export 'glass material' to fbx

[maxpai]

I have a question how to export 'corona glass material' with transparency, e.g. to 'fbx' or how to make a 'PBR Material' transparent ->like arch. glass

[James Vella]

Can you elaborate on what you are doing with the FBX? For example Blender handles things differently to Cinema4D when importing FBX files. So what are you actually trying to do with this FBX?

Otherwise the current PBR technique is to use Opacity/Metal since Refraction is not an option. Metal is not required but it does help with the reflective value, Substance has built in presets for such which you can investigate.

If you are looking at things like GLTF/GLB then theres another method for that too (which is similar to the Substance method).

[maxpai]

In short, I'm trying to prepare a model in 3ds max, which I would like to export to the .usdz format so that it can be viewed in Apple Vision Pro goggles.. I'm trying to export it to .usdz directly from 3ds max but it loses all the materials, so I'm trying to export it first object to the .fbx format, which is later converted to .usdz -> currently I have a problem with correctly exporting the glass to .fbx ... I work in the 3ds Max+Corona option on a daily basis.

[James Vella]

Well in that case:

1. .usd is Autodesk interchange with materials, I havent found a way to export to .usdz with material yet.
2. You need to work out what configuration the Apple Vision Goggles accepts as material formats from 3dsmax.
3. FBX from 3dsmax works best with Standard (Legacy) formats. This can be quite a hit and miss unless you can either (A) script it using setprop values per object and a json formatter on the other end (B) Convert them to the correct format after export to FBX or (C) some custom format. For example I have scripts that ive made that convert Vray materials to use in Blender, C4D, GLTF/GLB but these must be designed for your worklow. Ive given them away for free in my blog/github but they are not designed for Corona and if you are not familiar with maxscript - will be difficult to adapt to your workflow.
4. You cannot export any Corona material unless its through a plugin like datasmith which is specially designed for particular software. All Corona, Vray etc materials must be converted to a compatible format for the format you require on the other end.

In short, if you want to take the FBX route, use a Standard (Legacy) material for glass, set the diffuse color, opacity and reflection value to your desired amount, and export.

[maxpai]

I'll try, thanks again for the answer, I managed somehow with your scripts... I'm not sure, but I think UNITY (unity.com) can handle the export to .usdz, but I'd have to figure out how it works...

[James Vella]

Unity, Unreal, 3dsmax, Blender... etc all do .usd

It should eventually (hopefully) be the universal format, along with OSL, MaterialX and other open formats that we can send 3D data between packages easily. Vray already has a good bridge to usd.

Working out how to export it from 3dsmax so its universally acceptable... lol well thats another matter. I'm also struggling to work it out but I only tried since you asked me so over time Ill figure it out but in my experience, 3dsmax always likes to throw some spanner in the works. So until then I have no advice for you on that front.

If you are going the FBX route, then you will certainly need a few workarounds along the way, scripts, bobs and bits. Anyway, feel free to keep us posted with your travels, I'm on a similar path.