CC5 to Substance Painter: Normal maps appear Y-inverted even in an OpenGL project

Character Creator General
1

Hi,

I am using the Character Creator 5 to Substance Painter pipeline.

I exported a character from CC5 to Substance Painter using the official pipeline. In Substance Painter, I created the project with Normal Map Format set to OpenGL, following the CC5/Substance workflow.

However, when I take the normal textures exported from CC5 and place them back into a Substance Painter Fill Layer Normal slot for additional detail work, the normal map appears to have its Y axis inverted. The surface details look recessed/inverted in the 3D viewport.

From my testing, it seems that if I want to add detail work on top of the existing CC5 textures inside Substance Painter, I need to manually invert the Y/Green channel of the normal map.

My question is:

When importing CC5-exported textures back into Substance Painter, is it expected behavior that the normal map appears Y-inverted even when the Substance project is set to OpenGL?

Or is there an additional import setting or workflow step I may be missing?

If this is normal behavior, is manually inverting the Y/Green channel every time the recommended workflow?

Thank you.

2

Hi Evilbition,

The normal map should automatically flip correctly rather than appearing inverted. To help us investigate, could you please send a screen recording of your workflow? This will help us see if any steps were missed.

Additionally, which version of Substance Painter are you currently using?

Please share the video with us at winnerhung@reallusion.com.

Thanks

3

I have sent the email. Could you please check it when you have a chance?

4

Hi evilbition,

We have received your files and will have our team investigate the issue. We’ll keep you updated on any progress.

Thanks!.

5

Hi @evilbition,

Sorry to keep you waiting.

Regarding your earlier questions:
> Could you please review the recording and let me know why the imported normal maps are automatically assigned the Direct3D Normal color space, even though the Substance Painter project is set to OpenGL?

This is due to Substance 3D Painter’s color management system. Setting the project’s normal map format to OpenGL does not change the color space assigned to imported normal maps. They are loaded as Direct3D Normal by default, so you will need to manually switch them to OpenGL Normal .

For more information, please refer to this Adobe Community discussion.

> Is there a setting or workflow that would allow normal maps exported from CC5 to be automatically assigned OpenGL Normal , instead of requiring me to change the Output Color Space manually each time?

Currently, Substance 3D Painter does not provide a global setting for changing the color space of all imported normal maps at once. Each normal map must be switched to OpenGL Normal individually.

Please let us know if you have further questions.

Thank you