PBR Hits the Grid - Slowly
PBR is coming onto the main grid. Finding a spot to test the "new look" is a bit tricky right now. Some regions that purportedly HAVE PBR settings are not open to the public. I did find (thanks to Qie Niangao) the Pengallen Bridge.
The screenshot above is taken with the Linden PBR viewer.
And this screenshot was taken with the Firestorm NON PBR viewer.
They look very close to me! And that's good news since many of us remember the rolling out of EEP.
Now PBR can do some very impressive things; there is no denying -- that's a fact. Mirrors and mirrorlike reflections, high contrast shines etc. But as a creator I am extremely happy that "my stuff (and all the things I have purchased or received for blogging) still look good.
There will be a PBR bandwagon that folks can jump on. Some creators will decide to redo their older items in PBR and some will not. Some creators will likely decide to make NEW items with PBR and not redo the old.
Personally -- aside from the impressive reflections, I haven't been a fan. I didn't use PBR in the years I was in Sansar; my items still looked very good, better than in SL. Since I am pretty much retired now I will join the non-updating group. Honestly I am not all that sure that I will be buying a whole lot of new PBR items if they clash with my very deep and not inexpensive inventory items.
It worries me some that this will impact our current creators. Not everyone wants to learn PBR, pay for Substance Painter and redo their older releases. Some are already just squeezing by these days after both the price and fee increases and the gacha ban. I hope we don't lose even more long-time mesh and texture artists.
On the plus side it appear that "anyone" can now make impressive goods if they are willing to buy full perm items and texture with purchased PBR materials (I suspect we will see LOTS of packs soon). This is good in its own way, taking SL back in time to when the prim ruled the world.
Comments