What is this texture called and where should it be connected in my material ?

3DModeller

What is this texture called and where should it be connected in my material ? 




Answer: it's a texture for metallicness.

Obscura

Dunno but it looks like it only has one grayscale texture in the red channel, thats why its red. Put it in Photoshop or something, and view the red channel. You could make a screenshot of that and show us so we can try to figure it out.

3DModeller

Obscura said:

Dunno but it looks like it only has one grayscale texture in the red channel, thats why its red. Put it in Photoshop or something, and view the red channel. You could make a screenshot of that and show us so we can try to figure it out.

How do I "view the red channel" ? (Forgive me if it's an obvious question, I am a beginner)

Eric Chadwick

No one can tell you this, without more context.

Is this ripped from a game model? What does the model look like in the game? What kind of material is it supposed to be? Metal, fabric, skin, glass, leather, etc.

3DModeller

When I import the mesh inside 3DS Max, it comes with the materials and textures linked to them that you can see in screenshot 2. For some reason, texture "M" (cf screenshot 3) does not seem to be used when the mesh is exported. Truth be told, I have no way to be sure the current textures are in their correct places in the materials.

The image of wukong in screenshot 1 is the way he looks without texture M used in the materials as you can see in screenshot 2.

After rendering him, his armor does not have the golden shiny look it should have. It has the stony look you can see in screenshot 1. I believe this is happening because texture M is missing.

There are 3 materials, one for the head, one for the body and one for the crown.

All textures follow the naming convention you see in screenshot 3.

Screeenshot 4 shows how Wukong should look like.

I am trying to learn by analysing existing 3D models, thank you in advance for your help !

(I was unable to find the information I was looking for after hours of research, that is: What is texture "M" and where should I link it in the materials ?)

3DModeller

Here is the current render also: 

Eric Chadwick

_S looks like two textures stored in one bitmap (channel packing) so it could be glossiness and metalness?

You should be using the Physical Material in 3ds Max, because these models probably use PBR.

musashidan

Have you tried opening this in UE? Does it come with a UE project file? Definitely looks like some sort of packed channels/masks.

Mink

The S texture most certainly not go into a "specular color input" UE4 does not support "specular color" and functions on a metal rough shader model, not a specular glossiness as pictured above. So the texture called S is actually 3 inputs, with each color channel being a different input. I usually put ambient occlusion in my red channel, roughness in my green channel and metallic in my blue channel, but different use cases beget different techniques. It's entirely possible one of the channels in the S texture is an emmisive mask texture, that's
 color is controlled by a variable in engine, or it's possible they're using a "specular level/ curvature/ cavity texture" which doesn't serve the same function as a specular input whatsoever, and changes the IOR/Roughness scale on whatever material it's applied to. Most non-human skin textures never touch this input however.

I don't use 3DS Max but I'm pretty sure it uses its own Normal Map basis that nobody else uses causing previewed normals to look like shit in 3DS max.


TL;DR your setup is definitely wrong but without a high resolution view / download of your textures I can't tell you what is correct.

3DModeller

The name of this texture is : "T_Carbide_BlueHelmet_Helmet_FX.tga"

I do not know how to use it. I know it is not used for self-illumination.

This material is used for the head of the model.

You can find an example of the complete model here: https://sketchfab.com/models/924bc3b253f54981b6f78637fda4703d




Here are all the textures for the head mesh (M is for metalicness and I already know how to use it) : 

3DModeller

@Eric Chadwick Here is my first ping. This time I hope my question is more detailed.

Eric Chadwick

It's best to continue your existing topic, rather than start a new one. I'll merge them now.

How exactly did you get the model... Do you have a link to the tool? Often there is documentation or examples that will provide clues.

Make a zip of the model & textures, and attach it here? 

Metalness in 3ds Max requires you use the Physical Material, as mentioned before. If you're importing from FBX, it will create a Standard material, an older material that doesn't support PBR.

3DModeller

Eric Chadwick said:

It's best to continue your existing topic, rather than start a new one. I'll merge them now.

How exactly did you get the model... Do you have a link to the tool? Often there is documentation or examples that will provide clues.

Make a zip of the model & textures, and attach it here? 

Metalness in 3ds Max requires you use the Physical Material, as mentioned before. If you're importing from FBX, it will create a Standard material, an older material that doesn't support PBR.

I am using umodel. I need to use standard materials to be able to export the model to other programs. If I use physical material, there are no textures. I am currently plugging the M textures inside a new material inside other programs.

Mink

I don't understand what you mean when you say "standard materials" 


You do realize that materials usually don't export from programs properly often, if not ever. Right?


You're gonna need to post your texture files

Eric Chadwick

3DModeller said:

I am using umodel. I need to use standard materials to be able to export the model to other programs. If I use physical material, there are no textures. I am currently plugging the M textures inside a new material inside other programs.

Ah. You had asked how to connect these textures inside 3ds Max. But you want something different. Can't help you if you don't provide enough information.

What programs are you exporting to? Each program has its own material limitations. It is best to import the model and textures separately, and recreate the material natively.

Why are you exporting to another program? If you want to learn from the models by dissecting them, then you have everything you need in 3ds Max already. Using the Physical Material, and the viewport display, will allow you to reverse-engineer the modeling and texturing methods, so you can improve your art skills and thus improve your own models.

Eric Chadwick

Also, please do not delete your posts. 

Mask_Salesman

Looks like Ambient Occlusion imo.
Also my 'this whole thing seems dubious' sense is tingly but I'll pass it over for its probs just for learning/modding.

musashidan

Mink said:

I don't understand what you mean when you say "standard materials" 

Legacy default scanline shader in Max is called 'standard material'.