As we have all witnessed, Substance Designer is taking the game industry by storm. Almost anyones portfolio now working on textures and materials in games has a library of Substance materials they have worked on. There are so many different techniques and ways to create exactly what you want and even multiple ways to achieve the exact same thing. The more tools and tips we are aware of though, the greater the possiblities for us to solve those tough shapes or ideas that we want to create. Checkout a few of the ways Shray Khanna approaches texture creation in Substance Designer.

Also checkout more of his work here. 
https://www.artstation.com/shray

Thanks so much for sharing Ben! And I hope you all enjoy taking a look at his substance file and article.
Cheers,
​- Jacob Norris

Hi everyone,  
The first two Photopacks in the PurePolygons photopack series have released!
​Check them out in the store by clicking the links below.

I've compiled a list of some of the youtube channels that I have found to be very useful or that others have recommended to me. There is tons of great learning to be had and even if you think you know your stuff, I'm sure there are still a ton of new tips/tricks that will help you out. Take a look and feel free to share with your friends, or recommend more channels for me to add here! 
Thanks,
​- Jacob

Warren Marshall - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5dRrOarPI6ufGWsabG28FQ
Unreal Engine Channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/UnrealDevelopmentKit/playlists
Sam Jones - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJekoQFYfhHEjQbfvWf_E4g
DokipenTech - ​https://www.youtube.com/user/DokipenTechTutorials/videos
Playful Synapse - ​https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmU2AlFc9vO6xnw1DYvNM0Q/videos

I recently came across an article that I think will be very beneficial for those of you setting up your Environment renders and even for general art theory when creating your pieces. This article may be talking about photography, but the great thing about being environment artists, is that we can setup our scene and composition exactly how we want. So we are creating every picture we take. These tips help to set up the ground work for creating any beautiful 3D scene that we work on. Try to use some of these ideas and rules to apply them as you are placing assets, or even when you're creating textures. And start thinking about where you want your cameras for your renders, so that you can better apply these tips from the get go! There are some really helpful tools and basics! Enjoy :)

Credit to Sebastian Jacobitz for the article
Checkout his website here! - https://streetbounty.com/

Thanks for reading and happy rule of 3rds day! haha
- Jacob