RN vs SM

[Helena]

These two maps.
Roughness and Smoothness. RN and SM.
In my findings these two seem to be exact same result but with inverted maps.

Am I correct? or are there subtle difference? If I read the guide correct, it seem to be same deal but inverted?

So far I tend to use SM.

So when I use Principled BSDF shader in Blender I plug in the SM map texture node and set it to non-color data, and then add invert node between. Oh, to the Roughness node of the shader that is.

That's what I do when I render the previews when I use SM map.

I might make a tutorial on how to render and preview in Blender which I did with my complicated node setup for flexicolors that actually works very well. But I might want try to expand into the surfaces as well, at least for the RN/SM ones.

Back to RN and SM.. Wonder what will happen if you use both at same time? Extra powered up? Or just same result? Oh yes, there's the guide for that, there's some maps you can't use together, it could be these. *reading guide* yeah, I think one of them would be ignored.

https://thememakers-toolkit.planetcoaster.com/user-guide/materials

I so wish they would expand on these!

But at least reading the guide again on the materials give you "hmmm interesting" about some things. For example Cavity. I have never ever used it! I guess it would produce better result than just faking it with painting dark on BC and/or AO. I am still at SM/RN, AO, NM BC and F* haha. At least it is more than some people use. Of course it depends on what kind of objects you make. So far I have only made things that is like glazed fiberglass props.

 

[spoonetti]

I thought absolutly the same when I read the guide about RN and SM maps.

I might make a tutorial on how to render and preview in Blender which I did with my complicated node setup for flexicolors that actually works very well. But I might want try to expand into the surfaces as well, at least for the RN/SM ones..

That would be wonderful.

Can you or any other one recommend a well understandable tutorial about how to create a cavity map?

 

[corkscrewloop]

SM and RM are the same but opposite in their effect. The difference seem to be only that you either use the one or the other in combination with other textures such as MT or ... (They mention the different workflows in the userguide).

Would also like to understand more about the cavity.

But I have another question (easy? Which was maybe already answered?). Does anybody know the hex or RGB code (grey color for flexicolor) for the BC texture to be in sync with the ingame artform shapes? (I use 229 for RGB / E5E5E5 - as they mention 90%HSB), but its not exactly in sync with the ingame artform shapes...

 

[Helena]

As for the colors. To me the art shapes seem to be rather vivid in colors so I guess they COULD be full white (FFFFFF). Have you tried? Sometimes I do the full white. It depend on the object in question, and if you want to offer full control (after all you can dull down the colors in the color wheel in Planco) full white is good choice.

But for most objects it is good to have some kind of work done. I do not apply 90% consciously, but have full white as base, but with the texturing and shading going on, it will still have some grays underneath. As an example for the flexicolor hat of my mushroom you can see there's grays there because I have done texture work. The base was full white to start with.


Now of course this is how I do things. I may be doing very wrong. But I wanted to give my suggestions.

 

[Helena]

As for cavity. I have never used it, but my logic say that only apply grayscale or black to where no light will shine and leave white for everywhere else?

*googles* Hmm, yes about right.. or something. There's comparison between cavity and AO here.
http://what-when-how.com/zbrush-character-creation-advanced-digital-sculpting/cavity-and-ambient-occlusion-maps-normal-maps-displacement-maps-maya-and-decimation-master-zbrush-character-creation-part-1/


[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z2kOJiheZs

[/URL]

 

[corkscrewloop]

ok, thanks! But I don't think the ingame artform shapes are pure white in BC. I used 229 RGB for a test object and it's a tone lighter than the ingame artform shapes. So I assume they are somewhere around 227. They also seem to not be pure white in RN, as they have some reflection (instead my test doesn't), which also has some influence. So it's try and error for me at the moment...[happy]

Btw, you did an amazing job with your mushroom texture (must have taken you hours to draw it)... This is pure art![happy]