Quixel releases Megascans!

Synaesthesia

Hey guys!
Today is finally here! We've launched Megascans! Plus Megascans Studio and Megascans Bridge for Windows and OSX, a standalone toolset for customizing, blending and exporting scans. From all of us at Quixel, a HUGE thank you for your support. As you guys know, we've got deep roots here at Polycount - this is a fantastic community that's helped push our toolset to the next level. That said, we present you with...

MEGASCANS!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnSekpFSLnU

Megascans is a massive online library of standardized and physically based surface, vegetation and 3D scans. The first beta wave unlocks a substantial part of the Megascans natural library (as recently showcased in Disney’s The Jungle Book), with more waves coming during the course of the beta, including organic and hard-surface scans.

For more on the new tools, jump over to: https://megascans.se/megascans-is-released

Please let us know what you think! We're thrilled to have the opportunity to share these tools with you.

repete

Synaesthesia said:

There's a lot of customization coming to Studio in the updates we have planned - and we will specifically address concerns like that!

I don't doubt it as your track record shows with quixel

jul_lef

to enter a bug is there a special place for that ( forum, email ?)

Brygelsmack

When is the next set of scans being released?

Steppenwolf

Synaesthesia said:

There's a lot of customization coming to Studio in the updates we have planned - and we will specifically address concerns like that!

Do you have any plans for stylization filters or something along those lines (like bilateral filter, surface blur for instance)? That ultra realistic look is great if that's what you aim for, however during my time with assets from the closed megascans beta i sometimes encountered some issues with clashing art styles because we tend to have somewhat semi photorealistic art in our games for the most part.

Synaesthesia

It's something I'll definitely recommend for further customization - thanks for the input!

@Brygelsmack - Teddy just mentioned that new scans will be trickling in every day starting next week.

oglu

Synaesthesia is there a 16bit verision of the displacement. with a 8bit jpeg you wont get good results for rendering.


found the answer... but it would be great to get this also in the free samples... at least a 16bit dispmap for testing... 
hobby version does not have 16/32bit access...
https://megascans.se/faq#Which file formats are supported?

musashidan

lospri said:

Hi, 
I pre-ordered the Quixel Suite 1.0 , Since the beginning you tell that we will have access to megascan when it will be released. And now you ask to pay at least 19$/month for it ? 

I thought this as well. When I bought QS2 beta I presumed that the Megascans application (studio as it turns out) would become available as part of the suite (since the toolbar button has always been there) and the scans themselves would be what we purchased. 

musashidan

Quick test render in TB with one of the free .jpeg samples(2K). All maps from the DL applied. Considering all maps including the NM and Disp are 8bit lossy, the results are impressive. I second @oglu in a request for different formats and 16bit to properly test.

oglu

if im not mistaken the shading for realtime gets calculated before the displacement... ?
and for offline rendering its the other way around... 

musashidan

Not sure about real-time, but offline disp is definitely calculated before shading/lighting.

loggie24

Steppenwolf said:

loggie24 said:

Mad props guys, while i'm sad that this has the potential to stagnate creative freedom to some extent it looks amazing!

It doesn't have to really. It's like with all the cool new toys that we get. You can either use it as is with default settings or whatever then it will be easily recognized and everything will have kinda a samey look or you can use it as a starting point or tool for something new. Things are heading in a direction of a composite between procedural and photogrammetry. Probably a sensitive topic since it's competition but there a a whole bunch of cool things you can do with Megascans in Substance and the Megascans Studio looks like it could evolve into Quixels own solution in that direction further down the line.

That is true. I guess i just can't help being a bit salty about the fact that now most people can create great looking things with minimal effort while i'v busted my ass off making things myself :pleased:

Synaesthesia

Think about it like this, you'll just end up making things that are that much better than what they were before!

loggie24

Synaesthesia said:

Think about it like this, you'll just end up making things that are that much better than what they were before!

But where is the originality? If  everyone is using the same source things can get stale and in the end we will have so many "awesome" scenes that no one cares because it's "the norm". That's my main problem with this, but i can't stop evolution..

Drav

Hey guys, nice work on the launch, been having a lot of fun today. Two pieces of feedback. One, can you make it easier to see what size the textures are before downloading, a tag with 1x1m, 2x2m or 4x4m would be very helpful. Secondly, studio doesent work with my wacom at all in pen mode, only works if i swap to mouse mode. 

Cheers, theres a lot of potential with blending and masking for studio, cant wait to see more!

Synaesthesia

Loggie: Imagine it more like buying a Lego set. You get a bunch of predetermined blocks with varying shapes, but essentially one Lego is the same as another Lego - they're fungible commodities. In the end, what you create with your Lego set determines how interesting it is to look at, even if everyone else uses the same moulded plastic that was created in Denmark.

Studio allows for infinite customization of Megascans. There's no real limit to what you can do with it other than your imagination!

thatworm

Great work guys
one question, when I import the free substances into vray via the script in megascans bridge, in the created material the reflectance is driven by the ior at 1.5 (which is fine for dielectrics as it equates to an f0 of about 0.04), which is fine, and the reflection colour map is set to a value of 50 i assume to represent the maximum reflectance at grazing angles (because of how rough the material is it won't reach 100% specular even at grazing angles), however this also affects the f0 of the material, because vray, and sets the f0 much lower than i know is correct from the included f0 map, is this a bug or am I doing something wrong?

As I understand it, vray can't use the f0 specular maps megascans provides and have a fresnel effect (unless you take the f0 into a custom falloff to simulate fresnel inside the reflect map slot, but my impression is this is pretty dirty and I'm not sure it works for metals with a complex fresnel). It would be really useful if megascans gave us an ior map, especially when it starts offering metal scans, are there any plans for this/am I missing something?

Steppenwolf

loggie24 said:

Synaesthesia said:

Think about it like this, you'll just end up making things that are that much better than what they were before!

But where is the originality? If  everyone is using the same source things can get stale and in the end we will have so many "awesome" scenes that no one cares because it's "the norm". That's my main problem with this, but i can't stop evolution..

If everyone decides to use megascans in their stock form then people will get tired of it soon enough. Maybe you haven't noticed but the rocks for instance come with hipolies that you could bash together and work with in zbrush to create new things. They also come with brushes that can be used for sculpting or splattering of surface details). I myself have used megascans to extract albedo gradients for wholy different things. I have made leaf scatters from some atlases that can be used and blended procedurally on new materials. I have nodes for SD that can mask out and randomize parts of megascans, blend them directionaly (say on the bottom or top of a wall). There are so many creative possibilities that haven't even been explored yet. Personaly i'm not worried. The most talented and creative people will still find ways to push it a few levels further then average Joe.

Maximum-Dev

So what would we do with the Fuzz maps that come with the 3D models?

Synaesthesia

Regarding fuzz maps: https://megascans.se/faq#Fuzz

Maximum-Dev

Synaesthesia said:

Regarding fuzz maps: https://megascans.se/faq#Fuzz

Thanks for the link but It's not clear how it should be put into use in a game engine. I couldn't find any info on how to use it in UE4.

Synaesthesia

Let's try this: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Rendering/Materials/Functions/Reference/Shading/

That might help a bit more.

Maximum-Dev

At first I didn't realize the Fuzz map was actually just a mask to isolate the moss. I just used it with the Fuzz function and the result is stunning. Thanks Jonathan!



This is how I used the mask.

pior

Hi again -

Just to make sure : with the current beta, does Studio require a paid subscription in order to test it out ? I do have access to the free test assets as well as Bridge, but I seem unable to activate Studio.

Synaesthesia

You need an active subscription - whether it's paid or part of the one-month free trial matters not.

pior

Thank you for the follow-up. How does one enable the one-month trial ?

Synaesthesia

Did you buy Quixel SUITE before? We should have mailed out a one-month freelancer subscription to Megascans directly to you if so. This thread has more information on the subject.

pior

Hi - I have been beta testing the suite in its various shapes and forms since 2013, and my Suite2 license email was received on nov 28th 2015. Now of course this is getting outside of the scope of this feedback thread, so don't hesitate to PM me for further details.

MakerTwins

Maximum-Dev said:

How do i go about creating these plants? in 3ds max? i see there is a lot of the leaf scans but no idea how to recreate them in 3d, how is it done in UE like in the picture above?

Synaesthesia

pior said:

Hi - I have been beta testing the suite in its various shapes and forms since 2013, and my Suite2 license email was received on nov 28th 2015. Now of course this is getting outside of the scope of this feedback thread, so don't hesitate to PM me for further details.

I just got word that we'll be pushing this e-mail within the next couple of days. Sorry about the wait!

MakerTwins

I also see a lot of these plants used in the jungle book, any idea how they went about using them in 3d space? 

Mikademius

I have checked out the free assets and the scans look very good. When it comes to Studio License, 4k you get 500 points pr. year for $580/mnth and you pay annually? Those points will drain rather fast. It says you can top on, but it does not say how much adding credits costs. How much does that cost? The point system on subscription sounds like a bad deal. It would not be like you would tank it all and leave because you can not cancel a studio licence like that. You have an annual plan. What is the thought behind the subscription/points system for studios?

Maximum-Dev

Should we expect new scans today?

Bhrazz

That points system, I'll pass.

musashidan

Bhrazz said:

That points system, I'll pass.

I was just thinking the same. 

The scans are beautiful, no doubt, the MS Studio tool looks well designed, and I know a huge amount of work has gone into this but, with Allegorithmic tools now being free for students and very cheap otherwise, I wonder if this is a wise business model for Quixel?

Synaesthesia

@Bhrazz - any particular reason why? Feedback is useful to improve the service.

@Maximum-Dev - we should be adding new scans as the week progresses!

@Mikademius - I'll try to get back with you ASAP. Please don't hesitate to tag me if I can't get a proper response to you soon!

redhonour

Congrats on the launch!

I've been anxiously awaiting getting my hobbyist hands on summa dat scanned goodness and the mats look great. Does not disappoint!
I'm a big fan of your "ecosystem philosophy" which is obviously great for artists and probably even better for people learning.
Also everything looks fabulous

Have a few critiques too, pretty much all on the customer experience side:

I'm a little confused and not super excited about a points system. Points often feel like they needlessly obfuscate the relation my money has to my purchase.  Other sites usually just tell me "you have X number of downloads/packs" per month.

Also, when trying to sign up for Megascans, I got an unknown error at the payment page (yikes). So right now I have no idea if I'm on the books for a monthly or not. Like, it says I have 50 points so I assume I am... but that brings up that I can't find a place to manage my subscription. What's more, my profile page has a button that says "Subscribe" as if I'm not already. Super confused about that

Thanks for listening to the feedbacks; that informed iteration is part of what keeps me coming back to Quixel tools

Synaesthesia

Cheers @redhonour! I've passed this along to our team.

MakerTwins

how come the megascans studio outputs 8 bit displacement maps?,
the more i look into megascans , the more i discover how big of a let down this was...

redhonour

@Synaesthesia Thanks for listening!

Bhrazz

Synaesthesia said:

@Bhrazz - any particular reason why? Feedback is useful to improve the service.

The points system it self is confusing and a bad conversion system, if you want to sell each set individually, sell it with real currency.

 Also, I don't understand why there is a points system in the first, is a weird deicsion for a software. Just sell it more expensive but with a flat rate.

Steppenwolf

MakerTwins said:

how come the megascans studio outputs 8 bit displacement maps?,
the more i look into megascans , the more i discover how big of a let down this was...

I wonder if it's a bug/faulty displacement files. When i link surfaces into Substance the exr displacements are all black (the ones that come with 3d assets work tho). Only the 8 bit jpg displacements work.

Synaesthesia

>The points system it self is confusing

May I ask what's confusing about it? From our perspective, it makes quite a bit of sense:

1x1 surfaces = 1 point
2x2 surfaces = 2 points
4x4 surfaces (coming soon) = 4 points
3D assets: varying points, generally 4 to 6 points

Generally speaking, each surface is roughly $1 to $2 in USD terms.

Bhrazz

Synaesthesia said:

Generally speaking, each surface is roughly $1 to $2 in USD terms.

This.


( Some Games currency uses points to hide real prices )

Synaesthesia

We're not really hiding anything.

The subscription plan is up-front about the costs. For a hobbyist, $19 monthly gives you 30 2k material scans. That's about $1.50 per scan. The freelancer price is about $1.72 per scan at $29 monthly. This is all assuming 1x1 scans instead of 2x2.

The price becomes significantly more expensive as the user's ability to pay for it increases.

Maximum-Dev

I have been using CGTextures for a long time now, they also use a point system. It's fine and makes perfect sense to me BUT their points are way better balanced. There is enough points per month to address all your needs at production level and at the same time preventing people to download the whole website in a month. I find the point cap too low with megascans specially since a single asset can cost up to 8! points. 50-60 points hardly last a week.

Synaesthesia

Consider also that CGTextures only sells individual textures, wherein we sell materials. There's a huge difference in both bandwidth and value between the two services.

loggie24

I think the prices are ridiculously low. 29$ a month you get 50 points, one material set costs 1 point which means you can get 50 materials a month at a price of like 58 cents per material. If you are running around wanting to test everything then off course you are going to run out of points quickly, but if you are smart about it it's super cheap imo.

Even i couldn't help myself so i got a freelancer license, mostly for the vegetation reference since it's baller. Wish you guys had spring/summer birch though. :pleased:

Steppenwolf

The prices are extremely reasonable imo, at least for freelancer, haven't looked into studio pricing. Things to keep in mind is that potentialy you get a lot of mileage out of the assets with compositing techniques, plus the 3D assets come with hipolies, ztools and brushes! Do the math how long you would work in zbrush/photoshop/Substance on a photorealistic asset from scratch or time spent/equipment cost for going out doing photogrammetry yourself. With this in mind a dollar for a surface or 2-3 dollars for a rock is dirt cheap.

Synaesthesia

@loggie24 - >Wish you guys had spring/summer birch though.

Click the request scans button at the bottom of Megascan.se

defragger

Synaesthesia: got the 50 points (thanks btw) but I cant download anything. Do I have to subscribe first or is there some sort of trial somewhere? I can download only the free stuff which comes as JPG ... wut??

I also encountered a small issue with the file namings. I have to rename every map from AO to occlusion which is annoying. Our engine doesnt pick it up as AO automatically because the add on "AO" is to short to get picked up by auto search. Why is there no option to set custom map namings in the studio?