating An ID Map For Substance Painter!

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 22:32:52 GMT

Thanks for that solve my problem 😄

Re: Problems Creating An ID Map For Substance Painter!

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 11:16:09 GMT

actual champion. above and beyond. thanks a bunch.