Procedure
To bake simplified PBR shaders to export via FBX:
- Before starting, make sure that the model to bake has a UV channel defined, preferably with non-overlapping UV shells for better results.
- Make sure to assign a material to the model that can generate PBR effects, such as the Physical material. Render the scene to validate that the material renders correctly.
- Open the Rendered Frame window and choose Arnold Active Shade mode to validate that the material renders correctly.
- Select
to open the Bake to Texture dialog.
- If the available maps are hidden, click Show Maps to show them in the left pane of the window.
- With the object is selected, add the maps to create a PBR material:
- Arnold_albedo
- Arnold_metalness
- Arnold_roughness
- Ambient Occlusion
- In the Output column, select Create a New Material as the destination, and choose PBR (Metal/Rough) simplified PBR material from the Material Browser.
- Assign each map to the proper material input of the PBR Material as indicated below:
- Ambient Occlusion to: ao_map
- Arnold_metalness to: metalness_map
- Arnold_roughness to: roughness_map
- Arnold_albedo to: base_color_map
You can adjust map settings like size, padding, and file type based on your needs.
- Select an Output Path by clicking the
... button.
- Click Bake.
Note: You can follow the progress of different maps by selecting them from the RGBA dropdown in the Rendered Frame window.
- After the baking process is complete, view the results by switching the viewport to High Quality to show PBR effects.
- Note how the baked material is now connected to a Shell material and that the original material is preserved for any future iterations. This allow users to edit the original material and then bake again using the changes.
- Choose
and then export the file to FBX.
- In the FBX Export dialog, select the following options to include in the file:
- Under Embed Media, click the checkbox to enable.
- Under Shell Materials, select Baked Materials.
- Reset 3ds Max and re-import the FBX file. Note that:
- The material has been preserved.
- A new PBR material is now active for the model for use in 3ds Max and/or other viewing engines.