Rainbow Sprinkles
Who doesn't like sprinkles!! Therefore I had the idea to try and replicate these tiny colorful pieces of sugar before my classes start up again. I feel like the end result came out great, but there are some improvements to be had in terms of performance and usability. I managed to learn a lot about how the shape splatter node can be used, along with the data it gives. I also decided to render the final screenshots in Designer rather than Unreal Engine, all using the PBR Render node. The result is really good especially considering it is all in the same application that the material is made in. I still have a lot to learn about the node though so the renders aren't the best.
4K material rendered using the PBR Render node in Substance Designer. This version uses the sphere mesh shape.
This version uses the plane mesh shape.
Reference Image
Albedo, Roughness, Normal, Metalness, Height, and Ambient Occlusion maps
The shape of the sprinkles is first made from a capsule with a bevel, then multiple sprinkle sizes are adapted to add some randomness and variety.
I layered the sprinkles using multiple shape splatters with conform to background turned on. It seems like there is definitely a better way to simulate colliding shapes on top of each other, but the effect it gives works pretty well.
The colors were easily randomized using the shape splatter blend node and adding multiple pattern slots. The node itself randomizes the colors for each layer, then they are all added together.