OpenPBR Surface V1.0: A major step forward for digital materials
Collaboration and interoperability are essential in today's 3D industry. Adobe embarked on the OpenPBR project to simplify and enhance the creation and sharing of digital materials. These goals have resonated widely, with the OpenPBR ASWF project receiving contributions and feedback from major 3D industry leaders. With their help, the project has reached maturity, leading to the release of OpenPBR Surface V1.0.
What began as an effort to combine Autodesk Standard Surface and Adobe Standard Material has evolved into an improvement over both models. The goal was to offer artists more creativity while ensuring physical accuracy. This approach brings solid foundations in real physics, more realistic interaction between layers, better metal reflection, a new model for energy-conserving rough diffuse reflection, a state-of-the-art fuzz layer, a more expressive subsurface model, and flexible anisotropy parametrization, among other features like iridescence and thin-wall capabilities.
Collaboration with the MaterialX project has provided a reference implementation for the ecosystem to build their OpenPBR workflow. This aligns with the Alliance for OpenUSD's strategy and highlights the collaboration with the ASWF MaterialX Working Group.
This new approach aims to optimize studio pipelines and personal workflows, freeing artists from restrictive systems and promoting industry-wide adoption. The OpenPBR Surface material is expected to be embraced by various render engines while providing studios and artists the flexibility to choose different tools.
The enthusiasm surrounding the project within the 3D industry is palpable. With the help of industry collaborators, Adobe can offer 3D artists and designers a new, powerful, and expressive digital material workflow. The support and involvement of the Academy Software Foundation have been instrumental in this project's success, and as OpenPBR Surface continues to evolve, feedback from users and the community will also be crucial. We encourage everyone to join the discussion and contribute to the project. All information about OpenPBR Surface is available on the official ASWF GitHub page.
In conclusion, Guido Quaroni, Senior director of Engineering for 3D at Adobe, perfectly encapsulates the collaborative spirit and future potential of this project: “We are delighted to see how a tight collaboration between Adobe, Autodesk and the ASWF combined with feedback from many experts led to a unified material specification that will help artists to share and collaborate with their creations.”
The release of OpenPBR Surface v1.0 marks the beginning of this effort. The OpenPBR Working Group, with ongoing support from ASWF, will continue to advance industry-standard digital material models and explore innovations beyond surface materials.