FBX Smart Material Conversion

FBX Smart Material Conversion is a feature of model importer, it can map some standard materials in DCC(Digital Content Creation) tools to Cocos Creator’s built-in materials, and restore the visual effects of materials in DCC tools. This feature was added in v3.5.1.

The following materials are supported:

PhongPBR
3ds MaxStandard(legacy)Physical Material
BlenderN/APrincipled BSDF
C4DStandardN/A
MayaLambert/Blinn/PhongStandard Surface

Here is the comparison of a model using maya standard surface viewed in Maya and viewed in Cocos Creator after import:

Maya ViewportCocos Creator Viewport
Mayacocos

You can refer to the following project file to see how the example model with Maya Standard Surface is imported. Maya Car Demo

Smart Material Conversion configuration and import process for FBX assets

  1. In the Cocos Creator main menu, go to Project -> Project Settings -> Model -> Smart Material Conversion and make sure the option is enabled.
  2. Select the FBX file in Cocos Creator, and make sure the Smart Material Conversion option is enabled in the Inspector panel of the FBX file.

The following is the final settings:

img_6.png

Different DCC materials support in detail

Autodesk 3ds Max

  • Material:The following material types are supported:
    • Standard(Legacy)
    • Physical Material (Recommended)
    • Multi/SubObject
      • Multi/SubObject’s sub-material type can only be Standard or Physical Material, and can’t be Multi/SubObject, otherwise, the material will be lost.
  • Texture:
    • The following texture channels are supported for Standard(Legacy) material:
      • Diffuse Color
      • Specular Color
      • Glossiness
      • Opacity
      • Bump
    • The following texture channels are supported for Physical Material:
      • Base Color
      • Roughness
      • Metalness
      • Bump
      • Opacity
    • Texture simplification requirements:
Before SimplificationAfter Simplification
img.pngimg_1.png

Rendering Note: For Max Physical Material, you need to enable High Quality Rendering in Max Viewport to get a relatively accurate preview. For a more accurate preview, you can pair Max and Cocos Creator rendering environment.

  • For more information on Max Viewport Rendering Settings, you can refer to tutorial
  • For more information on Cocos Creator Viewport Rendering Settings, you can refer to Cocos Creator Document

Autodesk Maya

  • Material:The following material types are supported:
    • Lambert,Blinn,Phong,Phong-E
    • Standard Surface (Recommended)
  • Texture:
    • The following texture channels are supported for lambert,blinn,phong:
      • Color
      • Normal
      • Transparency
      • SpecularColor
      • Cosine Power
    • The following texture channels are supported for Standard Surface:
      • Base Color
      • Specular Roughness
      • Metalness
      • Normal
      • Alpha
    • Texture simplification requirements:
Before SimplificationAfter Simplification
img_2.pngimg_3.png

Rendering Note: For transparent material, you need to enable Depth peeling and Alpha Cut Prepass in maya. In order to get a more accurate preview, you can pair Maya and Cocos Creator rendering environment.

  • For more information on Maya Viewport Rendering Settings, you can refer to Maya Document
  • For more information on Cocos Creator Viewport Rendering Settings, you can refer to Cocos Creator Document

Cinema 4D

  • Material:The following material type is supported:
    • Standard Material
  • Texture:
    • The following texture channels are supported :
      • Diffuse Color
      • Specular Color
      • Glossiness
      • Opacity
      • Bump
    • Texture export requirements: Before exporting to FBX, if a model has more than one material, you need to ensure that the faces and materials in the UV set have a unique correspondence.

Blender

  • Material:The following material type is supported:
    • Principled bsdf
  • Texture:
Before SimplificationAfter Simplification
img_4.pngimg_5.png