PikoBrush

THE ARTIST’S FIELD GUIDE

PikoBrush

Hand painting for
Substance 3D Painter

Pick color straight off your model. Mix, shade, and blend with a single key, so you can keep your eyes on the brushwork.

Get PikoBrush Quick start
v1.0.2 · Early AccessPainter 12.2Windows
STUDIO STUDY01 / 01
A potion bottle hand-painted in Substance 3D Painter with PikoBrush: a flower bud stopper, thorny vines, and purple glass
Fig. 01 · Botanical potionOriginal model · Substance 3D Assets

FIELD GUIDE 01

Quick start

From installation to your first brushstroke.

  1. Install

    Close Painter and copy the pikobrush folder into Documents\Adobe\Adobe Substance 3D Painter\python\plugins\.

  2. Turn it on

    Start Painter, open the Python menu and tick pikobrush. Dock the PikoBrush panel wherever you like.

  3. Mark a layer

    Add a paint layer, right-click it and choose Hand-paint layer. It gets an [HP] tag and the panel’s status bar turns green.

  4. Paint

    Select the Paint tool, keep the Properties panel open, hover over the model and use the keys below.

One-time setup for blending: select Painter's Smudge tool once and choose the Blur brush for it. PikoBrush uses it when you hold N.

FIELD GUIDE 02

The keys

Over the model, on a hand-paint layer. Everywhere else, Painter gets your keys as usual.

V Pick the color under the cursor
G Mix the color under the cursor into yours
Q / E One shade into shadow / into light
N hold: blend / smooth (wheel = strength)
X Swap primary and secondary color
H Eraser on / off
Space hold: color pop-up at the cursor
W Show / hide the wireframe

Every key can be changed in the panel's Settings tab. Ctrl / Alt / Shift combinations always stay Painter's (for example Shift+click for straight lines).

FIELD GUIDE 03

Getting colors

Pick, mix, shade and vary, without opening a color picker.

V Pick a color

Hover over any spot of your model and press V. The brush takes that color immediately: no extra click, no picker window. Keep painting.

  • From references: hover an image in PureRef (or a browser, an image viewer) and press V. Keep Painter as the active window: if you clicked into the other program, click back into Painter first.
  • The brush outline under the cursor is ignored, so you never pick its white ring by mistake.
  • Every picked color lands in Recent in the panel.
Two pick methods (Settings): Screen pixel (default) is instant and picks what you see, lighting included. Painter picker picks the exact unlit paint color, but the screen briefly blinks.
Hover · press V
the potion glass is now on your brush

G Mix pick

Like mixing paint on a real palette. Instead of replacing your color, G blends the color under the cursor into your current color.

  1. You have the red of the petals on the brush and want a soft edge toward the orange tips.
  2. Hover the orange and press G: you get the color in between. Paint the edge.
  3. Press G on the orange again: one step closer. Paint a bit further.
How much gets mixed in is the Mix pick amount in Settings (50 % = half and half). Works on references in PureRef too.
Red · G over orange
on the brush
under the cursor
25 %
50 % (default)
75 %

Q E Shades

Good hand-painted shadows are not just darker. Painters shift them: shadows get richer and turn toward a cool color (the opposite of warm light), lights get paler and turn toward a warm color. Shades does exactly that for you.

  • Q one step into shadow, E one step into light. Up to 3 steps each way.
  • Steps always count from the color you chose: Q Q E E brings you back exactly.
  • The panel and the Space pop-up show all 7 shades; click one to use it. A frame marks the current one.
  • Light and Shadow chips set the two target colors. The defaults are warm sunlight and a blue-violet shadow. For a cool moonlit scene, set a blue light and a warm shadow.
  • Hue shift sets how strongly the colors turn (0 % = only darker / lighter).
Picking a new color starts the shades from that color. Shades don't fill up Recent.
Real shades, default settings
Petals
Potion glass
Vines
Gold
Flowers
◀ Q shadowyour colorlight E ▶

Color Dynamics

Hand-painted textures look alive when not every stroke is the exact same color. With Color Dynamics each stroke gets a slightly different shade of your color.

  • Three sliders in the panel, under Recent: Hue, Saturation and Brightness jitter, 0–100 %.
  • Off by default (0 %). Start small: 5–15 % is plenty.
  • The color changes between strokes, when you lift the pen. Your chosen color stays the same.
  • Only Paint-tool strokes vary; the Eraser and blending are not affected.
  • Set all three back to 0 and the brush gets your exact color again.
Great for leaves, vines, stone, fur and wood: lay in the base color with a little jitter, then shade with Q / E.
Eight strokes on the vines
Hue jitter (%)8
Saturation jitter (%)10
Brightness jitter (%)12

FIELD GUIDE 04

Painting tools

Blend, swap, erase and check your forms, at your current brush size.

N Blend & smooth

Hold N and paint to blend. PikoBrush switches to Painter's Smudge tool with your Blur brush at your current brush size; release N and you are back on the tool you had.

  • While holding N, scroll the mouse wheel to change the strength. A small overlay shows the value.
  • The strength is also the Smooth strength slider in the panel.
  • Releasing N mid-stroke is fine: the stroke finishes first.
Remember the one-time setup: choose the Blur brush for Painter's Smudge tool.
Hold N · scroll
Smooth strength0.50

Wheel up = stronger, down = softer, in steps of 0.05.

X Swap colors

You always have two colors: a primary (on the brush) and a secondary. X swaps them, so you can jump between, say, the glass and its highlight.

Click either chip in the panel to set it with a color dialog.

Primary · secondary
X ⇄

H Eraser

Press H to switch to the Eraser at your current brush size. Press H again to go back to the tool you had.

Toggle

Paint → H → Eraser → H → Paint

W Wireframe

Show or hide the mesh wireframe to check your forms and edge flow while painting.

W replaces Painter's own Translate tool shortcut while a project is open. If you use that, give the wireframe another key in Settings.
Toggle

Works on any layer, not only hand-paint layers.

FIELD GUIDE 05

The panel

Everything in one docked panel, next to your layers.

Hand-paint layers

PikoBrush only works on layers you mark, so everywhere else Painter behaves exactly as usual.

  • Mark or unmark a layer from its right-click menu (Hand-paint layer) or with the panel's Mark button.
  • Marked layers get a [HP] name tag. Rename the layer and the tag comes back; you can hide it in Settings.
  • Marks are saved inside your project.
  • The status bar turns green when the keys are active. Select the layer itself, not its mask.

Recent colors

The last 16 colors you used. Click one to put it on the brush; Clear empties the list.

Palettes

  • Three starter palettes are included. Switch with the drop-down.
  • Import… / Export… Photoshop .aco swatch files.
  • + adds your current color. Right-click a swatch to replace it with the current color or delete it.
● Potion [HP] activeUnmark
PaintSettings
COLOR
SHADES Light   Shadow
Hue shift (%)50
RECENT Clear
COLOR DYNAMICS
Hue jitter (%)0
Saturation jitter (%)0
Brightness jitter (%)0
PALETTE
Smooth strength0.50

FIELD GUIDE 06

Settings

The panel's Settings tab.

HotkeysChange any PikoBrush key. Use a single key without Ctrl / Alt / Shift; a key can only do one thing.
Pick methodScreen pixel (default): instant, picks what you see including lighting. Painter picker: exact unlit paint color, the screen briefly blinks. Auto: Painter picker when available.
Mix pick amountHow much of the picked color G blends into yours (default 50 %).
[HP] tagShow or hide the [HP] tag in layer names.
Self-testChecks every connection to Painter and lists what works. Include the results when you report a problem.

Your settings, recent colors and palettes are kept in Documents\Adobe\Adobe Substance 3D Painter\PikoBrush\.

FIELD GUIDE 07

Help

Most problems are one of these.

A key does nothing

The panel's status bar must be green ("● … active"): mark the layer as a hand-paint layer and select the layer itself rather than its mask. The mouse must be over the model, and the keys don't work while you type in a text field.

"Select the Paint tool and keep the Properties panel open"

Color changes go through Painter's own color picker, which needs the Paint tool's properties. Select the Paint tool and keep Painter's Properties panel open (it can be docked anywhere).

Picking from PureRef doesn't work

Painter must still be the active window. If you clicked into PureRef, click back into Painter (for example on its title bar), then hover the reference and press V or G.

The picked color looks lighter or darker than my paint

The default Screen pixel pick includes the viewport lighting. For the exact paint color, switch the pick method to Painter picker in Settings.

Blending (N) smudges instead of blurring

Select Painter's Smudge tool once and choose the Blur brush for it. PikoBrush keeps whatever brush the Smudge tool has.

A PikoBrush key clashes with a Painter shortcut I use

PikoBrush only takes its keys over the model on a hand-paint layer. If you still need Painter's shortcut there, move the PikoBrush action to another key in Settings.

Something looks broken

Open the panel → Settings → Run self-test and send the results with your Painter version: reply to your Gumroad receipt email.

Updating and uninstalling

To update, close Painter and replace the pikobrush folder with the new one; your settings and palettes stay. To uninstall, untick pikobrush in the Python menu and delete the folder.