In Substance Painter (a 3D texturing tool), shaders are programs that define how a 3D object’s surface interacts with light—they turn painted textures (color, roughness, etc.) into the final visual look of the material.
- **Control material traits**: Shaders manage properties like metalness (how reflective a metal is), gloss (sharpness of reflections), or transparency (for glass/plastic). For example, a wood shader uses your roughness map to make the surface matte or polished. - **Default vs. custom**: Most artists use Substance Painter’s built-in PBR (Physically Based Rendering) shaders (like the "Standard" shader) for realism. For stylized art (e.g., cel-shading), you can tweak or create custom shaders.
If you’re new, try the "Standard" shader on a cube and adjust its texture maps—this shows how shaders bring your painted details to life in 3D without coding.