WoodDetail Decal Pack Vol.1 — Documentation

A short setup guide for getting your wood detail designs into Blender, Substance Painter, Unreal Engine 5, and ZBrush. The full 13-page PDF guide ships inside every paid tier under Free Gift — How To Use.

1. Quick start

1. Pick the software lane that matches your project (Blender, Substance Painter, UE5, or ZBrush).
2. Open the matching zip from your Superhive download list.
3. For Blender: open the included .blend, drag a wood detail asset out of the Asset Browser onto your mesh, and tune the colour tone on one decal. Copy those parameters to the other 49 and the whole set will sit in your scene together.
4. For other software: see the per-software section below.
5. Use the included Brush Guide PDF + per-software HTML guides for the full workflow walkthrough.

2. What is in your download

Each paid tier zip contains the files for that software lane at that design count. The all-software bundle and Studio / Team License ship all four software zips together.

• Blender Files: master .blend with 4 use-mode scenes (decal / parallax / displacement / sculpt brush), studio cyclorama + 3-sun lighting rig, asset-marked sculpt brushes, N-panel helpers.
• Substance Painter Files: per-design .sppr Stencil tool presets with embedded thumbnails.
• UE5 EnvironmentPreset: full UE5.3+ project (.uproject + demo .umap + deferred decal actors + colour-curve setup pre-wired).
• ZBrush Files: per-design .zbp alpha brush presets.
• Decal Textures: universal 2K PNG PBR maps — BaseColor, Normal (OpenGL), Roughness, Height, AmbientOcclusion, Opacity. Six maps per design.
• Free Gift: 13-page Brush Guide PDF + per-software HTML guides + the Superhive coupon.

3. PBR map reference

Every design is backed by six 2K PNG maps. Use these when you want to build your own shader outside the provided software files.

• BaseColor — sRGB. The diffuse colour of the wood detail.
• Normal — Non-Color, OpenGL convention. For DirectX workflows, flip the green channel where your tool requires it.
• Roughness — Non-Color. Surface roughness, 0 (mirror) to 1 (matte).
• Height — Non-Color. Displacement / parallax depth source. White = high, black = low.
• AmbientOcclusion — Non-Color. Cavity shadows. Multiply over BaseColor for the showcased look.
• Opacity — Non-Color. Alpha-cut mask. White = visible, black = transparent.

4. Blender setup

Open the included master .blend. Four use-mode scenes are already set up:

• Decal scene — flat planes with alpha-cut decal material. Drop onto any surface as a sticker.
• Parallax scene — planes with fake-depth shader. Cheap; works in Cycles + EEVEE.
• Displacement scene — real geometry displacement. Needs Cycles. Use for hero close-ups where the silhouette matters.
• Sculpt brush scene — 50 brushes asset-marked in the Asset Browser under 3DT Wood Detail Pack → Sculpt. Drag any brush into your own sculpt session and stamp.

N-panel helpers (Decal Switcher / Displacement / Parallax / Shrink-decal) live in the 3D viewport sidebar. They let you swap decals on the preview spheres without touching the shader graphs. Enable Auto Run Python Scripts in Preferences for the panels to load.

5. Substance Painter setup

Each .sppr file is a Tool preset with an embedded square thumbnail. To import:

1. Open Substance 3D Painter.
2. File → Import Resources → select all Decal NN.sppr files.
3. Destination: Add to new user shelf → name it 3DT_WoodDetail (or your preferred shelf name).
4. In the Assets panel, filter to Stencils. The wood detail presets will appear with their thumbnail previews.
5. Pick a preset, add a paint layer, and stamp onto your prop.

If Painter shows a cached older preview after re-import, remove the resource and re-import to refresh the embedded thumbnail.

6. Unreal Engine 5 setup

The pack ships as a complete Environment Preset project for UE5.3+.

1. Extract the UE5 EnvironmentPreset zip anywhere on your drive.
2. Double-click the .uproject file. Unreal will prompt to rebuild the project files — allow it.
3. Open the demo .umap (in the Content Browser, under /Game/WoodDetailDecals/Levels/) to see the showcase scene.
4. Three master materials are provided: M_CrackDecal_Deferred (Deferred Decal projector), M_CrackSurface_NaniteDisplacement (real displacement on Nanite mesh), and M_CrackSurface_POM (Parallax Occlusion Mapping). 150 MaterialInstances per pack (50 per master) are pre-built.
5. The colour-curve setup is wired on the master materials. Tune one MaterialInstance to your target wood tone, then copy the parameters across the others.
6. To bring the decals into your own project: in the Content Browser, right-click the WoodDetailDecals folder → Migrate → pick your project's Content folder.

7. ZBrush setup

Each .zbp file is an alpha-stamp brush preset built on the design's height map.

1. Open ZBrush.
2. Load your sculpt (or use the included canvas template).
3. Brush → Load Brush → pick a Decal_NN.zbp file.
4. Switch stroke type to DragRect (Stroke palette).
5. Set Z-Intensity around 15-25 for a readable stamp without blowing out the surface.
6. Drag-stamp the wood detail onto your sculpt.

Brushes are set to Zadd mode by default (raised wood detail). For sunken / carved-in effects, switch the brush to Zsub in the top shelf.

8. Cross-software workflow tips

• Pick the use-mode by camera distance. Background distance → flat decal. Mid-shot → parallax. Hero close-up → real displacement. Sculpted hero asset → sculpt brush.
• Scale the design to the surface. A knot reads best at the size of a real knot, not stretched across half a plank. Use the parallax/displacement --depth knob (Blender) or POM scale (UE5) to dial relief in.
• Tune colour once, copy across. All 50 designs are set up at the same base wood tone. Adjust one decal to match your target wood (oak, pine, walnut), then copy the parameters across the other 49.
• Roughness tweak. Bump roughness slightly higher for weathered timber, slightly lower for polished wood. Add a colour ramp on the Height map to control the contrast of the displacement.
• Mixing use-modes is fine. Use flat decals in the background, parallax in mid-shot, real displacement on hero objects — the shape language stays consistent because they all come from the same source.

9. License and commercial use

Commercial use included: Commercial use is included in every paid tier for one creator. Choose the Studio / Team License only if multiple people inside a company or team need internal access to the files.

Permitted: The pack is for using the assets in your own artwork, games, films, client work, portfolio work, and commercial projects.

Prohibited: The source files may not be resold, redistributed, repackaged, uploaded publicly, or included as raw downloadable resources inside another template, tool, brush pack, decal pack, texture pack, or marketplace product.

10. Support and updates

Need help with setup, install, or workflow? Use the Q&A tab on this listing or message us via Superhive. Updates are pushed through your Superhive download history — you will always have access to the latest version of any tier you purchased.

Neil — 3D Tudor