Hi,

Internally, Substances have access to a system variable named $time useful for creating time dependent animated textures. This $time variable is available from Functions and FX-Maps.

Unfortunately, iClone doesn't drive this variable (or update the Substance API) with its own time from the timeline, so the $time variable never change in Substances used in iClone.

No time dependent Substance animation are currently shown/possible in iClone (unless exposing an attribute manually animated.. but existing Substances relying on $time still wont work).

Substance is very well integrated in iClone, I really love it. The only missing bit is this $time variable not being updated by iClone.

Please fix this.

Cheers,
Guy.



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guy rabiller | GOETZIWOOD STUDIOS
"N.O.E." (Nations Of Earth) Sci-Fi TV Show, Showrunner.

I support your request Guy.

After each successive IC6 patch/upgrade I have reported this continuing problem elsewhere in the official technical issues thread.

So far no indicationfrom RL that remedial action will eventually be taken, even though some of the files in the RL Substance 200 pack depend on this feature.

Let's hope it's fixedsoon.
Geoff.

Edit: formatting.

@Guy,

I am not opposed to your request, but I confess I don't understand the need for it.

Move the timeline scrubber, modify the substance (material), and it will vary with time.

It seems to me utilizing the $time variable would add an unnecessary layer of complexity and confusion.  What am I missing?

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

If you don't create Substance yourself using Substance Designer then you don't need to understand what the $time variable is.

If you use pre-made Substances then you may stumble upon some Substances that are time animated by design, like Water Drops, Water Drips, Waves, Ocean, etc.. If you use Substance Player, load a model and apply say Water Drops and hit the play button on the timeline, then you will see Water Drops falling along the object. In iClone, it wont work, the Water Drops will stay immobile, there is no control you can act on in order to move them. That makes that Sustance useless in iClone (and all time-dependent Substances useless in iClone).

There is no additional layer of complexity for a iCloner by fixing this issue, just Substances that would actually work as designed.


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guy rabiller | GOETZIWOOD STUDIOS
"N.O.E." (Nations Of Earth) Sci-Fi TV Show, Showrunner.

Oh, now I get it.  Thank you for the clarification.  The example of waves or water ripples makes perfect sense.

+1  

I have only recently (finally!!!) *started* learning Substance Designer.  I have a couple substances I want to make, but I have a long, long way to go before I get to that point.  I'll probably never become proficient, but I look forward to making one of my own from scratch (rather than following a tutorial) at least once.

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

To ease the process, before thinking you will create a procedural texture or something esoteric, think about Substance as Materials handlers or containers, like a iClone material file.

You dont even need to generate anything. Take an existing asset you have, import the texture maps into a Substance file and simply recreate your Material at first. You can create a Substance file that encapsulate all your object Materials in one file.

Take a look at the Allegorythmic getting started videos, you'll see it is actually quite easy. By only using Substances as materials containers you can already use quite interesting features to your materials creation process.

Then actual procedural texture generation itself is only a feature you can experiment with later on, once you are comfortable with Substances.


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guy rabiller | GOETZIWOOD STUDIOS
"N.O.E." (Nations Of Earth) Sci-Fi TV Show, Showrunner.

Hi Guy.. Your request has been passed to the iClone team for consideration. Thanks for the feedback.

If I get any update from the dev team about this I will let you know.

                                                                

Peter
Forum Administrator

www.reallusion.com

Thanks a lot Peter.


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guy rabiller | GOETZIWOOD STUDIOS
"N.O.E." (Nations Of Earth) Sci-Fi TV Show, Showrunner.

Raising this thread from the dead...

It has been released in iClone 7.

I learned how to create a substance with the $TIME variable.
And I submitted a Feedback Tracker Issue.  https://www.reallusion.com/FeedBackTracker/Issue/Support-the-TIME-variable-for-animated-Substances

It was only this morning I noticed that it had been released.  (They really should email the submitter when the status changes.)

I tested it, and it works.

You can read more, and download my substance over in my "iClone 7 corner."
https://forum.reallusion.com/331848/Justavikings-iClone-7-corner

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD