3D Formats & Materials

Introduction

RapidPipeline 3D Processor supports a wide range of modern 3D formats, features and conversions.

tip

The 3D Formats & Materials support documentation is also applicable to RapidCompact (legacy).

Feature Support by 3D Format

glTF, glb

Feature	import support	export support	optimization support	additional info
general format	✅	✅	✅	general reading and writing of the format
glTF pbr material	✅	✅	✅
texture maps	✅	✅	✅
rigid animations	✅	✅	✅
skinned animations	✅	✅	✅
morph targets	✅	✅	✅
instancing	✅	✅	✅
referencing	⦸	⦸	⦸
lights	✅	✅	⦸
cameras	✅	✅	⦸

glTF extensions

extension	import support	export support	optimization support	additional info
KHR_animation_pointer	✨	✨	✨	in development
KHR_draco_mesh_compression	✅	✅	✅
KHR_lights_punctual	✅	✅	⦸
KHR_materials_anisotropy	✨	✨	✨	in development
KHR_materials_clearcoat	✅	✅	✅
KHR_materials_dispersion	✨	✨	✨	in development
KHR_materials_emissive_strength	✅	✅	✅
KHR_materials_ior	✅	✅	✅
KHR_materials_iridescence	✅	✅	✅
KHR_materials_sheen	✅	✅	✅
KHR_materials_specular	✅	✅	✅
KHR_materials_transmission	✅	✅	✅
KHR_materials_unlit	✅	✅	✅
KHR_materials_variants	❌	❌	❌
KHR_materials_volume	✅	✅	✅
KHR_mesh_quantization	✅	✅	✅	⚠ currently does not support skinned and morph animations
KHR_texture_basisu	✅	✅	✅
KHR_texture_transform	✅	✅	✅
KHR_xmp_json_ld	❌	❌	❌
EXT_mesh_gpu_instancing	❌	❌	❌
EXT_meshopt_compression	❌	❌	❌
EXT_texture_webp	✅	✅	✅
KHR_materials_pbrSpecularGlossiness	✅	✅	✅	archived, superseded by KHR_materials_specular
ADOBE_materials_clearcoat_specular	❌	❌	❌
ADOBE_materials_clearcoat_tint	❌	❌	❌

vrm

Feature	import support	export support	optimization support	additional info
general format	✅	✅	✅	requires VRM input
glTF PBR material	✅	✅	✅
VRM materials	✅	✅	✅	Unlit, MToon
texture maps	✅	✅	✅
rigid animations	✅	✅	✅
skinned animations	✅	✅	✅
morph targets	✅	✅	✅
instancing	✅	✅	✅
referencing	⦸	⦸	⦸
lights	✅	✅	⦸
cameras	✅	✅	⦸

usd, usda, usdc, usdz

Feature	import support	export support	optimization support	additional info
general format	✅	✅	✅	general reading and writing of the format
USDPreviewSurface material	✅	✅	✅
Adobe Standard Material	✅	✅	✅	requires ASM input
texture maps	✅	✅	✅	limited to PNG and JPG on import
rigid animations	✨	✨	✅
skinned animations	✨	✨	✅
morph targets	✨	✨	✨	in development
scene graph instancing	✨	✨	✨	currently only support for mesh instancing
referencing	✨	✨	✨	in development
lights	❌	❌	⦸
cameras	✅	✅	⦸
scene up axis	✅	✅	✅
scene units	✅	✅	✅
node hierarchy	✅	✅	✅	generally supported, overrides are not preserved
node transform matrix	✅	✅	✅
mesh positions	✅	✅	✅
mesh normals	✅	✅	✅
mesh uvs	✅	✅	✅
mesh vertex colors	✨	✨	✨	in development
mesh instancing	✅	✅	✅	in development
nurbs	✨	✨	✨	in development
skeletons	✅	✅	✅	in development
prims	✅	✅	⦸	general support, more detailed overview coming soon ✨✨✨
attributes	✅	✅	⦸	general support, more detailed overview coming soon ✨✨✨
relationships	✅	✅	⦸	general support, more detailed overview coming soon ✨✨✨
metadata	✨	✨	⦸	in development
layers	✅	✅	⦸	loading of strongest layers and export a single layer.
composition arcs	✅	✅	⦸	resolving the strongest arcs and writing out simple arcs as needed on export, more detailed overview coming soon ✨✨✨
stage	✅	✅	⦸	support for creating and populating a stage during import and export
(prim) variants	✨	✨	✨	in development
sub-layering	✅	✨	⦸	Limitation: no creation of multiple files on export.
(prim) interpolation	✨	✅	⦸	Limitation: import support in development
payload	✨	✨	✨	in development

fbx

Feature	import support	export support	optimization support	additional info
general format	✅	✅	✅	general reading and writing of the format
Physical Material (3ds Max)	✅	✅	✅
Metallic/Roughness Material (3ds Max)	✅	✅	✅
V-Ray materials (3ds Max)	❌	❌	❌	requires DCC Importer
Stingray PBS (Maya)	✅	✅	✅
Principled BSDF (Blender)	✨	✨	✨	in development
texture maps	✅	✅	✅	Embed Media is required when creating the FBX
rigid animations	✅	✨	✨	in development
skinned animations	✅	✨	✨	in development
morph targets	✨	✨	✨	in development
instancing	✨	✨	✨	in development
referencing	⦸	⦸	⦸
lights	❌	❌	⦸
cameras	✅	✅	⦸

obj

Feature	import support	export support	optimization support	additional info
general format	✅	✅	✅	general reading and writing of the format
Material Template Library (mtl)	✅	✅	✅
texture maps	✅	✅	✅
rigid animations	⦸	⦸	⦸
skinned animations	⦸	⦸	⦸
morph targets	⦸	⦸	⦸
instancing	⦸	⦸	⦸
referencing	⦸	⦸	⦸
lights	⦸	⦸	⦸
cameras	⦸	⦸	⦸

info

A .mtl file is required in order to read materials associated with an .obj file. In addition, texture maps and the respective paths within the .mtl files have to be present and valid.

material property	value	texture map	support	example
basecolor	Kd	map_Kd	✅	map_kd material0_albedo.png
normal	⦸	norm	✅	norm material0_normal.png
roughness	Pr	map_Pr	✅	map_Pr material0_roughness.png
metallic	Pm	map_Pm	✅	map_Pm material0_metallic.png
occlusion	⦸	occlusion	✅	occlusion material0_occlusion.png
emissive	Ke	map_ke	✅	map_Ke material0_emission.png
sheen	Ps	map_Ps	❌
clearcoat thickness	Pc	⦸	❌
clearcoat roughness	Pcr	⦸	❌
anisotropy	aniso	⦸	❌
anisotropy rotation	anisor	⦸	❌

ply

Feature	import support	export support	optimization support	additional info
general format	✅	✅	✅	general reading and writing of the format
default material	✅	✅	✅	only default material
texture maps	✅	✅	✅	only base color
rigid animations	⦸	⦸	⦸
skinned animations	⦸	⦸	⦸
morph targets	⦸	⦸	⦸
instancing	⦸	⦸	⦸
referencing	⦸	⦸	⦸
lights	⦸	⦸	⦸
cameras	⦸	⦸	⦸

stl

Feature	import support	export support	optimization support	additional info
general format	✅	✅	✅	general reading and writing of the format
default material	✅	✅	✅	only default material
texture maps	✅	✅	✅	only base color
rigid animations	⦸	⦸	⦸
skinned animations	⦸	⦸	⦸
morph targets	⦸	⦸	⦸
instancing	⦸	⦸	⦸
referencing	⦸	⦸	⦸
lights	⦸	⦸	⦸
cameras	⦸	⦸	⦸

CTM

Feature	import support	export support	optimization support	additional info
general format	✅	✅	✅	general reading and writing of the format
default material	⦸	⦸	⦸	only default material
texture maps	✅	✅	✅	only base color
rigid animations	⦸	⦸	⦸
skinned animations	⦸	⦸	⦸
morph targets	⦸	⦸	⦸
instancing	⦸	⦸	⦸
referencing	⦸	⦸	⦸
lights	⦸	⦸	⦸
cameras	⦸	⦸	⦸

CAD Formats

Format	import support	export support	optimization support	additional info
STEP, STP	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, material & mesh instancing support
IGES, IGS	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, material & mesh instancing support
U3D	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
JT	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
Solid Edge	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
SOLIDWORKS	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
CATIA	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
Inventor	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
Revit	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
DWG	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
DWF	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
DXF	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
3DS	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
Creo (ptc)	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
VRML	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
3MF	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)
Rhino	✅	⦸	✅	tessellation on import, from 3DP CLI v7.1.1 on (enterprise plan)

Texture Map Format Support

Format	import support	export support	additional info
EXR	✨	✨	In development, HDR image format developed by ILM (16-bit)
JPG, JPEG	✅	✅	Joint Photographic Experts Group (compression format)
KTX2	✅	✅	GPU compressed textures using BasisU codecs, only supported for glTF/glb/vrm, requires glTF extension KHR_texture_basisu
PNG	✅	✅	Portable Network Graphic
PNG8	✅	✅	Indexed version of png (8-bit pixels)
TGA	✅	✨	Only import support, not supported with gltf/glb/vrm
TIF	✨	✨	In development
WebP	✅	✅	Lossless and lossy compression for web images, only supported for glTF/glb/vrm, requires glTF extension EXT_texture_webp

Texture Map Resolution Support

Resolution	import support	export support	baking support	additional info
<= 16384	✅	✅	✅	All texture map resolutions up to 16k are supported for all operations
> 16384	❌	❌	❌	Currently 16k is the max allowed texture map resolution for import/export and baking

Feature Conversion by Format

Feature	glTF, glb, vrm	usd, usda, usdc, usdz	fbx	obj
Backface Culling	Material Sideness	Mesh Sideness		⦸

Material Model Conversion by Format

RapidPipeline 3D Processor has it's own internal PBR material system. See below how each internal material property maps to other supported PBR materials:

3D Processor Material	glTF PBR	USDPreviewSurface	Adobe Standard Material	Physical Material
BASE_COLOR	baseColorFactor, baseColorTexture	diffuseColor	baseColor	base_color, base_color_map
OPACITY	baseColorTexture (alpha channel)	opacity, opacity Threshold	opacity	cutout_map
ROUGHNESS	roughnessFactor, metallicRoughnessTexture	roughness	roughness	roughness, roughness_map
METALLIC	metallicFactor, metallicRoughnessTexture	metallic	metallic	metalness, metalness_map
SPECULAR_VALUE	specularFactor, specularTexture	⦸	specularLevel	⦸
SPECULAR_COLOR	specularColorFactor, specularColorTexture	specularColor	specularEdgeColor	refl_color, refl_color_map
NORMAL_TS	normalTexture	normal	normal	bump_map
NORMAL_SCALE	normalTexture:scale	⦸	normalScale	⦸
ASM_COMBINE _NORMAL_AND_HEIGHT	⦸	⦸	combineNormal AndHeight	⦸
DISPLACEMENT	⦸	displacement	height	⦸
DISPLACEMENT_SCALE	⦸	⦸	heightScale	⦸
DISPLACEMENT_OFFSET	⦸	⦸	heightLevel	⦸
ASM_ANISOTROPY	⦸	⦸	anisotropyLevel	⦸
ASM_ANISOTROPY_ANGLE	⦸	⦸	anisotropyAngle	⦸
EMISSIVE_VALUE	emissiveStrength	⦸	emissiveIntensity	emissionMap
EMISSIVE_COLOR	emissiveFactor, emissiveTexture	emissiveColor	emissive	emit_color, emit_color_map
SHEEN_OPACITY	⦸	⦸	sheenOpacity	⦸
SHEEN_COLOR	sheenColorFactor, sheenColorTexture	⦸	sheenColor	sheen_color, sheen_color_map
SHEEN_ROUGHNESS	sheenRoughnessFactor, sheenRoughnessTexture	⦸	sheenRoughness	sheen_roughness, sheen_rough_map
TRANSMISSION	transmissionFactor, transmissionTexture	⦸	translucency	transparency, transparency_map
IOR	ior	ior	IOR	trans_ior
ASM_DISPERSION	⦸	⦸	dispersion	⦸
ATTENUATION_COLOR	attenuationColor	⦸	absorptionColor	trans_color
ATTENUATION_DISTANCE	attenuationDistance	⦸	absorptionDistance	⦸
ASM_SCATTERING	⦸	⦸	scatter	⦸
ASM_SCATTERING _COLOR	⦸	⦸	scatteringColor	⦸
ASM_SCATTERING _DISTANCE	⦸	⦸	scatteringDistance	⦸
ASM_SCATTERING _DISTANCE_SCALE	⦸	⦸	scattering DistanceScale	⦸
ASM_SCATTERING _RED_SHIFT	⦸	⦸	scatteringRedShift	⦸
ASM_SCATTERING _RAYLEIGH	⦸	⦸	scatteringRayleigh	⦸
CLEARCOAT	clearcoatFactor, clearcoatTexture	clearcoat	coatOpacity	coating, coat_map
ASM_COAT_COLOR	⦸	⦸	coatColor	⦸
CLEARCOAT _ROUGHNESS	clearcoatRoughnessFactor, clearcoatRoughnessTexture	clearcoat Roughness	coatRoughness	coat_roughness, coat_rough_map
ASM_COAT_IOR	⦸	⦸	coatIOR	⦸
ASM_COAT _SPECULAR_LEVEL	⦸	⦸	coatSpecularLevel	⦸
CLEARCOAT _NORMAL_TS	⦸	⦸	coatNormal	⦸
CLEARCOAT _NORMAL_SCALE	⦸	⦸	coatNormalScale	⦸
OCCLUSION	occlusion (ORM)	occlusion	ambientOcclusion	diff_rough_map
THICKNESS	thicknessFactor, thicknessTexture	⦸	volumeThickness	⦸
THICKNESS_SCALE	⦸	⦸	volume ThicknessScale	⦸
THIN_WALLED	⦸	⦸	thinWalled	⦸