Forum

PBR in blend4web

31 January 2017 07:54
Hi Guys,

I am a "blender + substance painter" user and a web programmer so blend4web is the best choice for me. Thanks to the blend4web team for their amazing work!

Here I have a question about PBR shaders. I would like to know if PBR is going to be supported by blend4web in the future. I see someone asked about PBR before in the forum but here I will be more specific about the concept: I mean the "Metal/Roughness" workflow which typically involves using 4 or more maps:
Diffuse map (or called albedo map)
Metallic map
Roughness map
Normal map

I know Sketchfab supports PBR so what is exported from substance painter can be used directly in Sketchfab. But I want more customization than what Sketchfab can offer so blend4web is my best choice. I wonder if blend4web can somehow support PBR textures usage so that the realism of the model in blend4web projects can be even better.

Blend 2.8 is said to support PBR in its viewport (link). Is this something that will influence blend4web's roadmap?

Thank you very much for your insights!
31 January 2017 10:33
+1 on that!
31 January 2017 12:20
Here I have a question about PBR shaders. I would like to know if PBR is going to be supported by blend4web in the future. I see someone asked about PBR before in the forum but here I will be more specific about the concept: I mean the "Metal/Roughness" workflow which typically involves using 4 or more maps:
Diffuse map (or called albedo map)
Metallic map
Roughness map
Normal map
Hello!
We are hard working on supporting Cycles render workflow which is in fact similar to modern PBR workflow but in some aspects it is even deeper and more customizable. This work will probably affect many aspects of blend4web pipeline (reflections system, environment lighting etc) and produce graphic enhancements in b4w projects as well as simplify engine users life. I can't give precise dates because supporting tones of Blender's features and options is often harder then just creating your own pipeline but we'll try to introduce these features as soon as possible.
I know Sketchfab supports PBR so what is exported from substance painter can be used directly in Sketchfab. But I want more customization than what Sketchfab can offer so blend4web is my best choice. I wonder if blend4web can somehow support PBR textures usage so that the realism of the model in blend4web projects can be even better.
I think that we will support some simplified pipeline based on Cycles render to allow users to easily import projects from modern PBR-oriented environments like Substance Painter.
Blend 2.8 is said to support PBR in its viewport (link). Is this something that will influence blend4web's roadmap?
Yeah, of course! We closely monitor Blender development and try to stay in tune. As you may know we even affect it! Our blender sensei Alexander Romanov has commit rights in Blender code. So one thing's for sure, blend4web won't stuck and will take into account upcoming Blender changes
Blend4Web Team - developer
Twitter
LinkedIn
31 January 2017 12:42
Hi Khomyakov,

Thank you very much for your reply and its helpful information! I look forward to upcoming releases of blend4web.
 
Please register or log in to leave a reply.