Top tips on using Substrate materials for automotive visualization
Creating highly realistic 3D visualizations of cars has always been challenging, because achieving photorealism involves accurately replicating complex physical, material, and environmental factors.
Cars have intricate geometries—curves, seams, interior stitching, and mechanical parts—and are generally very reflective. CG visualizations of them require precise environmental lighting and HDRI maps to produce believable reflections.
Compounding this, vehicles are made up of diverse materials—such as metallic paints, glass, rubber, leather, plastics, and chrome—each of which interacts with light differently.
Unreal Engine has long provided automotive designers with powerful tools to meet these challenges—from ray and path tracing to Nanite—and now with Substrate, it includes a next-generation framework that delivers complex and realistic materials. To help you get started, we recently released over 280 automotive Substrate materials for free on Fab. Built entirely on Substrate, this pack provides a physically accurate, production-ready material foundation for automotive visualization. Learn more about the materials and download them here.
We spoke to three firms working in automotive visualization today about their top tips for using this powerful material authoring system.
Cars have intricate geometries—curves, seams, interior stitching, and mechanical parts—and are generally very reflective. CG visualizations of them require precise environmental lighting and HDRI maps to produce believable reflections.
Compounding this, vehicles are made up of diverse materials—such as metallic paints, glass, rubber, leather, plastics, and chrome—each of which interacts with light differently.
Unreal Engine has long provided automotive designers with powerful tools to meet these challenges—from ray and path tracing to Nanite—and now with Substrate, it includes a next-generation framework that delivers complex and realistic materials. To help you get started, we recently released over 280 automotive Substrate materials for free on Fab. Built entirely on Substrate, this pack provides a physically accurate, production-ready material foundation for automotive visualization. Learn more about the materials and download them here.
We spoke to three firms working in automotive visualization today about their top tips for using this powerful material authoring system.
Courtesy of RENDEROOM
What is Substrate?
Substrate is designed for creating highly realistic materials that were previously difficult or impossible to achieve, such as realistic snow accumulation, puddles, or intricate car paint.
The system is built around the physics of light scattering, using properties with defined units to represent materials, making them more accurate.
Instead of a single shading model, it enables you to layer multiple materials with different properties. This allows for complex effects like car paint with a clear coat, or a layer of water on top of another surface.
The resulting workflow is more expressive and offers a wider parameter space for artists to work with. As of UE 5.7, Substrate is Production-Ready and enabled by default for new projects.
Courtesy of Rotor Studios
Tips from Rotor Studios on using Substrate
Rotor Studios is a creative agency that develops high-quality customizable marketing content specifically for the automotive industry—from cinematic launch films and photorealistic renders to VR experiences and interactive configurators.
We asked Rotor’s Chief Creative Technologist and Partner, Luke Sandford, for his top three tips on using Substrate for those working in automotive visualization.
Tip #1: Start with references: for product and for creative. Aiming for a look that you love will make all the difference.
Tip #2: Study reality: The new tools from Unreal reward attention to how light and materials behave in the real world. Learn how materials absorb and reflect light. Learn how scenes might be lit in a real shoot. The more you learn about how materials behave in the real world, the easier it will be to create reality using digital tools.
Tip #3: Master materials: Build a library of Substrate-based materials. Epic’s new Automotive Substrate Materials Pack is a great foundation. Use consistent colour management, balanced/calibrated lighting, and measure real-world reference samples. And to loop back to the first point, photorealism starts with ground truth references.
Courtesy of RENDEROOM
Tips from Renderoom on using Substrate
CG studio Renderoom was set up by automotive visualization veterans Sema Sezgin and Leonard Krüger in 2021. It provides digital media production services for the automotive sector and beyond.
We asked Managing Partner Krüger for his best tips on achieving fantastic results with Substrate.
Tip #1: Start with a solid idea, get references of camerawork, composition, and material look. What exactly is it that you want to achieve?
Tip #2: Keep it simple, but embrace the details. Balance out your Substrate materials, car placement, the composition of your camera, and the placement of your scene lights.
Tip #3: Paint with light. This is where your Substrate materials really shine. Draw focus onto your hero object and bring out the details of shapes by strategically placing highlights, reflections, and shadow areas.
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Tips from Lotus Cars on using Substrate
Lotus Cars went from using game engines to explore early designs to creating commercials, human-machine interfaces (HMI), and beyond. We asked the Lotus Visualization team for advice on getting the most out of Substrate.
Tip #1: Broaden your creative references. Don’t limit your inspiration to automotive work alone. Explore other visual disciplines like film, photography, and architecture to enrich your creative approach. When setting up shots, think like a real-world photographer would, use authentic camera angles, lens choices, and movement to bring cinematic realism to your CGI scenes.
Tip #2: Prioritize material accuracy. Materials are key to realism. Build and test them under proper lighting conditions, and pay close attention to how attributes like roughness, reflectivity, and subsurface scattering affect the final look. A well-crafted material can elevate the believability of your asset dramatically.
Tip #3: Ensure shot continuity. Think beyond individual shots: consider how each one connects to the next. Use camera movement and vehicle motion to create a natural flow between scenes. This continuity enhances storytelling and keeps the viewer engaged throughout the sequence.