DriveWorks Pro 22

PBR

PBR - Render Property

PBR (Physically based rendering) will render appearances based on real world material properties.

With PBR visually realistic results are possible under all lighting conditions.

Most modern game engines and content creation tools support PBR materials because they are considered the best approximation of real world scenarios for real-time rendering.

PBR Example - Brushed Steel	PBR Example - Brick

Render Properties

Properties available on PBR render property:

• Albedo

  Albedo is similar to Diffuse Color but will factor in the reflection color when a material is metallic.

  When a Diffuse Texture is applied the RGB values will tint the diffuse texture.

  • Red
  • Green
  • Blue
  • Alpha
• Roughness

  Low values appear shiny or glossy, high values appear rough or matte.

  When a Roughness Texture is applied this value will multiply the roughness in the texture image (0.5 will decrease the roughness by 50%).

• Metallic

  Metallic makes the albedo factor in the reflection color.

  This setting reduces the brightness of the diffuse lighting component and increases the specular (as metals reflect a lot more light rather than absorb or scatter it).

  When a Metallic Texture is applied this value will multiply the metallicness in the texture image (0.5 will decrease the metallicness by 50%).

• Ambient Occlusion

  Ambient Occlusion is the brightness of the lighting from the environment map, both the image-based ambient and the reflection.

  When a Ambient Occlusion Texture is applied this value will multiply the ambient occlusion in the texture image (0.5 will decrease the ambient by 50%).

• Texture Offset
  • Offset X
  • Offset Y
• Texture Transforms
  • Scale X
  • Scale Y
  • Angle
• Diffuse Texture
  • Texture
  • Source File Path
• Roughness Texture
  • Texture
  • Source File Path
• Normal Texture
  • Texture
  • Source File Path
• Metallic Texture
  • Texture
  • Source File Path
• Ambient Occlusion Texture
  • Texture
  • Source File Path

Setting up an Appearance to use the PBR render property

In each Appearance there is a property in the Information Panel called Render Properties.

1. In a DriveWorks 3D Document, navigate to and select an Appearance.
2. In the Information Panel there will be a drop down of Render Properties.
3. Select PBR from the drop down list.

Using the PBR render property

Real world material appearances are best achieved by applying PBR texture images.

Many online resources offer free PBR texture downloads such as Poly Haven, Textures.com, Free PBR and cgbookcase.com.

The files downloaded from these sites will include various image files.

These will be suffixed with a name that corresponds to the following Texture properties:

• Diffuse Texture - use the file suffixed with _BaseColor or _Albedo or similar
• Roughness Texture - use the file suffixed with _Roughness or _NormRough or similar
• Normal Texture - use the file suffixed with _Normal
• Metallic Texture - use the file suffixed with _Metallic (will only be supplied for metallic materials)
• Ambient Occlusion Texture - use the file suffixed with _ao or _ambient or similar (not always supplied)

The lighting model, of the PBR render property, relies heavily on having an Environment Map applied to display realistic reflections.

Using a HDRI image will give the best results.

Once the images have been applied, finer adjustments can be made to the appearance using the properties found in the Albedo, Texture Offset and Texture Transforms groups of settings.

PBR Example - Painted Steel	PBR Example - Wood

Other Render Properties

DriveWorks has other render properties available to use on an Appearance.

These add different levels of realism to an Appearance.

• Default
• Specular
• Bump
• Emissive Bump
• Reflective
• Glass