Substance 3D Painter from a game controller
The Adobe Substance 3D Painter layout is built into InputConfig, free on the Mac App Store. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon.
On a Mac: Substance 3D Painter navigates with Option and the mouse buttons, which this layout holds for you; paint strokes stay with the pen.
Yes, you can paint textures in Substance 3D Painter on a Mac with a game controller beside the pen. Substance navigates with Option held, and the left trigger holds Option, so the right trigger then orbits and the right stick zooms. Paint and erase sit on two face buttons and brush size on the bumpers. The pen does the strokes and the controller does the rest.
On this page: 6 sections
The layout, control by control
How the layout thinks
- Move the cursor. The left stick moves the cursor in the viewport.
- Navigate with Option held. With the left trigger held, the right trigger orbits, the left face button pans (middle button) and D-pad down zooms (right button). The right stick scrolls, which zooms too.
- Paint and erase. Paint brush (B) and Eraser (E) on the bottom and right face buttons.
- Frame. Frame the selection (F) on the top face button and on D-pad up, fit the model (Shift Z) on the left stick click.
- Size, undo, save. Brush size on the bumpers, undo and redo on D-pad left and right, Save on Share and on Options.
Paint strokes stay with the pen. Hold the left trigger, and the rest of the pad moves the camera.
Tune it for Substance
- A free button. Share and Options both save. Give one of them a material or mask tool from Substance's shortcut list.
- Brush size that keeps going. Turn on Repeat keys while held on the bumper rows.
- Small layer stacks. Lower the Pointer speed slider on the preset's page.
Substance Designer and Sampler navigate in a similar way, but their tool keys differ, so Scan those rows there. Turn the second save button into a tool you reach for often.
Get it in two clicks
- Get InputConfig free on the Mac App Store, open it, and click Smart Preset Maker on the welcome screen.
- Search for Adobe Substance 3D Painter and pick it. The layout is created as a preset in your sidebar, named and ready.
- Press Activate. Every row can be changed afterwards: the editor's Scan button rebinds any control the moment you touch it.
Every binding, as a table
| Controller | Sends | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Left stick left | Mouse motion left (speed 16) | Left stick left moves the cursor left in the viewport |
| Left stick right | Mouse motion right (speed 16) | Left stick right moves the cursor right in the viewport |
| Left stick up | Mouse motion up (speed 16) | Left stick up moves the cursor up in the viewport |
| Left stick down | Mouse motion down (speed 16) | Left stick down moves the cursor down in the viewport |
| Right stick left | Scroll left | Right stick left scrolls to zoom the camera out |
| Right stick right | Scroll right | Right stick right scrolls to zoom the camera in |
| Right stick up | Scroll up | Right stick up scrolls the view up |
| Right stick down | Scroll down | Right stick down scrolls the view down |
| Left trigger | Alt / Option (Left) | Left trigger holds Alt so the left stick orbits and the triggers pan or zoom |
| Right trigger | Left click | Right trigger holds left mouse to paint, or with Alt held it orbits |
| A / Cross | B | A presses B for the Paint brush tool |
| B / Circle | E | B presses E for the Eraser tool |
| X / Square | Middle click | X holds middle mouse, which with Alt held pans the view |
| Y / Triangle | F | Y presses F to frame the selected mesh |
| LB / L1 | [ | Left bumper presses [ to shrink the brush size |
| RB / R1 | ] | Right bumper presses ] to grow the brush size |
| L3 (left stick click) | Shift (Left), Z | Left stick click presses Shift+Z to fit the model to the screen |
| D-pad up | F | D-pad up presses F to frame the selection |
| D-pad down | Right click | D-pad down holds right mouse, which with Alt held zooms the camera |
| D-pad left | Command (Left), Z | D-pad left presses Command Z to undo |
| D-pad right | Command (Left), Shift (Left), Z | D-pad right presses Command Shift Z to redo |
| Back / Share / Select | Command (Left), S | Back presses Command S to save the project |
| Start / Options | Command (Left), S | Start presses Command S to save the project |
Button names follow the Xbox / PlayStation pair shown in the editor, so A / Cross is the bottom face button on either pad. On a Switch Pro Controller the bottom button is labeled B; the mapping still fires on position.
Questions
Does it work in Substance Designer or Sampler?
Their navigation is similar. The tool keys differ, so Scan those rows.
Related
Completely free. You don't have to make an account, there are no subscriptions, and nothing is locked. Optimized for Apple silicon. Open source on GitHub.
Updated