MaterialX (Open Source) - LucasFilm/ILM

[Rodney]

For those who watch such things...

 

LucasFilm and ILM (read: Disney) have open sourced their MaterialX code.

 

What is it?

 

According to the release:

CG production workflows require multiple software tools for different parts of the production pipeline, and shared and outsourced work requires companies to hand off fully look-developed models to other divisions or studios which may use different software packages and rendering systems. There are currently high-quality solutions for exchanging scene hierarchies and geometric data between tools, but not for exchanging rich material content.

MaterialX addresses the current lack of a common, open standard for representing the data values and relationships required to transfer the complete look of a computer graphics model from one application or rendering platform to another, including shading networks, patterns and texturing, complex nested materials and geometric assignments. MaterialX provides a schema for describing material networks, shader parameters, texture and material assignments, and color-space associations in a precise, application-independent, and customizable way.

 

 

 

Here's the general spec:

https://github.com/materialx/MaterialX/blob/master/documents/Specification/MaterialX.v1.35.Final.pdf

 

It's an interesting read on many levels.

The specific areas of interest (to me) include: LIghts, Collections and 'Looks' which relate more to the area where textures/shaders meet geometry.

Two focus areas reserved by the specification are 'twosided' and 'matte' which address issues of rendering that are not commonly implemented.

Those are welcomed areas of interest.

 

Example code, etc. can be found on the MaterialX website:

 

FWIW: One difference in MaterialX applications is said to be that of applying the geometry to the material rather than the material to the geometry. (See Look and Property Elements in the document specification).