Settings
Before you start painting, configure your library folders in the Settings tab so Copernicus Painter knows where to find your materials, smart materials, and alphas.
Library Types
Materials
Regular texture sets stored as folders on disk. Each material folder contains texture image files named after the channels they represent (e.g. basecolor.png, roughness.exr, normal.exr). These are the standard PBR textures you would download from sites like Poly Haven or Quixel.
Smart Materials
Procedural materials built inside a Houdini COP network and saved as .cpio files using the Material Creator. A smart material can have multiple outputs (base color, roughness, normal, etc.) and optional inputs that connect to baked texture data (AO, curvature, position, etc.). When dropped onto a layer, the entire node network is imported and wired automatically.
Smart Masks
Like smart materials but output a single grayscale mask used to control layer blending. Also saved as .cpio files. Use these to create procedural dirt, wear, grunge, and other effects driven by baked geometry data.
Alphas / Brushes
Grayscale image files used as brush stamps when painting masks. These control the shape of each paint stroke. Common sources include ZBrush alphas, Gorilla alphas, or any grayscale image.
Configuring Paths
In the Settings tab, set the following:
| Field | What to point to |
|---|---|
| Materials Path | Root folder containing your material subfolders |
| Smart Materials Path | Folder containing .cpio smart material files |
| Smart Masks Path | Folder containing .cpio smart mask files |
| Brushes/Alphas Path | Folder containing alpha/brush image files |
| Library Depth | How many folder levels deep before materials appear |
After setting paths, click the ↻ Refresh button in the Materials panel to reload the library.
For more detail on folder structure and library depth see Material Folders.
Normal Map Y Direction
Set whether your target renderer uses OpenGL (+Y) or DirectX (-Y) normal maps. This affects how baked normal maps are written.
| Option | Use for |
|---|---|
| OpenGL (+Y) | Blender, Unity, Maya, Houdini |
| DirectX (-Y) | Unreal Engine, 3ds Max |
This setting is configured per project at initialization time in Project Setup.