After Effects Beta 3D models can't see textures

[Camera626]

I've got the 3d model from adobe stock and I was able to import it into after effects and move it around. However I can't see any of the textures on the model. It was imported into after effects along with the model and I can open each one to see that they correct as an image. How do I get the textures to appear on the model itself?

[Jon.M.]

Having the same issue, some models import with the textures if I put them in the same folder as the OBJ. Most do not. There does not seem to be a way to link the textures to the model from AE.

[TimKurkoski]

Hi @Camera626 and @Jon.M. . Thanks for reporting this bug.

Could you please provide us with the link to any models on Adobe Stock that don't work as you expect? If the model doesn't come from Adobe Stock, if you're willing and able to provide it to us, please send it to me via a DM.

We will investigate to see if there's a problem with how After Effects decodes the model file, or if there might be an issue with the textures provided. Please note that PNG and JPEG files are the preferred formats for texture files. Other formats like TIFF may not work.

>There does not seem to be a way to link the textures to the model from AE.

There is not. Yet. We're working on how materials and textures are used by 3D objects in After Effects. Please stay tuned.

[christinar33414126]

Any update on this? Is there a way to update/relink the textures to the model? I have come across quite a few models where the textures/material don't apply correctly after importing. 
Link to neon sign where the textures import but do not apply:
https://stock.adobe.com/3d-assets/led-neon-light-coffee-sign/416787473?prev_url=detail
Link to "transparent" dice - transparent texture does not get applied to the model:
https://stock.adobe.com/3d-assets/transparent-dice-2/290335006?prev_url=detail

[TimKurkoski]

Hi @christinar33414126 ,

Thanks for sending the links. I can reproduce problems with both of these files and I've asked the devs to investigate.

The six-sided die is a result of a rendering problem we're already aware of, where materials identified as "translucent" are rendered as opaque. (Note that "translucent" and "transparent" have different material definitions. This OBJ defines the semi-opaqueness of the surface as "translucent", which currently isn't working right in the conversion code After Effects Beta is using to read OBJ files.)

I have found that if you import the six-sided die OBJ into Adobe Dimension and export it as a GLB, that GLB imports into After Effects Beta as expected. Dn appears to be doing the correct work of translating "translucent" to "transparent".

The neon sign model is a different case. Our developers weren't able to reproduce the problem, which indicates that this may get fixed in an upcoming build of After Effects Beta. (They have been working on many different rendering issues, and this may have been coincidentally fixed.) Again, re-exporting this OBJ as a GLB via Adobe Dimension fixes the issue for me, so that's a temporary workaround you can use.

> Is there a way to update/relink the textures to the model?

Short answer, no.

While After Effects Beta imports the individual texture files as items in the project, the only reason it does this is so that when you use Collect Files to package the project, all dependent files are included. Otherwise After Effects wouldn't know to reference the files.

When After Effects Beta is rendering the file, it always looks inside the OBJ, GLB, or GLTF for the reference to the textures. There's not a way to override this. Yet.

We are working on a material replacement workflow for After Effects Beta. The main goal for this is to intentionally replace one material of an object with a different one. It wouldn't solve the problems with these files, where the materials don't render as expected. Those are bugs in the render pipeline. Replacing those materials with something different would only render the new materials incorrectly.

[thiend69895849]

has there been any updates on adding texture to OBJ files?

[Tom Olsen]

Please give it a try with After Effects 24.5 (Beta). 

Creative Cloud app | "Apps" | Beta apps | After Effects 24.5.

[Eliot2558113459as]

Having no luck with glass materials making the journey from Stager to After Effects with the new 24.5 update. Glass looks like smokey plastic. Still experimenting though. Decals and other materials seem to come through OK. It's still struggling with translucent plastics, they translate as waaaay too transparent and don't reflect the pre-import settings. Most of our products are glass. No glass support no go!

[VictoriaNece]

The tricky thing with glass is that Advanced 3D supports transparency and reflection of Environment lights but not translucency or refraction (as it's not a ray-tracer). 

Here's one way to give your models a glassier look, courtesy of Gwen on the AE engineering team. In Substance Stager:

• Reduce roughness to zero or near-zero.
• Make the base color a dark grey. It can take some playing around to get the right color and this will depend on what's going behind the model.
• Reduce the model material's opacity until it looks right.
• Also play around with metallic, different amounts of metallic (anywhere from 0 to 1) can make it look better or worse.

Here's a before-and-after render in AE with a model from Adobe Stock using this approach:

I find using a nice Environment light source also makes a big difference.

[Eliot2558113459as]

I'll give these settings a try. That level of "glassness" might be ok for the technical videos we want to produce. Thanks!