PBRtist

PBRtist is a beautiful and easy to use tool to create materials in a Physically Based Rendering (PBR) workflow.

PBRtist on iMac Pro

Drag'n'drop an image onto the Scene View. Configure the material properties and export your PBR material in various formats for use in Blender, Cheetah3D, SceneKit and ARKit projects and other 3D applications. Great speed up for Archviz and Game development.

Sounds easy? It's easy!

Download the latest version of the Public Beta to import and export glFT and USD files and enable non-destructive material editing.

Now just a bit more detailed: What does this damn PBRtist do exactly?

In this video I show my typical workflow using glTF und USD files when it comes to presenting 3D visualisations to my clients and all the people involved in a project to enable a nice AR experience.

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PBRtist 2.0 - Drop in your image and get out your 3D Material
Drop in your image and get out your 3D Material
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PBRtist 2.0 - Looks nice :)
Looks nice :)
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PBRtist 2.0 - Exporting a USD file
Exporting a USD file
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PBRtist 2.0 - Sending the USD file via AirDrop on your iOS device.
Sending the USD file via AirDrop on your iOS device.
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PBRtist 2.0 - Your Model in AR
Your Model in AR
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PBRtist 2.0 - Your Model in AR.
Your Model in AR.
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PBRtist 2.0 - Your Model in AR.
Your Model in AR.
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PBRtist 2.0 - Import and Export glTF, GLB, USD
Import and Export glTF, GLB, USD
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PBRtist 2.0 - Import and Export SceneKit, Collada, Wavefront
Import and Export SceneKit, Collada, Wavefront
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PBRtist 2.0 - Non-destructive material editing
Non-destructive material editing
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PBRtist 2.0 - Non-destructive material editing with creating variants.
Non-destructive material editing with creating variants.
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PBRtist 2.0 - Magnifier Glass on diffuse map
Magnifier Glass on diffuse map
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PBRtist 2.0 - Magnifier Glass on normal map
Magnifier Glass on normal map
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PBRtist 2.0 - Magnifier Glass on roughness map
Magnifier Glass on roughness map
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PBRtist 2.0 - New Filters: Coat, Coat Normal and Coat Roughness
New Filters: Coat, Coat Normal and Coat Roughness
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PBRtist 2.0 - New Export History
New Export History
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PBRtist 2.0 - Export to Blender
Export to Blender
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PBRtist 2.0 - Export to Cheetah3D
Export to Cheetah3D
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PBRtist 2.0 - Perspective Crop
Perspective Crop
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PBRtist 2.0 - Perspective Crop
Perspective Crop
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PBRtist 2.0 - Improved Normal Maps
Improved Normal Maps
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PBRtist 2.0 - Material Library
Material Library
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PBRtist 2.0 - Create Variants for Materials
Create Variants for Materials
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PBRtist 2.0 - Create Variants for Materials
Create Variants for Materials

"Congratulations to your wonderful app. Creating proper PBR texture is pretty challenging and I have to admit that I also struggled converting a normal image to a PBR texture set. But your app makes it that easy – it's a true joy.
Also thank you very much for the smooth Cheetah3D integrations with direct export capabilities to Cheetah3D materials.
I can just recommend everybody checking out this application. You won't regret it."

Martin Wengenmayer, cheetah3d.com, Germany.

Rendering of the Barcelona Pavilion. Materials created with PBRtist.
Rendering of the Barcelona Pavilion by Mies van Rohe. Modelled and Rendered with Cheetah3D.
Materials created with PBRtist. Read this blog entry how the rendering was created in detail.
Creating a travertine material with PBRtist
Creating a travertine material with PBRtist. The source image is a 4835 x 2283 crop from a 50MP RAW file shooted on location in Barcelona.

Features

The Scene View

PBRtist displays your PBR material with an optional HDR background and environment lighting in the Scene View.

The Scene View

Map Editor

Use the Map Editor at the bottom of every document to configure the maps for your PBR material.

Fine tune a map with the Tone Curve Editor and several controls:

Version 2.0 features marked with *

Diffuse/Albedo

  • Hue *
  • Saturation
  • Brightness
  • Contrast

Normal

  • Displacement *
  • Blur
  • Level *
  • Strength

Roughness

  • Blur
  • Gamma
  • Brightness
  • Contrast

Occlusion

  • Blur
  • Gamma
  • Brightness
  • Contrast

Displacement

  • Gamma
  • Highlight
  • Shadow
  • Brightness
  • Contrast
  • Loft
  • Blur

Metallic

  • Blur
  • Gamma
  • Brightness
  • Contrast

With PBRtist 2.0 you get the following new filters:

Coat

  • Blur
  • Gamma
  • Brightness
  • Contrast

Coat Normal

  • Blur
  • Level
  • Strength

Coat Roughness

  • Blur
  • Gamma
  • Brightness
  • Contrast

Mask Editor

Use the Dodge & Burn Mask Editor to customize and enhance the displacement, roughness, metallic or occlusion map.

Material Inspector

The Material Inspector

The Material Inspector on the right side of each PBR document gives you full access to all possible material properties.

This Inspector works similar like the Scene Kit material editor from Apple's Xcode.

Expand a property to get access to various attributes.

Edit Material Properties

The Sync Sync Button button synchronizes changed attributes to other properties. In the example above the scaling transform will be applied to all your used maps.

Export your PBR material

Blender Example

Blender Example

Cheetah3D Example

Cheetah3D Example

Export your materials in various formats:

  • With Version 2.0 you can import and export glTF, glb, USD files.
  • Export your maps as separate PNG or JPEG images.
  • Scene Kit format (.scn) for use in SceneKit and ARKit projects.
  • Collada (.dae) file format for use in Blender and other 3D applications.
  • Cheetah3D (.c3dmat) file format for use in Cheetah3D.

Examples files for Blender and Cheetah3D are provided with PBRtist.

Feature List

Version 2.0 features marked with *

Scene View

  • Optional HDR camera and background, environment lighting
  • Optional custom image background *
  • Save and Restore camera position *
  • Meshes: Rounded Box, Sphere, Cylinder, Torus, Vertical and Horizontal Plane, PBRtist Barrel *
  • Free orbit control
  • Rotatable skybox
  • Adjust exposure
  • Adjust lighting intensity
  • Adaptive tessellation with different detail levels
  • Print scene view
  • Copy hires snapshot image

Map Editor

  • Diffuse/Albedo map
  • Perspective Crop *
  • Normal map, Invert with filter variations, combine with Displacement Normal *
  • Metallness map, Invert
  • Roughness map, Invert
  • Occlusion map, Invert
  • Displacement map, Invert with filter variations
  • Coat, Coat Normal and Coat Roughness *
  • Curve editor with 3 or 5 control points for every map
  • Filter controls: Saturation, Brightness, Contrast, Normal Strength, Blur, Gamma, Highlights, Shadows, Loft
  • Sizeable popover for bigger map preview
  • Magnifier glass in map preview *
  • Create godge/burn masks with brush controls *
  • Predefined curves: Linear, Inverse Linear, S-Curve, Inverted S-Curve, Roughness, Ambient Occlusion
  • Save and edit custom curves
  • Save single map image
  • Edit custom Dodge & Burn layer on Displacement, Roughness, Metalness and Occlusion map
  • Reset to default values
  • Copy & Paste for curves settings
  • Rearrange filter order by drag & drop
  • Resizable and collapsable Map Editor

Material Inspector

Edit material name and properties:

  • Diffuse
  • Metalness
  • Roughness
  • Normal
  • Transparent
  • Occlusion
  • Illumination
  • Emission
  • Displacement
  • Coat, Coat Normal and Coat Roughness *

Set attributes for each material property:

  • Color, float value or image
  • Drag & Drop for custom image maps
  • Intensity
  • Min filter: None, Nearest, Linear
  • Mag filter: None, Nearest, Linear
  • Mip filter: None, Nearest, Linear
  • WrapS/WrapT: Clamp, Repeat, Clamp to border, Mirror
  • Contents transform: Offset X/Y, Scale X/Y, Rotation
  • Components: All, Red, Green, Blue, Alpha
  • Synchronize changed values to other properties

General Settings:

  • Transparency Mode: Default, RGB Zero, Single Layer, Double Layer
  • Lit per pixel on/off
  • Visibility Mode: Cull back, Cull front
  • Blend Mode: Alpha, Add, Substract, Multiply, Screen, Replace, Max
  • Double Sided on/off
  • Options: write/read depth, Lock ambient with diffuse
  • Write to Color: Red, Green, Blue and Alpha
  • Resizable and collapsable Material Inspector

Import* & Export

  • Import and Export .gltf, .glb, .usdz *
  • Non-destructive editing of imported materials *
  • AirDrop .usdz files on iOS devices *
  • Single Image Maps: Diffuse/Albedo, Normal, Metallness, Roughness, Ambient Occlusion, Displacement as PNG or JPEG
  • SceneKit (.scn)
  • Collada (.dae)
  • Cheetah3D (.c3dmat)

and more...

  • Create your Material Library *
  • Native document based macOS application
  • Undo / Redo support
  • Tab bar for muliple documents
  • Customizable toolbar
  • PRB Document (small file size by referencing image files) *
  • PBR Document Package (includes all used images, best for sharing and archiving your materials)
  • 3D QuickLook support for your documents in Finder and Spotlight search
  • Supports dark mode (macOS Mojave)
  • Full screen support
  • Help files
  • Example documents
  • Blender and Cheetah3D examples

Download

You can download and try out PBRtist for free.

If you want to remove the watermark in the free version you'll need to purchase a license key from us.

PBRtist is non subscription software.

Version 2.0 Beta Version System requirements:

  • macOS 10.15 or newer
  • Metal enabled device

This is a free update for users of the previous version.

For a limited time you can buy a discounted license for only $49.95. After the introductory period, PBRtist costs $99.

Version 1.0 System requirements:

  • macOS 10.13 or newer
  • Metal enabled device

How to install PBRtist on macOS:

Download
  1. After downloading the DMG file for macOS, locate the file in Finder and double-click it to unarchive the app PBRtist.app.
  2. Copy the PBRtist.app to your Application folder.
  3. If you've purchased a copy of PBRtist enter the License Name and License Key sent to you via eMail in the text fields of the registration dialog PBRtist -> Register PBRtist...
PBRtist Logo

Contact

Download the lates Press Release:

Press Release (English)

Pressemitteilung (German)

If you need any further information, feel free to contact us:

even-u software
Kurfuerstenstrasse 55
53115 Bonn
Germany

pbrtist (at) even-u (dot) com