So PBR is here…

There are many PBR apps out there with Adobe Substance Painter, or PT in short, being one of the best out there.
Some might think “Hey I will still work on Photoshop” well good luck with that… Things have evolved and personally I used PS only to convert TIFF files to DDS, and since PT BMS plugin came out I didn’t even use it anymore.

Other PBR apps are:

• Blender + addons but it’s kinda tricky and not that open and deep as PT
• Quixel Mixer
• 3d Coat
• Armor Paint
• Marmorset Toolbag
  All payware if i’m not mistaken. For Blender I mean the addons… and I don’t mean the PT Plugin which is free but it doesn’t make Blender an actual PBR app it lacks many things and workflow from PBR apps and it’s super hard to use it from what I’ve seen compared to working on PT.

So now we have Blender as a free good solid 3D app with a good future and recently I discovered InstaMAT.
https://instamaterial.com

It’s free and license wise for their called InstaMAT Pioneer License they just want a reference and splash screen on your product for their product. But a member can’t ask to do that for BMS.
So in their Attribution license which you can read here:
https://docs.instamat.io/en/Products/InstaMAT_Studio/Licensing/Free_Pioneer_License_And_Attribution
they declare:

If you're sharing (or selling) content created with InstaMAT online,
    Provide a link back to the InstaMAT website in the description
    OR apply the watermark where it is reasonable to do so.

So I believe a txt in your files declaring so is sufficient in order to be ethically ok with them. OR - AND their watermark can be added on the textures in an area that is not used by the 3D model.

All you need to do to download the app is to create an account (free) on their site.

Now that we have this out of the way and we are ok with everything let’s see how the app stands up compared to the Elephant in the room which is PT.

I haven’t tried the app yet (I’m still downloading) but went through doc’s and tutorial videos.
First off it’s not just an app it’s a platform and for those familiar with PT it includes kinda Substance Designer and Substance Sampler. So it’s a powerful platform and u use the same UI and not different apps. U just open tabs and you can have more than one project at the same time.
It’s procedural, it has same masks as PT, Materials, Layers, Ankers, High-Low Poly workflow and some other stuff that PT doesn’t…
It’s for Windows and MAC and they also have in the same licensing InstaLOD.
https://instalod.com
InstaLOD is another great studio that advertises One Draw Call but doesn’t give full access to all features… remains to be discovered if it can help us in the free version.

This doesn’t mean it’s better than all but what I see is that it covers what is needed to PBR a model for free.
Details are kinda different but they fall in the way like as 3DS MAX is different than Blender, but in general it looks much closer to PT than Blender to 3DS MAX.
Good news is that it goes up to 16K (they say, didn’t see it) and it has Export Presets similar to how PT has which means an export preset for BMS can be created to match the files and structure of the BMS PT export preset. Unfortunately it doesn’t export to DDS as the BMS PT Plugin does but hey you can always use PS if you have it or use Paint.NET which is also free for the DDS convert.

InstaMAT has some nice tutorials here:
https://www.youtube.com/@InstaMAT_io

Here is one presenting some basic staff:

So have free fun…

@spotdott Among other things yes…
The main thing is that right now there are two different things regarding gfx in the engine.
PBR and non PBR.
Having parameters set for the one brakes the other.
Getting the sweet spot is something that no one wants to mess with.
BMS dev’s gone through this and when you hit a wall u must do some compromises, as always in life.
There is no bulletproof process for this. If you ever have followed any game that transitioned from one state to PBR this is a process that takes some time for models to be updated and the whole engine to find it’s equilibrium.
As mentioned for 4.38 there will be a new environment which will totally change things regarding lighting, you might got that from some shared screenshots of 4.38.
We all know that the pit is not PBRed and I don’t think it will remain like that…

There is no need to go in details this that etc I don’t know them and to the extent I was involved I couldn’t understand them but trust me it was - is a real major uber pain to master it and set it even on aspects that you cant even think about.

What is the end line is that the faster we get more stuff to pbr the better and the less “such issues” will remain. Community can help on this thus the reason that BMS Dev team invested on a Blender exporter and Substance painter plugin in order to make it easier and more accessible to the whole community to contribute even more, even for guys with no 3D or PBR experience.

As a personal example I learned everything as a hobby for 3D and PBR… PBR even when Substance painter was still Allegorithmic and not Adobe. Im not an expert , nor good, but the point is that everyone can do it IF they want and there is no fear for it, just time and devotion. For the rest, knowledge, tricks, got stack the community is here and will assist as always…

So, in general to all, don’t just wait and ask, GET INVOLVED.

this one can pass easily as a real pic:
https://i.postimg.cc/g2BmZh0D/2024-08-21-100928.png

nice!

just some small tips or info.
beign on DX for normals and in tangent color space is the thing for normals and BMS. blender is on OpenGL by default iirc.
high poly model on the high-low poly workflow doesn’t need uvw unwrap or mapping at all at least with substance painter (hope it’s the same for blender).
Using substance painter , again without actual knowledge on blender texturing, is quick, it helps with some anomalies or errors to be discovered in the transition and baking the basic maps from PT (PT=substance painter) also helps alot to find such hidden issues or have a great result.
The negative on the high-low poly workflow, is more time on the model and very good organization in order to be able to make changes if needed afterwards so not to search in a mess and mostly important to have a clean project as all this work will pass to BMS eventually and someone else in the future might have to deal with your model, so it must be clear in order to find his way in that.
using the High-Low poly workflow gives a great potential for more detailed models while you save triangles. But it introduces an important factor which is Texel-density. This is even without the term known to artists but with this workflow it comes even more important. So you might save tris in the model but in the UVW real estate you need more pixels, so your uv-islands (parts of the uvw of the 3D part) you must make them bigger , or increase the resolution or brake the texture from 1 to many. Here kicks in TexelDensity. This can assist if used correctly to determine Texel Density for your model parts and separate them to texel density groups and have an acceptable for u result without for every part going back and forth to fix things and maybe at the end to have to redo everything from scratch and save time.
Another important thing has to do with non English creators that use their native language to name parts in the 3D model.
So please use English and easy to understand names, example not “the upper thing” or “leva” or “changer” or whatever native word besides English.
If u ask well what we do with multipart objects? easy “piston-main” “piston-main-1” “piston-main-2”. I know it sounds harsh but besides future guys will also help you on a very complex model.

@richionizor wish u the best… good thinking.
I believe everything should be gathered in one point…
MAX BLENDER PBR…
The Light / The Dark Side / The Twilight zone

Inside joke…

this is a dirty exhaust probably from an old model it could be a B

This is a clean one from C or D

and this is in F3D:

@qawa
Looks super great…

@Rakamora
errrr??? come again?
this is rude.
the announcement was for the theater. no one said there are any campaigns.
And for those that follow EMF know that there are no campaigns.

finally even better you could create your own and start contributing and be the next master of campaigns creation.

I have a video with the workflow Max to PBR but it shows Material Editor which is not released yet and it’s one year old… that displays the basic stuff which probably I must wait until things are officially out first.

Also forgot to mention that the work and effort needed for all this to become a reality is a HUGE undertake.
You can’t believe or understand the magnitude and effort how many were - are involved. The hours the tests the redoing things cause of changes, the long night hours, going like zombie to work…
It’s just remarkable…
Hat’s off to all involved.

just as a reminder blender exporter is in beta testing so 3dsmax will not be needed in order to create a falcon functional model.
this doesn’t mean max exporter will not exist.
it’s kinda hard to switch from one app to the other when you have many years of experience so creators will have both tools on their disposal.

@Topo-0
thanx goes to Qawa I just added text.
well the video is one year back and qawa was working on this exporter to explain how things where working.
It was - is a transition point.
don’t know what has changed when I left iirc there was a beta for cockpits.
I hope the mentioned guru’s will post the current updated info.

well Qawa did something nice. A video and I have added the annotations to it and explanations where needed.
it’s for 3dsmax.
hope it helps.
Again this is qawa’s video creation.

from memory you need as much 3d objects as the switch positions are.
so one switch has 3 positions then you must place 3 switches each on their position.
The switches and dials don’t actually animate they go off from one position and on to the next position.
to the eye looks like animated.
I believe I have something from qawa the master of pits somewhere. will have to check.

@Tumbler31 u misunderstood.
just stating the facts of the initial release and it’s downfall at that period.

as u see I’m active on this thread. I don’t use blender and I try to bridge things and keep them on a positive turn in order for this to work…

ARE WE CLEAR?

@digle just for us unaware what is idsudw for?

so in short Blender plugin is a no-go?

Let’s now see it on a kinda positive way.
Can the plugin be cut down to working state?
What I mean…
As I understand it, full functionality is gone, was not there from the beginning, but was never given the opportunity to be completed.
So either identify and inform if
a. it’s a minor or specific feature that doesn’t work that it’s rarely used or used in cockpits only for example. so inform artists not to use for cockpits building.
b. If it’s a major thing then remove it and say to 3D artists that with this plugin you can do buildings and weapons vehicles BUT NOT A. B. C.

So that ppl will not waste their time on a non working thing and know what they can do with this plugin, IF they can…

also @digle thank you for looking in to it and for your efforts to make it work.

@Topo-0 was.
The aim120 and the 9X Frankenmodel are my update.

@Topo-0 believe me I know the difference very well.

lol nothing serious he says…
man this is better than the F-16 pit.

@luke777 yea I have seen that you where posting issues.
So no replies or fixes?
Maybe start a separate thread where you will have only blender bug’s and not implemented things so that others can add also.
This will also help as the dev is changed and probably is unaware what issues might exist.
Since you have done such posts already it might be easier for you to gather them in one place.
I know many times is like hitting your head to a wall or beating a dead horse but you never know.
And as I said it could help define and inform blender users in a more structured way that for actual falcon import 3DSMAX is the only way.

I know you r frustrated by the whole situation as you want to do things but the lack of the tool holds you back… but it is what it is and let’s move on.

Maybe if you have the time and knowledge - experience help to make the blender plugin working… and you will ask the initial creator was kicked from the team why they would take me??? well that would be a good point…
anyway lets stay on the positive side of things… it’s a hell of work done already and it needs some pushes to get there… so let’s push and see where it goes.

@luke777 I believe you. but just brake it down and start posting issues.
One by one in order if the bms dev will fix - implement them.
If there is a major issue (i’m sure there will be as no serious model was ever done - tested with blender) then 3D artists should now that only geometry can be done in blender and the rest in 3DS MAX.