Alternative Colored Gloss PBR Channel
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SweetShaylie Resident
First I want to say I love working with the new PBR material features, and I'm not quite sure how hard this would be to implement since I realize that PBR Materials have standards that needs to be followed, but I would love to see an extra texture box when editing a PBR material that will override the metallic layer and tint the gloss on the object.
With the current implementation of PBR we are stuck with a grayscale metallic channel baked into the ORM, with no further possibility of tinting. If we compare this to the older Blinn-Phong materials, then we had a specular texture (which could have multiple colors) and a sepparate tinting channel.
Having the ability to color and/or tint the gloss on an object, like we could with the old Blinn-Phong materials, allowed for the creating of very interesting objects that had an irridicent shine, having one color on the actual base texture and shining in a different color. This would be similar to mother of peal or certain car-paints that change color depending on angle of the light.
Due to the current implementation of PBR with the metallic/gloss layer baked into the ORM these kinds of shifting gloss materials are no longer possible to create when PBR is active.
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Kristy Aurelia
As Frionil Fang mentioned, we basically need glTF Specular extension for this.
Just to add, I'd like to see it implement as per glTF spec + a small addition, a check box to toggle using texture alpha channel. This way Specular BP textures could be reused for PBR, with Alpha channel disabled, as Alpha channel in BP Specular mean something completely different than glTF Specular Alpha channel.
Kuuko Shan
This is completely possible but it's important to understand how all this works. PBR on itself is not limited to metalness and roughness. We can have, indeed, specularity with the coloring like we did before. PBR allows for many type of different map types but we just got the basic ones for now. Specularity has been talked about already as well as the upcoming, and already in the works, transmission which will make it possible to create transparent surfaces like glass (I mean real glass, not just transparent mesh lol).
That said, all that has to be added through extra extensions. There are just too many to add all of them at once so focus goes into the most important ones for now. I am pretty sure that we will see specular more soon than late because it's really necessary but for now, we need to be patient.
And for clarification, we can't simply change the way that PBR works. So, while we can have specularity at some point, it will be through its own map. The actual implementation of PBR works following the glTF standard and we can't change that or we will start having a format that doesn't actually match any other software. So, can we have specularity with PBR? yes. Will we actually get it? probably. Can we change how metalness works and change it for specular? no, we shouldn't change how these default and standardized materials work.
Celestine Ghiardie
If this was implemented it would make me shift from making my mesh clothes as Blinn-Phonn to PBR. At the moment the old system gives me much more control over fabric shine. I love the metals on PBR, but fabrics end up looking like plastic with no way (that I know of?) to tint that shine. I can tint the diffuse as I do when changing metal shine. But that will not give me the iridescent effect that was previously mentioned here.
Mourna Biziou
i have no idea if this is possible with pbr, but it's the editing feature i miss most and would be overjoyed to see it return in some capacity! you could achieve some really amazing effects with a simple specular map!
Frionil Fang
For reference, this is covered by the glTF specular extension, so hopefully we'll get that eventually: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/glTF/blob/main/extensions/2.0/Khronos/KHR_materials_specular/README.md
SL Feedback
tracked
SL Feedback
Hello, and thank you for your detailed feature request regarding the addition of an alternative colored gloss PBR channel. Your enthusiasm for working with PBR materials is greatly appreciated. This idea has been brought up in the past and is currently tracked. We understand the creative potential that such a feature could unlock, allowing for effects like iridescent shines and pearlescent finishes. While we have no estimate on when this might be implemented, please keep an eye on future updates. Your input is invaluable, and we hope you continue to share your innovative ideas to help improve Second Life. Thank you!
subina Canis
SL Feedback Oh yeah!!! I'd like to see this topic developed too!:) More beautiful shiny clothes!:)