The New World of PBR - Heads Up
 |
| LA House by Scarlet Creative |
There is a new world coming. We may not be there for a year or so but change is in the wind. PBR has hit the grid and things will have a new look soon. Whether you are a shopper or a content creator this is important and while I don't like change much -- I DO adapt fairly easily; sometimes complaining - sometimes not. So here's my report on the state of the SL nation and what you need to know.
Most importantly things look different in a PBR engine. On the left we have our current "legacy" look, on the right the same scene and same EEP. The world is darker in PBR with richer and more saturated colors. Lighting effects and shadows are very different.
This is the EEP I made and use at my store; it translates well. Beware though, some EEP settings look horrible (that should be in caps) in PBR. So, if you are a creator or have a public sim or event you might want to download a PBR viewer (Linden or FS alpha) and see what those using the PBR viewer see. This of course if you haven't already moved to PBR.
In a recent survey at NWN, 70 percent of folks said they would be waiting for Firestorm to switch to PBR. Firestorm said they won't be hurrying -- so this isn't happening today. Still there ARE folks already on the PBR bandwagon and it might be good for creators to know what their stuff looks like in PBR -- you think? Again, EEP setting and lamps WILL make huge differences. Here we have the same item inside and under cast lighting. The left is legacy; the right PBR.
In some cases (mine happily) items translate well into the new render engine. Some will not. If those items are mod there may (I haven't tested but there were ways in SANSAR, a PBR platform) to negate some disturbing features. But it looks like many items will be fine.
********************************
Note that except for the LA house, all items you see pictured here are regular baked textures, NOT PBR redone creations. So an item doesn't need to be PBR to change appearance :D.
PBR is more environmentally realistic so the more "environment" you have the more differences you see. And the shinier an object is, the more it reflects the environment.
A blue sky day with gray buildings won't have as many obvious changes as ---
simple spheres in a busy environment. Yep, changes.
This is the Scarlet Creative LA House (shown in the top photo) with the legacy version on the left and the PBR version on the right. The big differences here under THIS EEP is the lighting. The house is very nicely made and there is both a PBR and legacy version included in the pack. It is out on display at the main Scarlett Creative store.
This is a wonderful and easy way to see the difference if you are so inclined.
The pack includes many PBR tested EEP settings and both legacy and PBR versions of the home.
Comments