The reason I ask, iClone 7 with PBR support I can now use all materials that I subscribe to here https://www.poliigon.com/ I believe most of the textures on this site are made using Substance Designer anyway. So what are the advantages of purchasing the algorithmic software (Painter) not designer. I keep watching all the videos but it seems a big overlap between software now.

Can anyone explain what Painter has - I do all my modelling in Blender and then assign all materials in iClone7. Thanks in advanced.

Reallusion Tutorials and Tips: https://www.youtube.com/@3DPixl 

If you have an object the requires more than one material but lacks some sort of mapping to determine which material goes where, then a tool such as Substance Painter lets you paint the various materials directly on the 3D model.

iClone 7 can use the PBR materials, but you can not create or modify the mapping as to what material goes where. If the assignment has already been made before the object is imported into iClone, then you probably don't need Substance Painter.

I'm sure someone will have a better answer.

---

Ok so painter may come in handy when needing to paint fine details in the area I choose - looks like I need to download the demo and test it out.

Reallusion Tutorials and Tips: https://www.youtube.com/@3DPixl 

I will admit I'm a bit of a Substance Designer and Painter fanboy, just like I am for iClone.

If you want to make your own props (or customize existing ones), I believe Painter is a great tool to have in your tool chest.

For example, if you want to paint a scar on a character, you can export your character and paint directly on the 3D character, rather than doing lots of trial-and-error on the odd-looking 2D texture maps.  That's just one example.

For props, you have tons of artistic control to literally paint on your prop, in addition to the semi-automated behavior of the Substances.

BOTTOM LINE:  If you like working with prop creation at all, and your budget allows, I recommend Painter.  If you want to get into it even deeper (and it is quite technical), then get the "Indie Pack" that includes Designer too.

---

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

OK I'm sold and downloading as we speak. I'm a fanboy of creating anything and having total control on all my assets. Thanks for opening my eyes :)

Reallusion Tutorials and Tips: https://www.youtube.com/@3DPixl 

Yeah, the only problem is that you can't export stuff you don't own the export license for, which is a bit of a PITA -- so you really can't customize anything you buy for use only inside of iClone.

I have both Painter and 3D Coat AND Zbrush and I find I never use them.  There are just WAY too many ways to customize stuff without them (my go-to way now is to use Substance Power tools to add areas that I would normally "paint" on or age or whatever -- takes almost no time and no real skill, which I lack :>).

---

Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley