Surforge 1.4.5 - 3D rendered PBR texturing in Unity

Surforge 1.4.2
Unity 2021.1 fully supported.

added: 4 dirt assets with multiple variants shuffle for AddDetail tool.
added: Handy preset for decal assets based on maps combined to atlas.
ChangeLog

 

Hello! I must be an idiot; I've read the documentation and I've looked at the videos, and I still have absolutely no idea how to use this tool. I'm importing a model and want to add a scifi themed material to it, but (for starters) I have no idea how to identify poly lasso profiles (no tooltips, no names), and I don't know how to use them (setting points gives me scary warnings about highly complex models). Is there any kind of 'getting started' for complete noobs anywhere?
thanks

 

Hello,

Please check this video of creating a simple texture from scratch:

Please check the text at the bottom, that prints the name and hotkeys of used tools.
This should give an idea of a typical workflow: most used tools are Poly Lasso with simple profiles, and Add Detail tool for extra details and labels.

As any tool for creating graphics, Surforge require some practice. Thats ok. Start simple, don't hurry, and after you master it a bit you realise Surforge is productive and easy to use tool.

 

Aha! Exactly what I need, thank you. I’m super excited about the tool; I was just frustrated at my lack of comprehension.

 

KILLER video!

 

Have some problems to get the correct fit of texture after export. Maybe I do some basic wrong ?

 

Hello,

I see the maps and material exported right, so it is not a Surforge issue.

I think something is wrong with the model UVs. Maybe some UModeler extra settings? It seems UVs of the model has additional tiling, not with the material or maps, but on the model side.

Maybe you could try to export your model to .obj and check how exactly UVs look, for example in Blender.
And if .obj UVs ok, you could try to apply material to imported model, to be sure it has no UModeler extra modifications on the top of it.

 

I make a new test today. When I make a new material and drag and reop in the different parts, it works, but not the generated material:

 

The material at the start of the video on 0:07 has tiling and offset 0.01 which you probably set and forgot to change back.

You could make a quick test if your Surforge exported material works as intended:
- Export your material with Surforge.
- Make sure it has tiling x:1 y:1, offset x:0 y:0
- Apply the material to Unity default Cube object.
You should see now the entire map on each side of the cube, the same as if you assign Surforge exported maps to fresh created material.
Couldn't you please check if it works.

 

Thanks. Working ok now.

 

Hello, I love Surforge! It's my favorite texturing tool! It is so well thought out and implemented, thank you for it. I am wondering: Is it possible to get this kind of dirty emissive effect in it, as on the lights here? Or any tips on how to get this effect? I don't know if it's just an emissive map or if it's something else. I imagine it's just a specular + emissive + albedo map. It would be extremely useful for many things, old cars, pinball machines, retro future space ships..

 

Hello,
Thank you very much for your feedback. I am happy you like Surforge

In Surforge, besides material IDs 9 and 0, reserved for simple emissive effects, there are emissive controls for every regular material. You could find material emission settings scrolling closer to the bottom, under the paint settings.

There are EmissionMap, Tint and Intensity to control material emission.
You could achieve simple effect of dirty emission, assigning some contrast noisy map to EmissionMap field, for example one of stone textures from Surforge Textures folder.

But for more advanced effect like in the example, i believe emission map was hand painted.
Fortunately, the Emission map is simple and is not strongly depends on other maps, so it could be easy edited. You could try to open emission map of your exported result material in image editor and darken the edges of emissive areas with soft brush a bit. With previously assigned noisy map this should give the desired effect.

 

Thank you so much for your prompt reply! I'll try it out and report back

 

Great news!
Surforge 1.4.3 update is ready and live.
ChangeLog

There is a new asset: mesh based volumetric shuffleable cracks prefabs for AddDetail tool.
The idea was to imitate natural behaviour of cracks: the edges rounded closer to the surface, and become crispier in the depth, also wider at cracks crossings.


Basic example how you could arrange cracks in patterns - continue the "spikes" of one prefab with another.

 

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If you do not own your copy of Surforge yet, do not miss this great opportunity.
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Hi, is there any turorial video for "Missle Turret"?

 

Hello,

There is no tutorial, but there is a complete scene with Surforge, which you could explore.
To practice on the scene, just select all child objects of "root" in Unity Hierarchy tab except background, and delete.

This is step by step approach:

1. With Poly Lasso tool (hotkey "A") start double-click filling your UV islands. Try different profiles. You may want to decrease profile size with a slider under the Poly Lasso tool, as islands rather small relative to canvas. Press "Space" hotkey time to time to update your preview.

2. Select your Poly Lasso objects in Unity Scene View, activate Poly Lasso and Split objects into smaller parts (Ctrl + doubleclick last point of line), as machinery surfaces look nice when consist of sort of separate panels. You could change your selected Poly Lasso presets with icons on Poly Lasso tab, when Poly Lasso tool is off.

3. You could shrink/expand your Poly Lasso objects. Disable Poly Lasso ("A" or "Esc"), select the needed objects in your scene and try "[", "]", "shift + [", "shift +]" several times. You could also move any your objects with Unity native transform tools at any time, and also in height (if you maybe want to create overlapped or variable height panels).

4. Apply several material IDs to your objects, selecting them in Unity Scene and press 1-8 keys over your keyboard text block (not Numpad).

5. Add extra details with Add Detail Tool ("D").

6. Drag and drop materials from materials tab ("M") to Texture Preview. Experiment with different material sets (dropdown under Texture Preview). Try different materials, shuffle materials. You could edit many material sets at once, and all them saved with the scene.

7. Tweak material controls if needed.

8. Export your maps. You may render with increased resolution/settings before export.

That's all, your texture is ready.

 

Is there anyway to add a existed texture through detail tool?





I wanna to add the len to the object . So I created a detail prefab named "Lens_02" for it ,and used the



ld1 shader . But unluckly,it does not showing up after renderering..

Ps: I did not found some use samples like this,I am doubting whether I had mistook concept of Detail tools..

 

Another detail prefab which used the same mesh but different from shader works fine..

 

There are 2 different types of AddDetail prefabs: regular meshes which added as mask + volume and don't have diffuse, and "labels" which have diffuse and renders on top of masks.

Check "biohazardSign" material in "Surforge/AddDetailTool/Materials" folder, which has "SurforgeLabel" shader, its what you are looking for.
Duplicate it, add your texture to Diffuse field. The map should have alpha channel. Then drag and drop new material to quad object in your scene.

You could also create complete custom prefab for AddDetail tool:
- In "Surforge/AddDetailTool/PlaceMeshes" folder select "label_01" prefab, and duplicate. This will be your new prefab to edit.
- Select its material , duplicate, assign it to your new prefab, set your Diffuse map to material.
- Add icons to prefab (optional).
- Drag and drop your new prefab to "placeMeshes" list of "placeMeshes" prefab in "Surforge/AddDetailTool" folder, save project and restart Unity.
- Your new prefab now at the bottom of AddDetail tool scrollable list in Surforge window.

 

Thanks very much Did you mean the diffuse map


is about the base(RGBA) or RGBA Noise.. I am kina of confused that when I use Base for prefab material texture, it does not work(Can not show up in the surforge preview window or "Editor" Scene)... If I changed to RGBA Noise , it does works, but with flaws..








（the Diffuse Map）



It seems kinda of "Color inversion " in the middle area

 

Diffuse texture goes to "Base (RGBA)".
Forgot to say, "RGBA Noise" should present, otherwise your diffuse will be transparent.
Just disable the noise, if not needed, by setting "NoiseMix" to X: 0, Y: 0, Z: 0, W: 1
Any texture with alpha channel filled white fits (you could use "noiseRGBA_01" from Surforge).
What it does, it use separate channels of noise texture as additional Diffuse alpha, which is great for worn labels.

This could be because of noise effect.

 

Does Surforge support URP ?

 

Surforge can't run in URP / HDRP project.
You could easily use result materials and maps in URP / HDRP project with Unity built-in material converter.

Install Surforge to separate "3d" template project, import meshes, create texture work and export results.
Copy your exported result material and maps to your URP project and in Unity Editor "Edit - Render Pipeline - URP - Upgrade Selected Materials to URP Materials".

Surforge itself not needed for using its exported results (which are just materials + sets of textures).
It is actually better to have Surforge installed in separate "texture factory" project to keep things more consistent.

 

2Sergeyv_3d - Is the Surforge team planning an upgrade to URP / HDRP in future?

 

Yes, URP/HDRP support is in plans, and much requested.
However, its implementation connected with lot of technical difficulties.
Please treat with understanding, as Surforge itself uses rendering pipeline of a project to capture and process maps, this task goes beyond just including a copy of compatible shaders.

 

I did not mentioned this before...

What is mean about "it to remove several Surforge material texture channels",is it mean that export a few textures simultaneously instead of all the pbr textures is feasible?

 

This is about Surforge Composer shader in Texture Preview, where you tweak properties and combine materials, before merge into single one on export.
This has already been resolved with extra optimization.
There is a progress in this direction. But there is still a lot of work.

 

Is there any use case for those features? Especially for the manually operation ones.




For example ,"Tubes and wires poly lasso profiles", so great and magical ,I want to try it myself for practise,but dont know how to start...

PS: Maybe I should ask what the best way to learn Surforge and practise efficiently and as comprehensive as possible... For me, I am not a 3d artist,but maybe I could sense that there are many tricks and experience for making good looking materials,especially with the help of Surforge

 

Tubes are very easy, just select one of this Poly Lasso profiles and start setting points. Double-click to finish. Then you could select tubes in your Scene View and assign material IDs.

Labels and texts strings you just add here or there, many human-made objects look good with them.

The best way to learn just practice. There are also useful hints at the end of user guide. You could check videos here. No software could instantly turn one into skilled 3d artist. But Surforge has everything you need for a good start.

 

Different UV shape display on other ddc tool and Surforge. And for my experience,it often occurs on sealed wrapped area. Is this normal ?

 

Yes, as you have stacked UV islands its ok.
There is UV Guides mode, which try to recognize UV islands, and simple UV mode which just draw UVs.
You could switch UVs display mode to "Show UVs" with little button "uv" near the magnet at the bottom. Simple UV mode draws any type of UVs without issues.
In simple UV mode you can't fill islands with double click, but still could snap to UV points, for you could draw Poly Lasso shapes point by point.

Unity meshes have no "UV island" entity, Surforge has to recognize islands border, and for possibility to double click fill it should be ordered ngon not just lines. There are some conditions where it can't recognize, as sorting this type of graph could be NP-complete.
Just count "UV Guides" mode as a bonus, it works in most cases. You could switch UV modes any time.

 

Is there any way to process a fbx model which is pieced together by serveral separated parts which actually shared a uv ,like below



If it could be processed in one surforge scene ?

 

You are able to switch models any time while working on Surforge scene.
Texture details you create are not tied to the model you are using for texture and UV preview, just arranged on your canvas.
This could be useful while working on texture atlases, when several meshes share UV space and result material. But your UV layout should be planned according to such design.

 

I was following the tutorial video "Simpletest", when I change profile for polyLossyObject,I got a warning like this( In the video,it does not come up). After choosing OK and waiting for a while,I dont think I get the exact profile effect comparing to the tutorial test. Did I miss something ?



( looks like without profile effect)



( the video shows)

 

Sometimes the splitted border seems very thin and hard to recognize... For beginning it is normal but after deleting existed Objects and restart the work( I thought I was doing that), it occurs...

 

This is because of scale (slider under the Poly Lasso tool).
Use of tiny scale setting together with detail-rich preset could lead to excessive number of details repeated along shape border.
Just increase the scale, you could try default 1.0 scale for details of large size. Small scale values is for shapes which are also small relative to the canvas.

Scale also controls how pronounced is the border of Poly Lasso object.
You could set the scale before you start setting points, with the slider, or with "[", "]" hotkeys. You could use same hotkeys to control the scale of previously created selected Poly Lasso objects while Poly Lasso tool is off.

 

When I change the material set for swap, I think I get a different result comparing to the video





While the first one looks normal..




Though I have read the guide pdf literally,I dont think I have understood the material set and awareness of its power...
Is it for convenience,insparation ,composation or something else?Could a typical application of material set be showed please?

 

I see on the first screenshot, that Surforge Composer Shader is in initial state, before received any information from renderer.
Normally, it is not needed to re-render while changing material sets, swapping materials, or tweaking materials. You have to update render only after making changes in the scene.
Maybe something went wrong while switching material sets.

Couldn't you please try the following:
- Load one of Surforge demo scenes, "wingedHelmet" for example.
- Render ("space" hotkey).
- Use dropdown menu under Texture Preview to change material sets.
It should immediately change materials for all IDs to other materials (of the new set).
It worked?

Material Sets is very powerful feature.
You could explore, switch, and save multiple entire material designs of your texture instead of just one.
Make several different skins for your model easily.

For example, you did all your texture details and material areas. Now you thinking of color design, maybe like "glossy metal, painted metal, and key color". But which areas will be metallic, and which painted? What color palette looks better?
Material Sets allow you to try and compare all variants, then choose most impressive. And also save all variants with your scene at once.

 

After restarted Unity, It works again..

 

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If you do not own your copy of Surforge yet, do not miss this great opportunity.
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Could you help me? It drives me crazy
At 1 minute, you write "MOVE DOWN (DOWN ARROW)". As far as I understand, this way you can raise or lower a fragment of the texture. Right? I tried using the arrow (up and down) but nothing worked. Could you please explain to me in more detail how to achieve this. Probably better in Russian if you know this language. Maybe in private message/ Thanx

 

Hello,

This video was made with older version of Surforge. I'm sorry that this mislead you.
The actual hotkeys for moving objects up and down are "numpad +", "numpad -".

You could also use Unity native transform tools Move, Rotate, Scale at any time on texture details.
There is complete hotkeys list in handy one page .pdf in Surforge/SurforgeHotkeys.pdf

Sorry for not in Russian. It turned out the forum does not allow you to write private messages in Russian.

 

Thank you for the answer, English is enough

 

Is that not implemented yet?

 

NURBS support is done. It will be part of future update. Part of other things.

We a going to bring you the revolutionary pipeline of "texturing while modeling no one done yet".
I shouldn't talk about it yet. My friends and I have been working on this for the last 3 years and what awaits you. Huge thing. Beware, it will change the way how you create 3d content

 

Nowadays, there are variety of software for creating 3d. But the main pipeline always create 3d model, then texture.
You can't texture before model is finished, because you need UVs to be done before you start to texture. But, in Surforge the actual texture is a result product of also models.

So imagine what if, you are modeling, and using Surforge at the same time. You done details for one of your UV islands, and you add more 3d, more UV, and your UV islands moved because of repacking.
And imagine now, your Surforge details moved with your repacked UV island. Then you hit "render" and bam, texture updated, all details saved. Modeling while texturing achieved.

For this all could be possible, of cause, you need a modeler. And this modeler in core should be able to "remember" what Surforge details are connected to each UV island. And the modeler should at least meet the requirements, for all that magic pipeline make sense. And ideally, it should be an excellent modeler.

We are currently working on one. Please be patient for a year or so, and you can get all these wonderful things.
Just to intrigue you a little. There is subdivision surface modeling, with center edge free symmetry on this picture.

 

wow glad to hear that, I bought it in time

 

Wow! Is it will Surforge feature or separate asset?

 

Separate asset for 3d modeling, with strong tools.
Could be used separately, as well as Surforge. But when installed together, complement each other.
Modeler aimed to support Surforge on internal level, like store Surforge details per-object, and ability to move/repack UVs keeping Surforge details.
Surforge will get ability to edit Poly Lasso objects and Details with modeler, if installed.

Please treat with understanding, although tons of work already done, tons of work ahead. So it will take time.
For those who are skeptical, here's some of technologies already done in modeler direction:
- Outstanding performance through half-edge data structure
- Numerical robust
- Edit multiple objects at once
- ABF++ unwrapping
- Hard/soft edges
- Topological symmetry
- Subdivision surfaces

And the main brand new feature - ability to run real time updated macros over polygon groups (like HardOps "on steroids"). Not only postprocess bevel, but any modeling operations.
Let me show this screenshot demonstrating this feature:


Please also check this screenshot with soft/hard edges, and accurate bevels example.