Please fix procedural maps display in viewport

[ITG-PARIS]

Loooooong time limitation, please make procedural maps display in viewport correct ... we're in 2017 now. So far, the only workaround we found is to use Neil Blevins' TexMap Preview script: while it's great, it's not the ideal solution. We pay subscriptions / licenses, please fix useful things.

Thanks.

[Isaac_Zuniga]

I must agree with this myself, because I use these procedural maps to a large extent, and I am tired of seeing two different results in the render and viewport. It's very confusing and I do believe the display of these things needs to be fixed.

[HazardousAdsk]

what maps and UV settings do you use typically ?

[anonamice]

Procedurals don't require UVs...Most use Bercon maps, noise is most important, cellular, smoke ect.

[fla3d]

Would it be too much to include Arnold procedurals in the viewport? Simple things like Arnold checkerboard should be able to see in viewport.

[mischesn]

I'd like to add that it's not only bercon maps that have these kind of a weird viewport issues. Here I have a wooden beam that is textured using a MultiSubObject material with two sub-materials - one for rounded surfaces and one for surfaces that have been cut. Each of these sub-materials uses different map channels and separate UVWMap modifiers to control their mapping independently. When adding RGB Tint map to modify the cut surfaces material (uses map channel 2), it gets displayed incorrectly in viewport, even though tiling in both material and it's UVWMap modifier is set to 1.0,1.0,1.0:

Incorrectly displayed map with RGB tint

Material looks like this(sub-material for cut surfaces is in blue frame):

When I remove the RGB Tint map and leave just the .jpg image I'm using as a texture, the material displays fine in viewport:

Correct display but without RGB Tint

The strangest thing is, that even with the RGB tint map, the texture renders fine and the material using map channel 1(for rounded surfaces) also renders fine - even with the RGB Tint map on.

I realize there are at least two work-arounds for this issue. If I switch the material display to "Realistic", it displays correctly in the viewport. Another solution could be to cut out the RGBTint map while adjusting the texture and then re-apply it. The first method is ok if the material(or the scene)is reasonably simple, however in case of some really complex material applied to many objects, setting it to display as Realistic could really slow any viewport operations. The second method is just an annoyance - pure and simple. Imagine you have several older materials that you need to re-use on a lot of objects(wooden log cabin in this case) but you just need to modify them slightly(as in this case with RGB tint). In my opinion, a problem like this should not exist in a software that costs 185$/month.

[KatePittman5899]

Slow viewport update of procedural maps- even the most simple, say a gradient ramp, is killing my workflow. It seems like it worked better in older versions.

[jibijib]

184 votes so far and it's a 'future consideration' ... this isn't even close to a guarantee that it will get considered being fixed, even beyond this decade. Some hope.

[CropCirc1e]

tried every method and finally found the solution:

Turn on "Realistic Materials with Maps" in viewport settings allows all procedural maps to be displayed as they would in the render engine.

[brentscannell]

Hi everyone, while @CropCirc1e did mention that turning on realistic mode will force procedural maps to be displayed properly in the viewport, we understand we still have some work to do with respect to support for more advanced procedurals such as OSL maps. The team is working hard to get these in 🙂 

[aslantamjidi]

After great 2019.3 update for 3Ds MAX and with a really appreciated hard work of @masterzap on accurate displaying OSL shaders on viewport, now it's time to transcodes procedural maps sourcecode into HLSL viewport shaders.

It is really important to see e.g. accurate bitmaps positions and appearance  on a layered Composite map inside viewport just like OSL in viewport.

.

This is what we will capable to do in max if viewport texture be accurate whereas right now Max has great tools to achieve this effect but couldn't display it properly for animators to work with.

[brentscannell]

Hi everyone! This is a complex topic and I can't say I've checked out every nook and corner of the latest version of this feature, however the development team has let me know that they believe they've addressed this for 3ds Max 2020. Its now available through the Autodesk Desktop App or on your account portal at manage.autodesk.com