qtquick3d-pbr.qdoc

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// Copyright (C) 2020 The Qt Company Ltd.
// SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Qt-Commercial OR GFDL-1.3-no-invariants-only
 
/*!
 
\title Physically Based Rendering
\page quick3d-pbr
 
\section1 Introduction
 
Physically Based Rendering (PBR) is a rendering technique that aims to accurately
simulate the physical properties of materials and lights in a scene. It is based
on the principles of physics, and uses algorithms to accurately model the way
light interacts with different materials.
 
Physically Based Rendering takes into account the way light is absorbed,
reflected, and scattered by various surfaces, such as metal, glass, and plastic.
This allows for more realistic and accurate rendering of materials, as well as
more accurate lighting effects such as reflections, refractions, and shadows.
 
Aside from looking better, it also simplifies the workflow of artist since
materials are based on physical parameters, which are more intuitive to use and
tweak. Another benefit is that using PBR materials makes the look of imported
assets more consistent with how they were designed.
 
For more details on the theory behind PBR, see:
\l{https://learnopengl.com/PBR/Theory} and
\l{https://academy.substance3d.com/courses/the-pbr-guide-part-1} for an in-depth
explanation.
 
\section1 Materials and Workflows
 
To take advantage of Physically Based Rendering, Qt Quick 3D offers three built-in
materials: \l PrincipledMaterial, \l SpecularGlossyMaterial, and \l CustomMaterial.
Each of these materials provides a different workflow for defining material
properties. The choice of which workflow and material to use will depend on the
type of material you want to create or the workflow defined by the tool you are
using to create the material.
 
\section2 Metallic Roughness Workflow
 
The Metallic Roughness workflow is a method for implementing Physically Based Rendering
that uses two main parameters to represent the appearance of a material: metallic
reflectance and surface roughness. The metallic reflectance is a value ranging
from 0 (non-metallic) to 1 (fully metallic) that determines how much of the incoming
light is reflected by the material and how much is absorbed. The surface roughness
is a value ranging from 0 (smooth) to 1 (rough) that determines how rough or smooth
the surface of the material appears. The appearance of a material in the
Metallic/Roughness workflow is determined by its base color, metallic reflectance,
and surface roughness values, which can be stored as textures or constant values.
 
The base color of the material for the Metallic Roughness workflow contains both the
reflected color for non-metals (dielectrics) and the reflectance value for metals.
 
\section3 PrincipledMaterial
 
The \l PrincipledMaterial is the primary material that enables the Metallic Roughness
workflow in Qt Quick 3D.
An example of how to use the PrincipledMaterial is shown below:
 
\qml
import QtQuick
import QtQuick3D
import QtQuick3D.Helpers
 
Window {
    visible: true
    width: 640
    height: 480
    title: qsTr("PrincipledMaterial")
 
    View3D {
        anchors.fill: parent
 
        environment.backgroundMode: SceneEnvironment.SkyBox
        environment.lightProbe: Texture {
            textureData: ProceduralSkyTextureData {}
        }
 
        PerspectiveCamera {
            z: 150
            y: 40
            eulerRotation.x: -15
        }
 
        Model {
            x: -50
            source: "#Sphere"
            materials: [
                PrincipledMaterial {
                    baseColor: "red"
                    metalness: 0.0
                    roughness: 0.1
                }
            ]
        }
        Model {
            x: 50
            source: "#Sphere"
            materials: [
                PrincipledMaterial {
                    baseColor: "red"
                    metalness: 1.0
                    roughness: 0.1
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}
\endqml
 
This example shows two spheres, one with a non-metallic material and one with a
metallic material and shows the different meanings that base color has depending
on the metalness amount.
 
\image pbr_example.jpg
 
In the previous example all of the relevant properties of the Metallic Roughness
workflow are defined via a constant value, but they can also be defined using
textures. The following example shows how to use textures to define the base color,
metallness, and roughness of a material:
 
\qml
import QtQuick
import QtQuick3D
import QtQuick3D.Helpers
 
Window {
    visible: true
    width: 640
    height: 480
    title: qsTr("PrincipledMaterial with Textures")
 
    View3D {
        anchors.fill: parent
 
        environment.backgroundMode: SceneEnvironment.SkyBox
        environment.lightProbe: Texture {
            textureData: ProceduralSkyTextureData {
            }
        }
 
        PerspectiveCamera {
            z: 150
            y: 40
            eulerRotation.x: -15
        }
 
        Model {
            source: "#Sphere"
            materials: [
                PrincipledMaterial {
                    baseColorMap: Texture {
                        source: "red.png"
                    }
                    metalnessMap: Texture {
                        source: "metalness.png"
                    }
                    roughnessMap: Texture {
                        source: "roughness.png"
                    }
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}
\endqml
 
\section3 CustomMaterial
 
While \l PrincipledMaterial is a very flexible way to create materials, somtimes
you may need more control over the material properties. For this, Qt Quick 3D
provides the \l CustomMaterial, which allows you to augment the values used in
the Metallic Roughness workflow by adjusting the shader code used by the material.
 
See \l{Programmable Materials, Effects, Geometry, and Texture data} for an
introduction to augmenting materials and the built-in PBR lighting system with
custom shader code.
 
\section2 Specular and Glossiness Workflow
 
The Specular/Glossiness workflow is a method for implementing Physically Based
Rendering that uses two main parameters to represent the appearance of a
material: specular reflectance and glossiness. The specular reflectance is a
color value that determines the color and intensity of the specular highlights
on the surface of the material. The glossiness is a value ranging from 0 (rough)
to 1 (smooth) that determines how rough or smooth the surface of the material appears.
In the Specular/Glossiness workflow, the appearance of a material is determined by its
albedo, specular reflectance, and glossiness values, which can be stored as textures or
constant values. A material with a high specular reflectance and low glossiness will
appear more metallic and will have sharp specular highlights, while a material with a
low specular reflectance and high glossiness will appear more diffuse and will have
soft specular highlights.
 
\section3 SpecularGlossyMaterial
 
The \l SpecularGlossyMaterial is the material that enables the Specular/Glossiness in
Qt Quick 3D.
 
\section2 More examples
 
For more examples, see \l{Qt Quick 3D - Principled Material Example} and \l{Qt
Quick 3D - Custom Materials Example}.
 
*/