MSFS20 tutorial for pbr texture in fs2020

[muffo]

I am looking for a tutorial on how to build a pbr texture on fs2020. I have the basic materials: diffuse, normal etc..but I don't know how to mix them on photoshop and the order of the layers to get a complete texture in png format. I searched youtube, google, but found nothing. I am changing the textures in a scenario imported from fsx and I would like something better here.

 

[OzWookiee]

Red - Ambient Occlusion
Green - Roughness
Blue- Metalness

Also, with PBR we don't use a "diffuse" texture any more as that contains some shading (which is now adjusted thanks to Ambient Occlusion etc)and isntead use an Albedo texture which does not have any light influence and is the base (some might say unbiased) colour.

To this we add out _COMP file which is a composite of the Ambient Occlusion (R), Roughness(G), Metalness(B) maps.

Finally we have our Normal map.

EDIT: oops looks like i got the comp layers roung the wrong way. FIXED

 

[muffo]

Hi, OzWookiee and thanks for your fast answer...but I don't understand, you write about channels and not layers....Can you give me here a screen shoot to understand? I know something about photoshop and I made some works, but I use only layers and not channels on my works. I never use channels ,unfortunately . How can I import this textures as channels?

 

[OzWookiee]

OK here is an example of one of my _COMP files which contain the PBR data:

I use GIMP so if you use Photoshop it'll look slightly different. See on the right hand pane we have the colour channels for Red, Green and Blue? Well we would normally start with them as separate textures either as layers or images.

Here is the same image above, but the colour channels have been composed as layers:

Red - Ambient Occlusion
Green - Roughness
Blue- Metalness
If you have separate images and are using GIMP then create a new image the same size and paste each image as a new Layer and name it appropriately.

Then from the Colour menu, choose Components > Compose

Choose which layer goes to what channel in the new image:

The resulting image should look similar to the first image I posted. Export it as a PNG with a _COMP suffix; this one for example is P40_3_COMP.png

e voila one PBR COMPosite texture for your 3D Asset.

If you use Photoshop the process will be similar but your menu options will be different.

 

[muffo]

thanks for your mini tutorial. Now it's time to understand where photoshop has these functions (which I haven't found so far) sob.

 

[OzWookiee]

thanks for your mini tutorial. Now it's time to understand where photoshop has these functions (which I haven't found so far) sob.

Weeeeellll A quick google reveals WONDERS: https://helpx.adobe.com/au/photoshop/using/duplicate-split-merge-channels.html

 

[muffo]

1) I download Gimp ( so we have the same program)
2) I open a new file with trasparent background
3) I load my images as layers in the same order of you
4) I go to color menu, voice components, compose....the voice is grey
Do I lost something? ( excuse me, maybe my age...) help me!

 

[todtod]

I know this email is over one month old, but I would like to know learn to create PBR texture from FSX livery in FS2020 as well. I also use GIMP (latest version). Here is what I did:
1) Selected "Open Image as Layers"
2) Imported my texture (main.dds).
3) In the Channels Dockable window, I see 4 channels: Red, Green, Blue and Alpha.
4) I adjust the Green and Blue channel settings by increasing the "whiteness" to increase both metallic and shiny effects. To do this I used Colors / Levels and adjusted Output Levels.
5) When completed, under Image, I changed the Mode from RBG to Greyscale to enable the Compose to the active under Colors/ Components. Then selected Compose. Now only 2 channels show: Gray and Alpha.
6) Then I exported the composed texture under the original name and added _COMP. In this case it was renamed as main_COMP.dds.
7) I copied the file into the Texture folder of the aircraft and added the corresponding json files.

Started the sim and there was no change to the PBR texture.

Which steps did I mess up?

Thanks

 

[evilnando]

Hi, do you have any idea how the "detail" textures work in the flight simulator shader?

 

[OzWookiee]

I know this email is over one month old, but I would like to know learn to create PBR texture from FSX livery in FS2020 as well. I also use GIMP (latest version). Here is what I did:
1) Selected "Open Image as Layers"
2) Imported my texture (main.dds).
3) In the Channels Dockable window, I see 4 channels: Red, Green, Blue and Alpha.
4) I adjust the Green and Blue channel settings by increasing the "whiteness" to increase both metallic and shiny effects. To do this I used Colors / Levels and adjusted Output Levels.
5) When completed, under Image, I changed the Mode from RBG to Greyscale to enable the Compose to the active under Colors/ Components. Then selected Compose. Now only 2 channels show: Gray and Alpha.
6) Then I exported the composed texture under the original name and added _COMP. In this case it was renamed as main_COMP.dds.
7) I copied the file into the Texture folder of the aircraft and added the corresponding json files.

Started the sim and there was no change to the PBR texture.

Which steps did I mess up?

Thanks

You want to check out a fantastic app called Materialise.

Bounding Box Software - Materialize

boundingboxsoftware.com

 

[todtod]

Thanks ozwookiee. I’ve used materialize before but I’m not sure how everything comes together. I know I can create the AO, metal and roughness maps and export them individually. Then what do I do? Do I then bring those 3 maps into Gimp as grayscale and merge them using compose?

 

[muffo]

Thanks ozwookiee. I’ve used materialize before but I’m not sure how everything comes together. I know I can create the AO, metal and roughness maps and export them individually. Then what do I do? Do I then bring those 3 maps into Gimp as grayscale and merge them using compose?

It was that I want to know.

 

[todtod]

Wonder why it’s hard to get step by step instructions.

 

[Riptide-Airways]

todtod :

With materialize you not only create the AO, Rougness and metalic textures, but you also have the three AO (red), Roug ... (green) and metalis (blue) compodes on the right side at the top ... uses every day and it works perfectly ... just have to pay attention to the dark gray on metalic and roughness ...

 

[todtod]

Thanks for taking the time to respond, riptide, and providing more clarity and tips. I will look for channel adjustments on the blue and green channels within materialize as you mentioned for each of the maps: AO, roughness and shininess. But I’m still unsure how to best consolidate the three maps after RGB channel adjustments. How did you do this? In materialize or gimp / photoshop / blender? I use gimp as mentioned and would like to know the consolidation steps.

Is there a naming convention in MSFS 2020 to recognize the pbr effect? I’m trying to create a pbr effect in a natively developed FSX external model. Example, FSX models have texture files with names like ‘spec’ and ‘bump’, but in MSFS 2020, I see extensions like “_Comp” for pbr texture for natively developed exterior models. Any insights here is greatly appreciate as well.

 

[lionheart]

Awesome tutorial, Oz!

Just a note, for photoshop people, in case it wasnt covered... In Photoshop (I use CS6) you have Layers (regular view of that panel on the right) and also Channels and Paths. You can store your stripes and paint scheme templates in the Paths section, and turn them off to store them out of sight. In Channels, you can add your Alpha channel, and also 'copy paste' things to each Channel, red, green, blue...

Hope that helps. I had never known for a long time that we could store an Alpha channel in a PSD file. Made things so much faster.... You can also store Alphas in Layers and turn them off for those paint schemes that use high reflection or flat colors, then copy/paste that layer into the Alpha and export.

Hope that helps.

 

[todtod]

Appreciate all the responses , but I’m not getting an end to end steps / tutorial described. All the explanations so far may help the seasoned experienced texture painter but not to a novice like me. Again, my scenario is this: I’ve imported a fsx native airplane model with finished textures, with main, spec and bump files, into MSFS 2020. The fsx texture loads fine but does not display any pbr effects seen in msfs 2020 default textures. I like to introduce shiny and metal effects. I use gimp and now materialize as advised by Oz and riptide. I know the concept of adjusting the rgb, blue and green, to achieve the desired effects, but I’m missing steps along the way. As described above, no msfs 2020 pbr effects are showing despite rgb adjustments. Any and all help welcomed.

 

[clements]

thanks for your mini tutorial. Now it's time to understand where photoshop has these functions (which I haven't found so far) sob.

You can set specific channels for AO, roughness and metalic layers by right-clicking on a layer, selecting Blending Options, and then checking or unchecking the R, G, or B channels as appropriate. I can post a detailed example if needed but I am away from my computer now.

 

[muffo]

You can set specific channels for AO, roughness and metalic layers by right-clicking on a layer, selecting Blending Options, and then checking or unchecking the R, G, or B channels as appropriate. I can post a detailed example if needed but I am away from my computer now.

I made as you written Clements
Red - Ambient Occlusion
Green - Roughness
Blue- Metalness
now I have a fucsia texture on channel as this:

And now?

 

[muffo]

todtod :

With materialize you not only create the AO, Rougness and metalic textures, but you also have the three AO (red), Roug ... (green) and metalis (blue) compodes on the right side at the top ... uses every day and it works perfectly ... just have to pay attention to the dark gray on metalic and roughness ...

A question....for every textures that I have, does the button ( for example Rednone) give or take away the channel? Because if, for example AO texture, must have only red channel I must delete green and blue Map....but I can push only one buttom....