ANSWERED: Pbr workflow

snake85027

I have a question about pbr workflow in quixel.

Lets say I grab a texture of window draps. Then I run it through ndo for a normal map and then create a AO based on the normal map. For the diffuse map do I then take out the lighting information of the original image as much as I can?

slosh

PBR workflow means the diffuse is just color...no lighting information. You can still bake an AO map and engines like marmoset will have a slot for the AO.

Wiktor

Yes, take out as much of that lighting information as possible! You don't want any of that.

snake85027

thanks for the replies. Right now I am messing around with DDO and on the albedo map I choose a dirt edge material but didnt see any dirt added to the edge of my model. Is this defined only by the normal map information or is it volumetric and based on the shape of the model. Or I could just being doing it all wrong all together.

Synaesthesia

If you're not seeing the dirt, chances are it's due to these situations:

1. Your mask is faint, and needs adjustment to increase the opacity of the dirt.

2. Your mask isn't faint, but your reflectance and albedo values are incorrect leading to minimal dirt visibility. If this is the case, attempt to lighten/darken the dirt until it shows up. Or possibly even minimalize it in the albedo but increase/decrease the dirt in the gloss/roughness map to make it visible as it interrupts the light flow on your model.

Every mask in DDO is driven by normals, curvature, AO, object normals, height maps, etc. How you combine them largely determines how prominent your detailing will be.

snake85027

So these different material/mask dont react to the shape of the model itself but rather the nrmal,Ao ect... I thought the cool thing about these programs is that it bases how it applies the effects is based on the the shape of the model as well as the nrm information? Like my mail box example, around the edges of the model would gather up dirt if I choose the dirt edge material and it you be based on the actual model itself?

Synaesthesia

>So these different material/mask dont react to the shape of the model itself but rather the nrmal,Ao ect...

Ideally, your normals would encompass the model, so the curvature that DDO generates would match the model. This is all largely a moot point in 2.0 as 3DO generates curvature from both the normal map and the LP curves.

snake85027

Ok awesome. For this model I just built the low poly and then used ndo to do a basic normal map. So I never made a high poly version. I preordered 2.0 so excited to use that.

I have another question. Whats the difference in putting the AO in the AO slot(unity,unreal, ect) versus it going over the albedo texture?

Synaesthesia

AO used in the designated "slot" for it will ensure that the engine treats it as occlusion - it disappears when light flows over the geometry. Putting AO into the albedo map should be done only in situations where it's absolutely necessary, and there's not a whole lot of situations I can think of that would require having AO baked into the albedo. It's better to keep them separated so that the shadowing disappears with engine-generated shading instead.

snake85027

thats really cool, ill have to try that out.