 So you just want to understand every particle brush in Substance Painter, not a problem. For these next few tutorials I'm just going to go through and show you generally what each particle looks like, and briefly explain the main settings that you'll probably need in order to control them. Particle brushes generally have two different settings, the emitter which controls how the particle behaves before it touches your model, and the receiver which controls how it behaves after it lands on your model. So first we have broken glass, DT is how smooth the particles are drawn, low DT is very smooth, and high is very choppy. Spawn speed affects the delay time between when you click and when the particle activates. The lower this number, the bigger the delay, and the higher, the more instant the particle starts. Factor life adds more crisscross action, and fractal size is kinda similar. The bigger particle life is, the longer the particles will continue to draw their pattern. The higher life ran, the more particles will stop traveling straight. Particle speed is how fast the designs travel, usually the faster the bigger the designs will be. Spawn radius is how big the empty circle in the middle is, and before triggering is how much time needs to pass before it starts to crisscross. So the higher the number, the later it will start to be perpendicular. The burn brush is great for simulating fire damage, DT is how smooth the particles are drawn, low DT is very smooth, and high is very choppy. The higher spawn rate factor, the more fire gets instantiated. Spawn speed affects the delay time between when you click and when the particle activates. The higher the spread, the more the flames will disperse. The more turbulence you have, the more messy the waves will get. The higher the scale, the more the turbulence will be affected. The higher fade opacity, the smaller each individual fire becomes. Fade opacity random makes the fade a little bit more unpredictable. The higher the fade size, the smaller the burn gets. The higher fade size random, the more the fade size becomes unpredictable. The higher the life, the longer the burn particles will exist. The higher burn random life, the more unpredictable the life of each particle becomes. The higher the spawn rate, the more fire particles will be instantiated. The more spread you have, the more scattered each particle will become. Global wind, X, Y, and Z just determine the direction the fire burns. X controls left and right, Y controls up and down, and Z controls forward and backward. The bigger smoke life, the longer the smoke particles will last. The more smoke life random, the more unpredictable the lengths of each smoke particle will be. The larger the smoke spawn rate, the more smoke particles get created. The more smoke spread you have, the more dispersed smoke particles become. Adding turbulence again makes the fire direction more unpredictable, and the pattern of the turbulence can be controlled over here. Electric lines is awesome for creating sci-fi grid designs. DT just means smoothness, the higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. The lower spawn speed, the bigger the delay between when you click and when the particle starts to grow. The more control spawn you have, the fewer lines get created. The higher detect overlap, the more lines will avoid crossing each other. The higher angle controls the type of angles the lines can travel. There are four different modes to choose from. The more fade out you have, the more the ends of the lines will fizzle out at the end. The more noise power you have, the more crazy and small the designs will get. The more noise speed you have, the more often the lines will change direction. Honestly, I'm not really sure what normal factor does. Let me know in the comments if you actually know. Particle life, min, max, X and Y just determine the bias of the lines to go up and down or left and right. For example, if you set X to zero and Y to max, it's more likely to spread vertically than it is horizontally. The higher the speed, the faster the particles will spread, the lower the scatter, the more likely the particles will go in the same direction. The higher split duration, the less likely the lines are to turn, and if you want to bias towards a specific angle at the beginning, you can control that down here. The fill brush is great for dropping huge blotches of material. DT just means smoothness, the higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. The lower spawn speed, the bigger the delay between when you click and when the particle starts to grow. Finally, it will fill the area that is parallel with the faces that you started to fill. However, if you increase the max-derive angle, it will start to climb up and down walls and angles. The bigger a particle life, the longer the particles will last. The more the speed, the faster the particles will travel before their life ends. And honestly, I've never really needed to change the reset times, but you can mess with those here. And spawn rate factor determines how many particles get created. The fracture brush simulates cracking and breaking. DT just means smoothness, the higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. The lower spawn speed, the bigger the delay between when you click and when the particle starts to grow. The higher the life, the longer the particles will stay active. The higher the speed, the faster the particles will move before they die. The higher speed factor at trigger, the longer the lines will be before they start to branch out. The higher stop speed ratio, the less the lines will start to branch. The higher the trigger deviation, the more obtuse the branch angles become. The higher the trigger time max, the longer each line can wait before branching out. The lower the trigger time min, the earlier each branch can start branching out. The higher turbulence power is, the more each branch will start to bend and curve, and the more turbulence scale, the more curvy the designs will get. Laser damage does exactly what it sounds like. This brush is heavily affected by the camera. If you use it from the side, the particles will bounce off really far. But if you stare at your object head on, it will draw the damage like this. DT just means smoothness, the higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. Speed is how long the particle takes to get from the camera to the object. The more fade opacity, the more the ends of the particles fade out. The larger the size, the more prominent the fade becomes. The more powerful the laser, the bigger the damage will look. The higher the particle life, the longer the particles will stay active. The higher random particle life, the more random the duration of each particle's life will be. The higher the speed, the faster each particle will go before it dies, and spread determines how random the directions of each particle will be. The leak's brush is perfect for simulating leaking liquids. DT just means smoothness, the higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. The higher the spawn rate factor, the more particles get created. Speed is how long the particle takes to get from the camera to the object. The higher the spread, the more space between each particle. I personally don't use these sensitivity settings, but be careful because when either one goes above zero, the brush seems to stop working. The higher the opacity, the more the fade. The higher the fade opacity random, the more unpredictable the fade becomes. The higher fade size, the more the ends of the particles shrink as they fade. The higher fade side random, the more unpredictable the size of the ends of each particles are as they fade. The less friction you have, the more the particles will slide down the surface, and if we continue down, you'll see the global wind, which as usual determines the bias towards the directions the particles will fall. X determines left and right, Y determines how much they resist gravity, and Z determines forwards and backwards. Speaking of gravity, if you want to control it directly, you can make it weaker here, or stronger like this. If you want it to look like the particle was tossed from a direction, you can make it inherit velocity, and I believe this is dependent on the strokes of your mouse. And if you want to make each particle's velocity more random, you can increase that over here. And I'm still not really sure what the normal factor does. I thought I had something to do with drawing over normals, but that doesn't really seem to affect anything. So just let me know if you figure out. The bigger particle life, the longer each particle will stay alive. The more random the life, the less likely each particle is to die at the same time. The bigger the spread, the more sporadic the direction each line becomes. The more turbulence power you have, the less straight the lines become. And the more turbulence scale, the more the lines start to wave back and forth. Heavy leaks is great when normal leaks just aren't enough. DT just means smoothness, the higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. The higher the spawn rate factor, the more particles get created. Speed is how long the particle takes to get from the camera to the object. The higher the spread, the more space between each particle. I personally don't use these sensitivity settings, but be careful because when either one goes above zero, the brush seems to stop working. The higher the opacity, the more the fade. The higher the fade opacity random, the more unpredictable the fade becomes. The higher fade size, the more the ends of the particles shrink as they fade. The higher fade side random, the more unpredictable the size of the ends of each particles are as they fade. The less friction you have, the more the particles will slide down the surface. And if we continue down, you'll see the global wind, which as usual determines the bias towards the directions the particles will fall. X determines left and right, Y determines how much they resist gravity, and Z determines forwards and backwards. Speaking of gravity, if you want to control it directly, you can make it weaker here or stronger like this. If you want it to look like the particle was tossed from a direction, you can make it inherit velocity. And I believe this is dependent on the strokes of your mouse. And if you want to make each particle's velocity more random, you can increase that over here. And I'm still not really sure what the normal factor does. So just let me know if you figure out the bigger particle life, the longer each particle will stay alive. The more random the life, the less likely each particle is to die at the same time. The bigger the spread, the more sporadic the direction each line becomes, the more turbulence power you have, the less straight the lines become. And the more turbulence scale, the more the lines start to wave back and forth. Liquid stream is when you just need your particles to pour out. DT just means smoothness. The higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. The higher the spread, the more space between each particle. I really never adjust normal factor, but you can do that here. The bigger particle life, the longer each particle will stay alive. The higher the particle opacity, the more clearly you'll be able to see the particles. And the more the velocity, the more force is used to aggressively shoot the stream onto your model. Organic spread is perfect for nature based vines. DT just means smoothness, the higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. Speed is how long the particle takes to get from the camera to the object. The higher the opacity, the more the fade. The higher the fade opacity random, the more unpredictable the fade becomes. The higher fade size, the more the ends of the particles shrink as they fade. The higher fade side random, the more unpredictable the size of the ends of each particles are as they fade. If you want it to look like the particle was tossed from a direction, you can make it inherit velocity. And I believe this is dependent on the strokes of your mouse. The bigger particle life, the longer each particle will stay alive. The more random the life, the less likely each particle is to die at the same time. The higher the speed, the faster the particles will travel. The higher the speed random, the more likely the particles will travel at different speeds. The higher the spawn rate factor, the more particles get created. The more turbulence power you have, the less straight the lines become. And the more turbulence scale, the more the lines start to wave back and forth. The puddle brush is excellent for making puddles. DT just means smoothness, the higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. Gravity direction x, y, and z just determine what direction the particles will fall. x determines left and right, y determines up and down, and z determines forwards and backwards. The bigger particle life, the longer each particle will stay alive. Spawn angle x and y change the direction and angle the particles start from. x makes the particles start from a more horizontal angle and y pivots the rotation from the top. The higher spawn direction random, the more random the particles will go all over the place. Spawn distance is how long the particle has to travel before it reaches its destination. The higher spawn rate factor, the more particles get instantiated. The higher the spawn speed, the faster the particles will travel. The more turbulence power you have, the less straight the lines become. And the more turbulence scale, the more the lines start to wave back and forth. Again, I never really changed normal factor, but you can mess with it here. The bigger particle life, the longer each particle will stay alive. The higher the opacity, the more prominent each particle becomes. The higher the print speed, the more sticky the particles get. And the higher the velocity factor, the less likely the particles are to leave a mark. The rain brush just rains particles like a shower. DT just means smoothness, the higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. Gravity direction x, y and z just determine what direction the particles will fall. X determines left and right, y determines up and down, and z determines forwards and backwards. The bigger particle life, the longer each particle will stay alive. Spawn angle x and y change the direction and angle the particles start from. x makes the particles start from a more horizontal angle, and y pivots the rotation from the top. The higher spawn direction random, the more random the particles will go all over the place. Spawn distance is how long the particle has to travel before it reaches its destination. The higher spawn rate factor, the more particles get instantiated. The higher the spawn speed, the faster the particles will travel. The more turbulence power you have, the less straight the lines become. And the more turbulence scale, the more the lines start to wave back and forth. The less friction you have, the more the particles will slide down the surface. Next we have global wind, which of course does all the usual. x determines left and right, y determines how much they resist gravity, and z determines forwards and backwards. Speaking of gravity, if you want to control it directly, you can make it weaker here, or stronger like this. If you want it to look like the particle was tossed from a direction, you can make it inherit velocity, and I believe this is dependent on the strokes of your mouse. The higher life max, the longer the maximum life of each particle can be. The lower life min, the shorter the life of each particle can be. I still haven't really noticed anything particular that the normal settings adjust, but feel free to let me know in the comments down below if you do. And the higher the velocity, the harder the particles splat when they touch the surface. The rococo brush is amazing for quick, beautiful floral and curved designs. DT just means smoothness, the higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. The higher the spawn rate factor, the more particles get created. Speed is how long the particle takes to get from the camera to the object. The higher the spread, the more space between each particle. The more turbulence power you have, the less straight the lines become. And the more turbulence scaled, the more the lines start to wave back and forth. The more turbulence, the more messy the designs will get. The more control spawn, the more clustered and the more number of spawns get drawn. If you lower detect overlap, the designs will overlap like crazy. The higher the fade, the more the ends of the designs will fade out. As usual, I don't really mess with the normal factor. Normally the particle designs are just dots, but when you increase the speed, the designs get longer. The closer speed turn is to zero, the less curvy the designs will get. The higher the power spiral, the bigger loops you will make. The less random, the more unpredictable the angle of the designs get. The higher scale turbulence changes the degree of the turbulence waves. And when infinity is set to 1, you get these really cool looking s-hook designs. Sandstorm applies your material as if it was in the middle of a sandstorm. DT just means smoothness. The higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. Gravity direction x, y, and z just determine what direction the particles will fall. X determines left and right. Y determines up and down. And z determines forwards and backwards. The bigger particle life, the longer each particle will stay alive. Spawn angle x and y change the direction and angle the particles start from. X makes the particles start from a more horizontal angle, and y pivots the rotation from the top. The higher spawn direction random, the more random the particles will go all over the place. Spawn distance is how long the particle has to travel before it reaches its destination. The higher spawn rate factor, the more particles get instantiated. The higher the spawn speed, the faster the particles will travel. The more turbulence power you have, the less straight the lines become. And the more turbulence scale, the more the lines start to wave back and forth. I personally don't use these sensitivity settings, but be careful because when either one goes above zero, the brush seems to stop working. The higher the opacity, the more the fade. The higher the fade opacity random, the more unpredictable the fade becomes. The higher fade size, the more the ends of the particles shrink as they fade. The higher fade side random, the more unpredictable the size of the ends of each particles are as they fade. The less friction you have, the more the particles will slide down the surface. Next we have global wind, which of course does all the usual. X determines left and right, Y determines how much they resist gravity, and Z determines forwards and backwards. Speaking of gravity, if you want to control it directly, you can make it weaker here, or stronger like this. If you want it to look like the particle was tossed from a direction, you can make it inherit velocity. And I believe this is dependent on the strokes of your mouse. If you want to make the inherited velocity more unpredictable, increase this. Again, I really don't use the normal factor. The higher the particle life, the longer each particle will last, and the higher particle life random, the more each particle will die at different times. The bigger the spread, the more sporadic the direction each line becomes. The more turbulence power you have, the less straight the lines become. And the more turbulence scale, the more the lines start to wave back and forth. The splat brush is like throwing paint onto your object. DT just means smoothness, the higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. The higher the spawn rate factor, the more particles get created. Speed is how long the particle takes to get from the camera to the object. The higher the spread, the more space between each particle. I personally don't use these sensitivity settings, but be careful because when either one goes above zero, the brush seems to stop working. The higher the opacity, the more the fade. The higher the fade opacity random, the more unpredictable the fade becomes. The higher fade size, the more the ends of the particles shrink as they fade. The higher fade side random, the more unpredictable the size of the ends of each particles are as they fade. The less friction you have, the more the particles will slide down the surface. Next we have global wind, which of course does all the usual. X determines left and right, Y determines how much they resist gravity, and Z determines forwards and backwards. Speaking of gravity, if you want to control it directly, you can make it weaker here, or stronger like this. If you want it to look like the particle was tossed from a direction, you can make it inherit velocity. And I believe this is dependent on the strokes of your mouse. If you want to make the inherited velocity more unpredictable increase this. Again, I really don't use the normal factor. The higher the particle life, the longer each particle will last, and the higher particle life random, the more each particle will die at different times. The bigger the spread, the more sporadic the direction each line becomes, the more turbulence power you have, the less straight the lines become. And the more turbulence scale, the more the lines start to wave back and forth. The vein brush makes awesome looking organic tubes and infection designs. DT just means smoothness, the higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. Speed is how long the particle takes to get from the camera to the object. The higher the life, the longer the particles will stay active. The higher the speed, the faster the particles will move before they die. The higher speed factor trigger, the more likely the veins are to separate. The higher stop speed ratio, the less the lines will start to branch. The higher the trigger deviation, the more obtuse the branch angles become. The higher the trigger time max, the longer each line can wait before branching out. The lower the trigger time, the earlier each branch can start branching out. The higher turbulence power is, the more each branch will start to bend and curve. And the higher turbulence scale, the bigger and wider the turns will be. And the small veins brush is great for creating subtle rashes in micro organic details. DT just means smoothness, the higher the value, the more choppy the effect will be. Speed is how long the particle takes to get from the camera to the object. The more turbulence, the more messy the designs will get. The higher control spawn, the more subtle and tame the designs of your brush gets. If you lower detect overlap, the designs will overlap like crazy. The higher the fade, the more the ends of the designs will fade out. As usual, I don't really mess with the normal factor. The higher the life, the longer the particles will stay active. Now these next values are easier to see when we change the material to something simple like black and white. And just to help you understand, we're gonna bring all these values to zero. So this is what the brush is really doing behind the scenes. It's made up of x and y particles. Speed, min, max just controls how fast those two particles move across the surface. The higher the value, the longer the designs get. Now the higher the particle turns speed gets, the more the particles will start to curve and make loop shapes. Negative is clockwise and positive is counterclockwise. Now if you increase the power spiral instead of exploding, it will start to spin like a spiral in a galaxy. And the higher the random direction, the more likely the particles will spin in opposite directions. It is either one or zero. The higher the scaled turb, the more jagged the lines become. And infinity makes the curve travel back and forth in a wave pattern. It often heads towards the bottom left corner of the world. Hope that helps and as always, hope you have a fantastic day and I'll see you around.