I’m working between Unreal Engine, USD Composer, and 3DS Max to test out Nvidia Omniverse, and I’m having some trouble with the materials showing up. I looked for another forum post but couldn’t find one that included 3DS Max, Composer, and Unreal Engine. Basic steps were as follows:
Create Unreal project and basic map inside of Unreal Engine
Add some basic Unreal materials (One that utilizes transparency, a photorealistic tiling material, and a custom material that does not tile- see image)
Ok, why don’t we turn this around and say as a good rule of software, work where you want to end up. If you want to get everything into Omniverse and work there, is that your “final output” ? If so, as in all software, do the most work in your final medium. If that is Omniverse, do as much as you can there. We do everything except for modeling.
As a huge 3dsmax artist, just cut Unreal out of the mix entirely. Model in 3dsmax, export that as a usd file, and do EVERYTHING else in Composer. Textures, materials, lighting, animation, rendering, realtime. We just replace unreal.
I say this because it offers the most effective and simply workflow. Not sure why you then want to get your Omniverse back into 3dsmax. Just use that for modeling and once that is done, its all done over in Composer.
Hi Richard, thank you for your response. I understand why cutting out a program would make sense given the context, however, I’m testing this program for a larger team. The communication between 3DS Max and Unreal is crucial, as we have artists who are very skilled with 3DS Max and our end goal is an executable game.
Composer was a way to confirm that the materials could be seen in another program. The main issue of this question is getting 3DS Max and Unreal to communicate with Omniverse. We cannot amputate part of the desired workflow, as we cannot cut out a part of the team and their skills in either program. Do you have a suggestion for materials to translate into 3DS Max? It’s generally easier to work on a model if their textures can be seen and it’s not default gray or brick.
If 3DS Max is not able to appropriately read the materials in this case, we can adapt. This was an effort to see if the community had an answer or idea that might help reach a solution.
Working on games is not really our workflow. You are trying to get data INTO 3dsmax and not out of it ? Normally games start in 3dsmax and end in Unreal, not the other way around.
Typically, you are right. However, our already established workflow often requires assets to be brought into 3DS Max from Unreal and it would be helpful to know what the simple limitations are.
Again, my question is can assets be shared to 3DS Max so that their textures and materials are visible from Unreal. If you would like more information on my process, I would be happy to expand on it. Otherwise, all that is needed is a yes or a no.
I am sorry but since this is an omniverse forum, I am not the best person to answer a question between 3dsmax and unreal. I would ask on the unreal or 3dsmax forums.
This should be an Omniverse related question, as assets and their materials are being converted, stored and shared via Omniverse. When a project is exported to Omniverse, it creates the USD file, and creates MDL versions of the materials, which for some reason have an issue displaying in 3DS Max, but not in Composer.
Is it possible to construct a scene in USD Composer with custom materials, open the same USD in Max and have everything show up with their appropriate visuals?
I am reading your posts in detail and I am not seeing where I can help. I am sorry. You are saying and you even bolded it, that you need help with “can assets be shared to 3DS Max so that their textures and materials are visible from Unreal”
You have further stated that you do not have an issue in Omniverse, ONLY 3dsmax.
Based on this, I am asking you to post on the unreal or 3dsmax forums. If Omniverse Composer is working with Unreal as expected, that is great. If 3dsmax cannot read our Omniverse USD file, then I can suggest that you download the Omniverse Connector for 3dsmax and try to “import” the usd file that way, not through the normal standard way.
However, this connector is not compatible with 3dsmax 2025, so it will have to be a version before that. How Autodesk chose to read our file, it not within our control.
Failing this, I have no other help or advise to give you, other than looking at other unreal to 3dsmax workflows, that may exist.
