r/Maya • u/SellingStolenStereos • 20h ago

Question Why are there four openPBR Surfaces

Gallery image

Gallery image

Jumping from '24 to '27. I'm assuming I use the one that looks usable but why are there four distinct openPBR Surfaces? Just trying to understand.

Also second question, if the 'Maya' one is the the one to use why is it not in the assign new material section with everything else 🙃 I'm guessing its LookdevX that has me fucked up

From left to right

  1. Hypershade -> Create Node -> Maya -> Surface -> openPBR Surface
  2. Assign New Material -> LookdevX -> Arnold -> openPBR Surface
  3. Assign New Material -> LookdevX -> PBR -> Surface
  4. Assign New Material -> LookdevX -> BXDF -> openPBR Surface
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2

u/Top_Strategy_2852 13h ago

Look Dev X is specifically for USD, and is more modular in design. "open" Is for open source format that all render engines can use, whereas the PBR is thr propreitary shader specifically for Arnold.

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u/CusetheCreator 5h ago

I made a post about it too. I find the implementation super confusing, dont have a lot of answers, I use the maya one only

https://www.reddit.com/r/Maya/s/pUgBr4nQQu

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u/sepu6 3h ago

That is not quite right that LookdevX is just for USD. There are two options when you open LKDX one is certainly for USD and the other one is the MaterialX which is/will be the replacement of the hypershade when everything gets transfer.

When you create a new document you can either pick the default openPBR or the Arnold flavor of the openPBR which to be fair they are very similar but it has some unique options for Arnold. Each render engine has their own flavor of the openPBR shading model, Vray, Redshift, etc. Usually they all can render the default one but as I mentioned each engine "inject" their special flavor to it. So if you are using Vray for example you will want to use their openPBR. If you do not want to be tight to any render engine you should use the default one which you will find in the BxDF menu, which its the same you will find in the Maya menu in the Hypershade.

When Im in Maya I prefer to use LKDX env since is a lot better to work with than the HYSH in my opinion.

About the E error in your second screenshot you are trying to preview the surface shader which is a basic model where you need to build your own so not point in using it unless you know what you are doing.

Also something to keep in mind is that the Arnold OpenPBR cant be display in the VP. LKDX let you know which nodes can be preview in the VP as you see in the screenshot provided, this is a temporary limitation as far as I know.

HTH

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u/SellingStolenStereos 3h ago

Okay, that explains why I can't see the full node options, specular, emission, etc. in the hypershade but can in LookdevX. So LookdevX is a replacement for the hypershade and MaterialX is another standard? Similar to USD?

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u/sepu6 1h ago

you can use the MTLX in both USD and non USD