PBR "Repository of help"

[Charlotte Bartlett]

Repository of Helpful tips and sources/links/learning.

I was going to ask folk, there is such a major gap for those starting to learn and navigate PBR, or their own gaps in knowledge as there is very limited decent materials out there.

I am hoping this thread could have links or information that people come across or to centralise some of the great information being shared on how to manage the challenges as a user or a creator.   So we can direct folk to this thread on a forum also. 

I was going to make my own video except I have zero time to do this because I am ummm... breaking things with PBR.  Anyhoo.

This thread is NOT for another discussion on the pros and cons of why we love or hate PBR or what LL have or have not failed on, or why we should or should not use PBR etc.   A humble please, I want to avoid getting us locked by going us off topic so this becomes a genuinely helpful source of info regardless of our opinions on the implementation and strategy.

This thread is intended for resources, tips, learning, discoveries, best practices and any questions.  e.g. what does using 0.2 on Ambient Setting in a Probe really do..... versus 1.0 etc or how do I really bake out my materials in SP to not look like plastic in SL, or why is everything grey for me.

(Not sure I get to say what you can and can't do in a thread I start - but hey I am going to give it a go - if anybody is naughty the alien probe will be coming out!)

 

 

[Kristy Aurelia]

Here's my reflection probe guide:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18ut5mR_S9sAYDwWvFHNpRqrJ31y2hpqVSZHd8sbeua4

Which does actually talk a bit about "what does using 0.2 on Ambient Setting in a Probe really do" and plenty of other things.

Edit: and for those not interested in reading, the guide has a section called "Other Guides" that contains links to a few YouTube videos made by other people.

Edited August 28 by Kristy Aurelia

[Luna Bliss]

Info about PBR terrain:

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/PBR_Terrain

[Charlotte Bartlett]

6 minutes ago, Kristy Aurelia said:

Here's my reflection probe guide:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18ut5mR_S9sAYDwWvFHNpRqrJ31y2hpqVSZHd8sbeua4

Which does actually talk a bit about "what does using 0.2 on Ambient Setting in a Probe really do" and plenty of other things.

You are a rockstar (I used that example as customers are just learning they can change probes!) - thank you so much!

[Luna Bliss]

 

[MissSweetViolet]

This is one I came across recently, I forget if it was here or elsewhere, that could be helpful too! 

 

[shireena1]

https://www.boundingboxsoftware.com/materialize/

Materialize is a stand alone tool for creating materials for use in games from images. You can create an entire material from a single image or import the textures you have and generate the textures you need.

This Link may prove useful. I used it on initial learning about PBR  items creation.

[shireena1]

https://ambientcg.com/

This website might prove useful as well. (or just type pbr material into google search.)

[Cube Republic]

A very simple explanation of PBR metalic roughness 

 

Edited August 29 by Cube Republic

[Cube Republic]

Excellent resident made software for packing maps into gLTF https://aiaicapta.in/gltf-packer/

[Cube Republic]

The SL WIKI!! read the instructions -- correct sofware calibration is essential https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/PBR_Materials

Top tutorial on how to make roughness maps in painter - which are really important btw and shouldn't be overlooked. The advice on turning the model black is golden

 

[Scylla Rhiadra]

Here's a quick and incomplete grab of some stuff. These are mostly from a notecard I've made for handing around.

SL's Wiki page on PBR Materials
This is not well organized and full of tech information not relevant for most people, but it does have some good guidelines.

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/PBR_Materials

Firestorm's PBR Introduction
A good, well-written and simple introduction. Includes instructions on how to limit FPS, Override VRAM, and limit texture size in Firestorm.

https://www.firestormviewer.org/firestorm-gets-physical-for-a-happy-21st-sl-birthday/

Firestorm's PBR Glossary
Really useful brief glossary of American craft beers. (j/k!)

https://www.firestormviewer.org/firestorm-gets-physical-for-a-happy-21st-sl-birthday/#glossary
 

Inara Pey's Introduction to PBR Materials, Reflection Probes, and glTF in SL
As usual, Inara does a great job of communicating some of the basics for the non-technical.

https://modemworld.me/2023/11/28/a-simple-introduction-to-pbr-materials-reflection-probes-gltf-in-second-life/

Firestorm's Instructions on Whitelisting

https://wiki.firestormviewer.org/fs_update_viewer

The glTF packer, for packing PBR materials for exportation into SL

https://aiaicapta.in/gltf-packer/

Inara Pey's Post on Making Mirrors

https://modemworld.me/2024/06/20/tutorial-creating-a-simple-prim-mirror-with-firestorm/

Video on Fixing Old EEPs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVm8sJ7B0I0&ab_channel=WARETA

 

Video on Fixing Old EEPs (JuicyBomb)

https://youtu.be/LwQv9ADFpw8?si=IgsRECZDrBTgPAuZ

 

[discussionbot]

A PBR tutorials playlist from the inimitable @Nagachief Darkstone

 

[Midnoot]

1 hour ago, Cube Republic said:

The SL WIKI!! read the instructions -- correct sofware calibration is essential https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/PBR_Materials

Top tutorial on how to make roughness maps in painter - which are really important btw and shouldn't be overlooked. The advice on turning the model black is golden

 

If only this wasn't 50$ a month 

[Cube Republic]

22 minutes ago, Midnoot said:

If only this wasn't 50$ a month 

Yeah thats a lot. I was sure there was a tier with just painter, sample and designer , but it looks like they stopped that. 

[Cube Republic]

1 hour ago, Midnoot said:

If only this wasn't 50$ a month 

Have you looked into instamat, there's even a free tier for it. 

https://instamaterial.com/

 

If you want to learn some instamat

 

 

 

Edited August 29 by Cube Republic

[Kristy Aurelia]

3 hours ago, shireena1 said:

https://ambientcg.com/

This website might prove useful as well. (or just type pbr material into google search.)

Most of Materials from that website can be found here, for free and full perm: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/AmbientCG-PBR-Material-Megapack/25595913

[Frionil Fang]

I'll bring up MakeGLTF as an alternative to glTF Packer since it works better for me (better behavior on my UI scaling, doesn't use drag & drop, doesn't lock files in use since I actively edit the maps in an image editor to try variations) but both produce the same results.

[Porky Gorky]

I can't over-emphasise enough the importance of the roughness map. Some materials authored for normal PBR shaders will typically be more reflective than is required for SL, specifically the non-metallic, non-reflective or partially reflective materials like grass/terrain, bricks, wood, concrete etc. 

You don’t need to know anything about PBR to know if a surface looks like it is reflecting light accurately. You’ve many years experience of looking at all the things in reality, you are already an expert. So I suggest you test your materials in SL before committing to them. If your grass looks like it is coated in a film of plastic or your brick walls look like they are covered in dog saliva then you need to increase the brightness of your roughness map.  

Test, tweak and trust your experience of what real world surfaces should look like.

 

Edited August 29 by Porky Gorky

[Extrude Ragu]

For creators:-

I'd begun to work on a guide detailing my own Blender hard surface workflow

https://aiaicapta.in/hard-surface-workflow/

IE for texturing hard surface models in blender. It's missing some information still but there's still some stuff on there that might be useful to a few people.

 

Trim Sheets

I really recommend any creator that is learning PBR familiarises themselves with trim sheets as it will improve their work 1000 fold:-

https://aiaicapta.in/content/files/2023/03/DeepDive_Trimsheets_01072022.pdf

This PDF is what originally helped me learn so hopefully it can help others.

[Ingrid Ingersoll]

Oh man someone took screenshots of their graphic settings and posted them here once, it was INCREDIBLY helpful for me and I applied them all. Maybe someone could post them again

The screenshots included:

• how to set you framerate to 40fps (naked eye cant detect more than that anyway)
• reduce draw distance to 120 or so
• turn off mirrors , shadows, ...and a few other things.

My pc is not the best and I'm having no issues at all after applying the settings from those screenshots.

[Ingrid Ingersoll]

13 hours ago, Charlotte Bartlett said:

Repository of Helpful tips and sources/links/learning.

I was going to ask folk, there is such a major gap for those starting to learn and navigate PBR, or their own gaps in knowledge as there is very limited decent materials out there.

It should be a sticky here or somewhere else on one of the official linden channels for a while. 

[Luna Bliss]

4 hours ago, Porky Gorky said:

I can't over-emphasise enough the importance of the roughness map. Some materials authored for normal PBR shaders will typically be more reflective than is required for SL, specifically the non-metallic, non-reflective or partially reflective materials like grass/terrain, bricks, wood, concrete etc. 

You don’t need to know anything about PBR to know if a surface looks like it is reflecting light accurately. You’ve many years experience of looking at all the things in reality, you are already an expert. So I suggest you test your materials in SL before committing to them. If your grass looks like it is coated in a film of plastic or your brick walls look like they are covered in dog saliva then you need to increase the brightness of your roughness map.  

Test, tweak and trust your experience of what real world surfaces should look like.

 

Good you mention this, as it is sooo important and seems to be cause of content being too shiny. One of the shopping events we've been discussing in another thread I noticed that on the rock (much better resolution which was great, but too shiny).

[Luna Bliss]

7 hours ago, Midnoot said:

If only this wasn't 50$ a month

At Steam you can pay a one-time fee of $200 but it'll only update till the end of the year.  I surely don't want an additional $50 bill each month.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2718190/Substance_3D_Painter_2024/

Edited August 29 by Luna Bliss

[Spiffy Voxel]

13 hours ago, Charlotte Bartlett said:

(Not sure I get to say what you can and can't do in a thread I start - but hey I am going to give it a go - if anybody is naughty the alien probe will be coming out!)

Ohhh, so that's why I can't find mine! 😆 👽