MSFS Non PBR texture exportation for MSFS

[Jean_L]

Hello,
To export an FSX mdl to GLTF, I set the textures parameter "is PBR material" to "false".
However, after exporting, the texture is compiled in PBR "true" by MCX, which washes out the colors of the texture.
How to fix this so that MCX does not change the parameter when compiling?
Thank you
Jean

 

[arno]

The glTF format only supports pbr materials so there is no way to export a non-pbr material to it.

 

[GaryGB]

Hello,
To export an FSX mdl to GLTF, I set the textures parameter "is PBR material" to "false".
However, after exporting, the texture is compiled in PBR "true" by MCX, which washes out the colors of the texture.
How to fix this so that MCX does not change the parameter when compiling?
Thank you
Jean

The glTF format only supports pbr materials so there is no way to export a non-pbr material to it.

As all previous posts by the OP are related to versions of FS prior to MSFS-2020, I assume that the OP is now referring to MSFS-2020 in this thread ?

Please choose the version of FS that is the subject of a thread by clicking the 'down arrow' next to "(No prefix)" ...when starting a new thread.



You may wish to review information about- and test a working animated example of- a non-PBR glTF placed and displayable at C59 in MSFS-2020:

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/non-looping-simobject-animation.452650/post-883236

GaryGB

 

[arno]

The glTF format only has a PBR material. Of course you can store the diffuse texture as albedo texture if you don't have a PBR material. That is also what MCX does in that situation. But the model will be rendered as PBR and might thus look different than expected.

 

[Jean_L]

@GaryGB
Sorry, I hadn't paid attention to the prefix.
It's corrected.

@arno
Thanks for the answers.
It is not good news,.
Also, another question: Is there any way to convert non PBR dds texture to PBR png?

 

[arno]

I am not aware of an automatic way to convert them. Creating the metallic, smoothness and AO map requires knowledge of the material on the texture.

Maybe using the diffuse texture with a default value for smoothness and metallic works. That's what MCX does now. I have not tested in detail if the MCX preview is very similar to how MSFS renders the material in that case.

 

[Jean_L]

I am not aware of an automatic way to convert them. Creating the metallic, smoothness and AO map requires knowledge of the material on the texture.

Maybe using the diffuse texture with a default value for smoothness and metallic works. That's what MCX does now. I have not tested in detail if the MCX preview is very similar to how MSFS renders the material in that case.

OK, thank you Arno.
I'll do some research on this.

 

[GaryGB]

Hi again:

Arno's MCX import / 3D preview for non-PBR *.PNG Material, glTF-packaged models derived from Sketchup is working- and looking- ...good so far !

Sketchup - Imported Collada *.DAE

MCX - Imported glTF: Complex Shader 'OFF'

MCX - Imported glTF: Complex Shader 'ON'

MCX - glTF - June 30, 2021 (at C59 - RWY36, Delavan, WI - 2:00 P.M. - USA Central Time Zone)

XnView_MP - *.PNG Image Properties

Corel PhotoPaint - *.PNG Image Properties

Many thanks to Dick and Arno for helping with exploration of this Sketchup Collada *.DAE to MSFS non-PBR *.PNG Material, 3D glTF model Package work-flow option.

GaryGB

 

[Jean_L]

Hi GaryGB
Thank you for this detailed explanation.
However, I don't understand everything and especially where is the "Complex Shader" import parameter from the gltf to turn it ON.
Guess this is what needs to be done to keep the vividness of the original non-PBR colors.

Also, I don't know sketchup at all, only tinkering on blender.

 

[GaryGB]

Hi GaryGB

Thank you for this detailed explanation.

However, I don't understand everything and especially where is the "Complex Shader" import parameter from the gltf to turn it ON.

Guess this is what needs to be done to keep the vividness of the original non-PBR colors.

Hi Jean:

MCX' icon toolbar has a Red Teapot button to toggle the use of a more complex OpenGL shader in MCX 3D preview mode, that attempts to mimic display of shader attributes assigned to mapped texture Materials on 3D models ...if rendered in MSFS-2020 at run time via DirectX.

Note that this is only something that affects MCX' preview display; all Material 'attributes' are already stored within the 3D model file(s).

Also, I don't know Sketchup at all, only tinkering on blender.

While it would be helpful if Dick shared some further details of his work-flow in Blender after import of a Sketchup-derived Collada *.DAE, I am confident that Blender has a work-flow that can export a Khronos 2.0 generic *.glTF 3D model mapped with *.PNG non-PBR textures.

GaryGB

 

[Jean_L]

Thanks Gary,
I see that tomorrow (in France)

 

[arno]

Hi,

The complex shader option is only for the MCX preview, it does not influence the object export.

Looking at your sim screenshot I would say the preview with the complex shader on looks more similar to the sim.

 

[Jean_L]

Hi,
Bad news.
I was just about to start testing this modification.
Yesterday, I made a test by adding the name of the texture on the line "detail texture" in MCX.
In MCX the result is better, but in MSFS the textures disappear and the building turns white.

 

[Fischkopp]

The glTF format only has a PBR material. Of course you can store the diffuse texture as albedo texture if you don't have a PBR material. That is also what MCX does in that situation. But the model will be rendered as PBR and might thus look different than expected.

Now that surprises me a bit!

I've been building a really large scenery with well over 20,000 objects since the beginning of February.
All objects were created with jpg textures in SU.
When exporting in MCX I export the models as gltf files and the textures as png. This works fine for static models (you can see here: https://fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/the-port-of-hamburg-in-msfs.451410/).

Only with SimObjects it does not work unfortunately, because no "PNG.DDS" file and no "PNG.DDS.JSON" file are generated.
Unfortunately, I have not yet figured out how to do this so that I can breathe some life into the port by moving ships.

 

[=rk=]

You might be even more surprised to see your FSX models enhanced with PBR. Below are images of a project I am developing for someone. They want a flyable model in MSFS, with no moving parts. Seems relatively easy, eh? I use the same workflow as you do, Sketchup into MCX.

The first image is of the model, as a SimObject, in "native" FSX form. The model is untextured, apologies, but I think the difference will be profound.

Here it is textured, with full PBR. I didn't actually make this model, but I did clean it up a bit, to try to make the texture "flow" better. Bear in mind these are 256x256 tiled color swatches, essentially pixel color, but textured:

Also, in my experience, these models, both native and original FSX, respond to the presence of AI traffic files, for both boat and aircraft, depending on the model, of course. I message "resond," because the nature of the response does seem a bit fickle. I have followed AI ships around my scenery and have watched my AI planes approach, but fail to land.

Still working on it, here.

 

[Fischkopp]

The model looks very good with PBR textures. But I wonder if and how the rendering of the model can work with non-PBR textures.

I tried to create a ship model as SimObject in MSFS Developer mode. But unfortunately it did not work. The model.cfg and sim.cfg were included in the package but the gltf and texture files were not.
Now I wonder if this can only be due to the png texture files.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Now that surprises me a bit!

I've been building a really large scenery with well over 20,000 objects since the beginning of February.
All objects were created with jpg textures in SU.
When exporting in MCX I export the models as gltf files and the textures as png. This works fine for static models (you can see here: https://fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/the-port-of-hamburg-in-msfs.451410/).

Only with SimObjects it does not work unfortunately, because no "PNG.DDS" file and no "PNG.DDS.JSON" file are generated.
Unfortunately, I have not yet figured out how to do this so that I can breathe some life into the port by moving ships.

You can use non-PBR. You should be able to use JPG or PNG. The MSFS glTF uses PBR, but the sim accepts the regular glTF format without PBR.

 

[=rk=]

These ships and rhib are all native glTF without PBR textures. The gray one is experiencing the dreaded "texture distortion," that is probably a consequence of Sketchups projection feature, in conflict with MSFS "relaxed parameters," in terms of texture UV mapping.

These are static scenery models, it's possible to accomplish similar with ships as SimObjects.

Only the drone models are PBR.

 

[Fischkopp]

This is exactly the mystery.
As static objects I can place the ships without problems and even without texture distortions (as you can see on the pictures on this page).
However, when I want to run the ships as AI ships, nothing is shown in MSFS.
In LNM and Google Earth Tracker I see the model moving but in MSFS there is nothing displayed (not even a white model).
I have absolutely no idea what is going wrong there.

 

[rhumbaflappy]

Maybe you could post a link to a small example that won't show. If the model is good and the textures are in the right place, then it is a problem in an xml file somewhere.