Download Links for Released Versions

[Galen Helfter]

Hi all,

We have a new website design, which does not yet have a page with download links for some of the versions of the 3ds Max plugin. In the meantime, here are links to all the most recent downloads for the 3ds Max integration.

• 3ds Max 2018
• 3ds Max 2019
• 3ds Max 2020
• 3ds Max 2021

Best,
Galen

[DiegoBL]

Great!

[cjwidd]

How can we access previous versions of the Substance in 3ds Max plugin?

[Galen Helfter]

Previous versions do have hard links on the website, I will have to get them and post later. The ones at the top are scripted links that download whatever the latest version posted is.

[cjwidd]

Can you post a link to previous versions? There is no access to previous versions on the Substance ecosystem webpage.

[Galen Helfter]

Yes:

Substance in 3ds Max 2.0.0

• 3ds Max 2018 & 3ds Max 2019

Substance in 3ds Max 2.1.1

• 3ds Max 2018 & 3ds Max 2019

Substance in 3ds Max 2.2.0

• 3ds Max 2018
• 3ds Max 2019
• 3ds Max 2020

Substance in 3ds Max 2.3.1

• 3ds Max 2018
• 3ds Max 2019
• 3ds Max 2020

Substance in 3ds Max 2.3.2

• 3ds Max 2018
• 3ds Max 2019
• 3ds Max 2020
• 3ds Max 2021

Substance in 3ds Max 2.3.3

• 3ds Max 2018
• 3ds Max 2019
• 3ds Max 2020
• 3ds Max 2021

Substance in 3ds Max 2.3.4

• 3ds Max 2018
• 3ds Max 2019
• 3ds Max 2020
• 3ds Max 2021

[jeanfrancoisjacques]

need more of these. the new plugin doesnt work but could solve issues. guessing something in between might be ok.

[Jill Talarico]

need more of these. the new plugin doesnt work but could solve issues. guessing something in between might be ok.

Hey there, Integrations PM here! Could you elaborate as to what is not working for you with the Substance in 3ds Max plugin? Steps to reproduce your issue, Version numbers for both 3ds Max and the plugin will be most helpful!

[cjwidd]

Jill, issues pertaining to the Substance in 3ds Max plugin have been posted in detail, repeatedly, over the last 5 years and are evident throughout this forum channel. Please see the appropriate discussion threads for reproduction steps, video logs, screenshots and other relevant media documenting bugs and support requests for the Substance in 3ds Max plugin.

Here is a good place to start.

[cjwidd]

Here is the most recent request from the linked thread above.

There needs to be a clear, documented method from Allegorithmic for exporting bitmaps from Substance Player, or by using the baked output feature of the Substance node in the Slate Material Editor, for achieving visual parity to what the Substance node presents itself.

Could you please provide a video demonstrating the following:

1. Import .SBSAR into Slate Material Editor
2. Make adjustments to the imported .SBSAR
3. Render the adjusted .SBSAR in Corona Renderer on a 3d primitive
4. Replicate that render using only bitmaps from the adjusted .SBSAR in the Slate Material Editor

If this is in fact something easily achievable and generalizable using a clear set of instructions, it should only take a few minutes and would be a huge contribution to resolving workflow myths regarding the Substance in 3ds Max plugin for Corona Renderer.

This support request has been made numerous times over the last  year (at least) and not once has Allegorithmic support staff offered a solution during that time, or before.

[Galen Helfter]

We could just allow a finalization step to 'commit' the graph node out to image files, if that would be helpful. That would be much simpler than attempting to match it with Player.

There is some similar code written already for the other shader compatibility script we had to do, so I can investigate repurposing some of that to do that functionality.

[cjwidd]

The post above, originally posted in February (2021), is requesting a tutorial from Allegorithmic staff demonstrating step-by-step how to achieve visual parity between what is rendered by the Substance node and what is rendered using only bitmaps generated externally by the same Substance.

A version of this question has been repeated over and over again on this forum - whether it's questions about diffuse saturation, gamma correction, etc. - but a solution from Allegorithmic has never been offered in response.

For example, if I import the 'Mud Brick Wall' substance into the 3ds Max Slate Material Editor, generate 'Mud Brick Wall' shader graph using the Substance to Corona Converter, then render it, the rendered image WILL NOT RENDER IDENTICALLY if I were to build the shader graph from scratch using only maps of Mud Brick Wall exported from Substance Player, Substance Designer, or the Substance node itself.

1. There is no visibility into how the Substance node is rendering bitmaps in the Slate Material Editor.

2. There is no official documentation about why (or how) mix maps are used to blend diffuse, metallic, reflection, and IOR maps in the shader graph generated by the Substance to Corona converter.


We're talking about a two minute tutorial showing exactly how to REPLICATE a shader graph generated by the Substance to Corona converter - from scratch - using only bitmaps.

If the solution is known and exists, it should take less than 10 minutes to record a video showing how to do this and just post it to the forum as a learning resource for the community.

We could just allow a finalization step to 'commit' the graph node out to image files, if that would be helpful. That would be much simpler than attempting to match it with Player.

Yes, that would be acceptable, but even if that were possible users would still have to rely on the converter to generate the shader graph successfully - that's fine if the implementation works. It would be good to provide official documentation, video tutorial, written instructions, or more, explaining how to generate the shader graph manually without the converter.


Allegorithmic had a good idea by providing support for the Substance node in 3ds Max, but it is not an extensible solution. Allegorithmic must provide documentation explaining how to replicate the results of the Substance to Corona Converter on a manual basis to support other workflows, pipelines, etc. that CANNOT rely on the Substance node itself, for one reason or another.

[Galen Helfter]

I understand the question then. Most of the visual parity is going to be difference in gamma curve application, and perhaps sampling filter. I don't have an exact answer, which we would need to properly have for that documentation, and will need to perform an investigation to have that correct. I'll forward this to the demo art team and see if they can publish something like this, and update our shader docs online.

I think it'll be much easier to create this documentation as we recreate the Substance to Corona converter for Corona 7 though. All that's going to need redone, as whatever we have now is going to be replaced with a metal/rough workflow in the standard case, and probably a more direct spec/gloss workflow if we can identify that the material doesn't have the right outputs for metal/rough. In either case, for the new shader, it's going to change.

[cjwidd]

Most of the visual parity is going to be difference in gamma curve application, and perhaps sampling filter.

Yes, this sounds right - all of my comparison tests suggest there is something about gamma correction and perhaps filtering that is causing the difference.

I'll forward this to the demo art team and see if they can publish something like this, and update our shader docs online.

In either case, for the new shader, it's going to change.

All that is fine, but frankly this rhetoric is just kicking the can down the road; a proposal for how to move forward is appreciated, but there needs to be actual progress that benefits the user base in this regard. There are going to be Corona Renderer users that do not update to the Physical Material for years to come and Allegorithmic needs to offer an explanation for the Legacy Material in the interim. Answers to these questions about gamma correction, filtering, and so on, should have come YEARS ago when these questions were originally proposed.

I would ask that Allegorithmic put forward a response this week in regards to the questions that have been proposed - it doesn't have to be complete, polished documentation with graphics, etc., but at least an official response from the dev team providing a solution and an explanation (hot fix).

This is really the bare minimum of support that we should expect as subscribers - a low bar to clear. Please consult with your colleagues to make this happen this week.

[Galen Helfter]

What is meant by that it will change, is that it will for both Spec/Gloss and Metal/Rough workflows, as we will only retain functionality for the legacy shader moving for versions previous to Corona 7. For all that and beyond, the workflow script will only generate the new material type. The new shader supports both workflows, so things such as the 1/IOR approximation for metalness will not remain. It was not intended as a rhetorical response, and if taken so, then I would like to correct that and explain its meaning as pertaining to an actual change in behavior of the script.

It will take time and experimentation to catalog all the existing setup and its difference as compared to standard bitmaps.

As of now, we set the gamma correction internally in the output bitmap to 2.2 for base color, diffuse, specular and emissive maps, as determined by the default channel usage set in Substance Designer. All others have the gamma set to linear, or left as the default. So depending on what doesn't quite match, either an application of 2.2 in a color correction node, or an application of 0.4545, at 1.0 / 2.2, to invert the curve application, might need to be applied to handle the color transformation. What I will need to see is whether this actually does anything for internal rendering, or whether it is what's causing a further curve to be applied on the bake output function.

The ones set to linear are bump, roughness, metallic, height, opacity and glossiness, so any remaining maps outside of those channel usages and the color ones mentioned prior are set to whatever the default gamma is for a bitmap in 3ds Max.