Please help, importing materials (.mat libraries) from 3ds max to Bryce
bellalines
Posts: 2
Hi,
I'm a huge Bryce fan and it is fast becoming my default choice for 3d modelling. I wonder if anyone could please help me with a problem I am having.
Basically, I don't really get on with the deep texture editor in bryce and for now, much prefer hypershade in maya or the material editor in 3ds max. However, when I try to import a *.mat file/library into bryce, nothing happens, no material is imported and no error is generated.
I've tried reducing the resolution in 3ds max, exporting test.mat from the material/map browser (with just one simple material) and importing the test.mat into bryce. I've tried exporting a .3ds file from max into bryce. I've tried importing an .obj and .mtl from max and maya into bryce. I've tried dae/fbx formats. I've also tried exporting from bryce to max/maya, but so far nothing works.
The best I have managed is using the .obj import which transfered the 2d texture into the bryce "image texture" slot under the diffuse button of the bryce material editor, but with no bump/ambience or transparency.
Is there any way to get a complex material (like the ones from 3ds max or maya) INTO bryce?
Thanks!
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Hi,
I'm a huge Bryce fan and it is fast becoming my default choice for 3d modelling. I wonder if anyone could please help me with a problem I am having.
Basically, I don't really get on with the deep texture editor in bryce and for now, much prefer hypershade in maya or the material editor in 3ds max. However, when I try to import a *.mat file/library into bryce, nothing happens, no material is imported and no error is generated.
I've tried reducing the resolution in 3ds max, exporting test.mat from the material/map browser (with just one simple material) and importing the test.mat into bryce. I've tried exporting a .3ds file from max into bryce. I've tried importing an .obj and .mtl from max and maya into bryce. I've tried dae/fbx formats. I've also tried exporting from bryce to max/maya, but so far nothing works.
The best I have managed is using the .obj import which transfered the 2d texture into the bryce "image texture" slot under the diffuse button of the bryce material editor, but with no bump/ambience or transparency.
Is there any way to get a complex material (like the ones from 3ds max or maya) INTO bryce?
Any ideas/workarounds/suggestions welcome.
Thanks!
Really only image textures can be imported into Bryce and then they would have to be set up in the materials editor. The DTE uses procedural generation and as far as I know this is no longer interchangeable with any other procedural texture system. Even if they share the same file extension, Bryce can only read Bryce .mat files.
Wow thanks, I've watched many of your awesome tutorials, it's like having my question answered by someone famous :!)
I think Bryce could benefit from more direct control over texturing. The DTE is impressive, but has clearly been designed by mathematicians and not graphic artists! There is a great feature in maya 2015 called the "3D paint tool" which allows the user to paint directly onto the model. The tool is in it's infancy and not up to the point whereby you could plug in a tablet and photoshop brush your way across a landscape, however it's really handy for alphamaps/masks. Maya also has a concept of a layered texture whereby blending half a dozen texture files with corresponding masks is nothing more than a drag and drop operation.
However, despite the ease of use of the hypershade toolset and slate material editor, imo Bryce still wins out, mainly because the start setting is a world, not a sterile grid, but an actual world in which to start modelling. The environmental renderings are beyond reproach.
So thanks again!
Famous?! Hardly. Just ended up making a lot of videos to if nothing else, be able to remember things myself. That's how it is, I end up having to watch my own videos sometimes just to recall how to do some such thing because forget so much. It's a continuous cycle of trying to learn new things and stop what I already think I know falling out the other end.
Anyways, yes, the 3D paint tool sounds good, though I imagine this has to be used in convention with some kind of UV mapping solution. Which is where things get a bit awkward, because if you know anything about UV, you will know it's all a bit awkward. Which, getting around the need for UV maps, is one of the key strengths of procedural texturing - though as you have noted, it's weakness is that it is not the easiest thing to get to grips with in the first place. No solution is without its inherent issues.
For UV mapping, if you are interested in going down that route, I use https://www.uvlayout.com/ for serious UV mapping problems, though if you use the web you will find there are other free solutions out there if your needs are not as extreme as mine. Be aware, UV mapping is a bit of a headache.
@David Brinnen - You are far too modest. Yes ... among us Bryce users, you are famous. We all respect you, hang on every word, seek out your tutorials when we get stuck, use the heck out of materials you create, etc., etc.. Yes ... you are admired. Sure the average guy on the street may not know your name, but it's almost impossible to use Bryce without knowing it. You've been virtually a brand name in Bryce since early versions. I often point out to people that, in some of the earliest versions of Bryce, your name can be found in material, sky, and object libraries. Most of those still come with the product. Congratulations, too.
Ha ha, even I don't hang on my every word and I'm me! What I want to do, my aim, is to just help people have as much fun making artworks as I've had. But don't take what I say as gospel. A perspective is all I have, I'm not formally trained in this field. Programming, I can do that, a bit, not even a byte, I know about art, somewhat... I just find the process of 3D inside computers very interesting for some reason. What I will say, and I've said it before but I think it is worth repeating, I don't believe that the tool, in this case Bryce, is as important as the idea you want to put forwards as a piece of art. There is in this field an obsession with the technical capabilities of the software, but unless you have the idea, you've still got nothing no matter what software you own. And as Horo wisely says, the best tool for the job is the tool you know best. I've used Octane extensively now, so you might think that is my "go to" tool of choice for creation? Well you would be wrong, partly because I don't know Octane as well as I should, but mostly, because Octane is an unbiased renderer and fine for photorealistic work but, in anything where you wish to exercise executive control. Not so good as Bryce, under certain circumstances, Octane cannot match Bryce. Which might seem like an odd, even propagandist things to say, but I've tested this aspect quite a lot, side by side, Octane v Bryce and Bryce certainly punches above its weight time and again, in spite of being based one somewhat antiquated render kernal(s) - they were written very well indeed. So I am happy to be an advocate for Bryce.
I'm with CTippetts. Whenever I'm trying to get into an exclusive club, I throw around David's name and I'm in like magic.
^Some parts of this story are made up. It's up to you to decide! LOL
ETA: In all seriousness, David is awesome.
Not a Bryce user and certainly not cashed up enough for Autodesk softwares but if I want to go from one program to another and use the same shaders, I render them as textures on a plane from a top view.
I know it sounds over simplified but is I find very effective
for terrains that use height generated proceedurals in any program you can do a similar aerial view and flatmap it (the generated terrain obj export) to use in the target program too.
I bring terrains from Carrara to iClone and DAZ studio this way, Bryce terrains too if patient enough to render them, sadly do not have Bryce installed even at present.
I'd be the first sing David's praises, but is that the case? I was active in the various Bryce online groups from Bryce 2 onwards (much more so than time allows nowadays, sadly) but don't recall David's name from those days. Peter Sharpe, Jeff Richardson, Jonathan Allen stick in my mind (just to mention some other Brits) as "big names", but not David. Which is not to say he wasn't active, of course; but he certainly wasn't as high profile as now. Don't think I noted David until DAZ took over Bryce and ran this forum.
Maybe David just went to the cool parties to which I'd never be invited.
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I'd be the first sing David's praises, but is that the case? I was active in the various Bryce online groups from Bryce 2 onwards (much more so than time allows nowadays, sadly) but don't recall David's name from those days. Peter Sharpe, Jeff Richardson, Jonathan Allen stick in my mind (just to mention some other Brits) as "big names", but not David. Which is not to say he wasn't active, of course; but he certainly wasn't as high profile as now. Don't think I noted David until DAZ took over Bryce and ran this forum.
Maybe David just went to the cool parties to which I'd never be invited.
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No you are right, I didn't get invited to any cool parties either. My involvement with Bryce was at the 5.5 stage, being contacted by Josh Darling, nothing before that. Before that my computer was mostly devoted to running Black Isle RPG's, think Plainscape Torment and so forth. "What can change the nature of a man?" Other than drink...
Well, I'd say that started earlier with Bryce 5. David was active at bryce5.com from Match 2004 onwards but has been absent for over a year meanwhile.
Ah I see what you mean, well I started with Bryce 2 as a demo. And got a full copy of Bryce 5.0 (20 Feb 2003 if memory serves) - but my involvement with having any input to Bryce as a program began with 5.5.
Edit. 2004 was when we got access to the internet, though broadband was still just a fiction at that point. Mablethorpe is something of a backwater. I've still yet to get one of these TV things I've heard all about. Radio 4 is enough excitement for me!
I stand corrected. Thank you, Peter.
Truth is that I started with Bryce 5, which is why I call it an "early version". In fact, I never experienced the early versions. Now that you mention it, I also misspoke about Mr. Brinnen's credits in Bryce 5. In reality I only see his name on a few sky presets, and not in materials or objects. That is not to say he wasn't involved with them, but I do not have the resources to confirm nor deny it. As you know, many of the presets are not credited to a particular artist, (or programmer, or mathematician, or wizard ... whatever they are).
However, I also do not see any of the names you named. Where are the people you named now? I mean; what is their current involvement with Bryce or DAZ?
As far as that goes, the name that I see credited in almost every preset category is Jessica Riggs. Where did she go? Of the other names I see, Brian Foley is the only name I can find any renders or art from. That seems a bit mysterious to me, (but I always over think things). Other names I see I would like to see current work of are Jonathan Cummings, Mike Audleman, Jean-Pierre Lapointe, Steve Lareau, Darlisa Riggs, Klaus Busse, and Lise LeBel.
Back to Mr. Brinnen, perhaps I should have merely named him as one of the most prolific mentors of Bryce ... renowned in the Bryce community. Any arguments there? Anyone?
That's a fair description, although to be more precise I think "the most prolific mentor of Bryce" would be appropriate. And it's not just quantity, it's quality.
One could say more, of course, but David has to fit his head through the door in order to walk the doggy.
Sad to say, I have no idea. People move on; even pass on. Nearly all of those involved in Bryce in the early days, whether as officials or as part of the user base, are no longer active with the program.
There's nothing mysterious about it. It's just life. People around you gradually disappear. And then you do.
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@CTippetts - some of the people mentioned are still around, others moved on, like Peter sais. There were Bryce forums before DAZ and some of these forums still exist. Many have contributed over the years, and many contributions that come with Bryce haven't been discovered by the users. Users also helped writing up the doc, which was abandoned midway. Several "old" brycers had web pages full of tutorials and free goodies. The Internet wasn't fast at the beginning and publishing videos just not possible - the video software at the time expensive and very limited (David and myself had experimented with several about 10 years ago alsready). Up to Bryce 4, there was also Bryce Talk, some sort of a chat room. This is another time and Bryce has changed a lot since v4. Competion emerged, there's more 3D software out there but few that have such a friendly and active community as Bryce has.