Tri-planar projection

Last update: Tue Mar 10 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

The Tri-planar projection of the fill is a 3D projection that combines multiple planar projections together and blend them to cover the whole 3D mesh. It is very useful to project noises and patterns without creating any visible seams.

Properties

Setting

Description

Filtering

Controls how the texture or material will be filtered. This setting can impact how the texture looks when repeated multiple times. With high scaling values using a different filtering than the default may produce better looking result. Current settings available:

Bilinear - HQ (default): Advanced bilinear filtering that tries to improve the quality of the texture when the tiling values are high.
Bilinear - Sharp: Simple bilinear filtering that smooths the texture slightly but try to preserve details.
Nearest: No filtering, useful if the Bilinear filtering gives a blurry result and breaks fine details. Can introduce aliasing in the texture.

Shape crop

Define if the projected texture should be visible outside of the projection area. Possible values are:

Project cropped to shape: the projection is confined within the projection area.
Projection extends outside shape (default): the projection continues beyond the projection area.

table 0-row-2 0-border-0px 1-border-0px 2-border-0px html-authored no-header
{width="200px"}	{width="200px"}

Hardness

Control how hard or soft are the transitions between planes of the projection. A value or 1.0 means there will be a clear cut between each plane.

Note: The transition of each plane is defined by the mesh vertex normal (without taking into account the normal mesh map). This means abrupt or broken vertex normals can lead to unexpected results when blending planes together.

UV transformation

The UV transformation settings control the texture/material within the projection.

Scale mode

Setting

Description

Tiling (default)

Allows to manually set the repeating amount for the current texture.

Tiling

Controls the number of times the texture is repeated.

Rotation

Controls the angle at which the texture is projected onto the mesh.

Offset

Controls from where the texture will be projected. Default value means the texture center is at the center of the mesh's UVs.

Physical Size

Automatic adjustment of a texture according to the mesh size and embedded physical size. It uses width and length (X and Y measurements) to calculate the correct physical size. Z measurement is not taken into account.

(For more information see the dedicated [documentation page](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/substance-3d-painter/using/features/physical-size?lang=en))

Custom Size

If enabled, allows to enter a physical size manually and override the one provided by an asset.

It is automatically selected if no physical size is detected or if multiple assets with different physical sizes are used within the same layer/effect.

Size (cm)

Embedded physical sizes are expressed in centimeters. It is possible to work with a mesh file that was created using different units of measurement - it will retain correct proportions. However asset size is currently displayed in centimeters only.

Rotation

Controls the angle at which the texture is projected onto the mesh.

Offset

Controls from where the texture will be projected. Default value means the texture center is at the center of the mesh's UVs.

NOTE

The Offset setting is not available with the Tri-Planar projection.

3D projection settings

The 3D projection settings control the transformation of the projection in 3D space.

Setting

Description

Offset

Position of the origin of the projection in 3D space. The units are based on the bounding box of the whole scene. 0 is the center of this box.

Rotation

Angles in degrees to rotate the whole projection on each axes.

Scale

Size of the whole projection on each axes.

Several settings and tools are available from the Contextual toolbar sitting at the top of the viewport which give controls over the manipulator and the projection:

Icon

Name

Description

{width="50px"}

Show/Hide manipulator

If enabled, the manipulator is visible and controllable in the viewport.

{width="50px"}

Manipulator settings

This menu contains three settings:

Manipulator size: control how big the manipulator is in the viewport.
Grid steps: define the size of the step when translating with a constraint.
Angle steps: define the angle of the step when rotating with a constraint.

{width="50px"}

Translation manipulator

Allow to move the projection in the scene along the main axes (X, Y, Z).

{width="50px"}

Rotation manipulator

Allow to rotate the projection in the scene along the main axes (X, Y, Z).

{width="50px"}

Scale manipulator

Allow to scale the projection in the scene along the main axes (X, Y, Z).

{width="50px"}

Surface manipulator

Allow to move the projection by snapping it on the 3D model surface. Note: This manipulator is only available with the Planar and Warp projection types.

{width="50px"}

Manipulator space

Define in which space the transformation are performed. Possible values are:

Local space: axes are aligned with the current transformation.
World space: axes are aligned with scene.

{width="50px"}

Mirror on X

Flip the transformation on the X axis.

{width="50px"}

Mirror on Y

Flip the transformation on the Y axis.

{width="50px"}

Mirror on Z

Flip the transformation on the Z axis.

{width="50px"}

Reset transformation

Restore the projection transformation back to its default state.

Manipulator

This projection manipulator is only available in the 3D viewport.

Action

Shortcut

Description

Translation

Mouse click

With the Translation manipulator, clicking on the axes move the projection:

One axis: only move in one direction the projection.
Two axes: move the projection on the plans aligned with the axes.
Three axes: move the projection in the space of the camera (plan facing it).

table 0-row-3 0-border-0px 1-border-0px 2-border-0px 3-border-0px html-authored no-header
{width="200px"}	{width="200px"}	{width="200px"}

Translation constrained

SHIFT+Mouse click

With the Translation manipulator, move the projection along the selected axes but only at specific intervals (stepping). The size of the interval is defined via the manipulator settings.

{width="200px"}

Rotation

Mouse click

With the Rotation manipulator, clicking on one axes rotate the projection. Click in-between the axes allow to rotate all the axes at the same time.

table 0-row-2 0-border-0px 1-border-0px 2-border-0px html-authored no-header
{width="200px"}	{width="200px"}

Rotation constrained

SHIFT+Mouse click

With the Rotation manipulator, clicking on one axis to rotate the projection will only happen at specific intervals. The step is defined by an angle via the manipulator settings.

{width="200px"}

Scale

Mouse click

With the Scale manipulator, clicking on one axis handle resize the projection along the given axis.

table 0-row-3 0-border-0px 1-border-0px 2-border-0px 3-border-0px html-authored no-header
{width="200px"}	{width="200px"}	{width="200px"}

Scale constrained

SHIFT+Mouse click

With the Scale manipulator, clicking on one axis handle while maintaining the shortcut will resize the projection in steps. The step size is the same as for the Translation manipulator.

{width="200px"}