Hey guys, I had a question as a non-3d person (who works on promoting a 3d site 
You know the files in Materials and Shaders, do they only work in specific 3d programs? Like I notice that some say 3ds max or Cinema4d, does that mean they aren’t interoperable?
Is there such a thing as an interoperable file format for materials and shaders?
Anyhow, there’s my noob question for the day
collis said
Hey guys, I had a question as a non-3d person (who works on promoting a 3d siteYou know the files in Materials and Shaders, do they only work in specific 3d programs? Like I notice that some say 3ds max or Cinema4d, does that mean they aren’t interoperable?
Is there such a thing as an interoperable file format for materials and shaders?
Anyhow, there’s my noob question for the day
Well, it’s anything BUT a dumb question if you ask me…and I would very much like to know someone else’s point of view/definition, because I might be off about this.
A material in a 3d program is split up in different attributes, as a flash game isn’t just a pretty animation that is magically interactive (at least that’s what I thought until not long ago. As you might have guessed, flash isn’t exactly my world). This includes color data, specular, difusion, bump data, reflection data, normal maps etc… which basically are just a bunch of images. Every program usually relies on different algorithms in order to render the specific materials as realistic as possible. Those algorithms, or instruction-sets, from what I know, are called shaders and usually refer to GPU rendering or how your videocard can translate raw data into pixel information and calculate different reflections/refractions etc etc (and you can read more here : http://bit.ly/bqKs0r )
Hence, you may provide TEXTURES that are shareable throughout many different programs, but the setting up of a material and their respective map-trees has to occur manually. The specific examples you showed are all program-centric shaders that do just that… speed up the whole setup process, but limit the usage to only the given program.
Again, I hope I’m not totally off, and if not, that I could help.
Kind regards, CB.
Well, contrastblack explained almost all of it, I just want to cast a little more light on top of it.
First, shaders in a 3d software are NOT to be compared with shaders from a GPU . The link to the Wikipedia definition of “shader” that contrastblack provided is related to GPU shaders; that is, programmable sets of instructions to be run inside the graphic card to speed up calculations, almost always in real-time applications. For example, 3d engines in videogames use these a lot.
Relating to 3d-design sotwares like Maya, Max, etc, “shader” could be better descripted as “material”. A material can have lots of parameters that define the appearance of a given object, describing how its surface behaves when hit by lighting. All of this parameters can be single-numbers, procedural functions (like noise, for example), math expressions, or a bitmap image that acts as input (sometimes grey-sclae, sometimes full RGBA , it depends on what the parameter needs).
So, each program has its own internal logic and altough there are very similar “type” of materials (blinn, phong, etc), others are exclusive to the render engine that you are using. For example, Mental Ray has its own materials to simulate glass, while V-Ray has its (and different) materials to do it. Many share parameters (Index Of Refraction, for example) but each render engine is like a closed garden and can’t be shared with others. You can’t even share a material between V-Ray for MAx and V-Ray for Maya (lame, I know).
An exception to this “closed garden” is the engines that are “standalone”. For example, there is a standalone version of Mental Ray, you got Octane Render, Maxwell Render, etc. This renderers are self-executable programs that are not integrated into the 3d-design package as plugins; they are external and you have to export the 3d scene from your host app, then import it here and then assign materials, lights, etc.
Well, there goes a good bunch of text, hope I didn’t confused you more! 
+1 @ OMB .
He said all what i had in mind on the subject. Every program has its own material.
Excellent answers to the question above +1
Seems like a good idea to have an area or at least a link maybe on the site that defines and answers some like this… in the Wiki perhaps
Thanks guys! That makes sense!
It’s interesting how fragmented the 3d market is. I guess because I’m a web/graphic designer I’m really used to just everything being Photoshop and the smaller competitors like Pixelmator/Gimp/PSP are all highly Photoshop compatible. But I get the feeling that in 3d you pick a tool and then end up somewhat married to it. I have to say I wish I knew more about it all!!
I get the feeling that in 3d you pick a tool and then end up somewhat married to it. I have to say I wish I knew more about it all!!
Of course each artist leans to a particular tool of choice… usually the one they began using to start with- for me that was 3D StudioMax… with that said though- the great thing is that although there are several different choices the principles and practices are basically the same. What this means is it simply comes down to learning a new UI per program and picking the one that works for you. File formats are very versatile outside the software native~ .OBJ, .FBX and others can be shared in almost all!!
It is truly a great field to be a part of
Interesting intel, thank you guys… 3D world is still something Im digging a bit…
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