Arnold - Texture Maps don't work?

[rashedal]

Hey guys,

Spent the last few days trying to get Arnold to work properly. I'm having a hard time understanding it.. I assume, like Unreal and most other PBR renderer that you define if a surface is metallic or not using a metallic map, then a 'roughness' map to define how shiny/rough a surface is. 

Every time I insert a metallic map into the 'Metallic' slot of the AI Standard Surface It just makes the entire thing metallic. 

I'm also having this issue with the 'roughness' slot. My roughness map has tons of information in but arnold renders it as if it is a flat greyscale colour.

What am I doing wrong? This is incredibly frustrating!

Thanks in advance,

Rashed

[mspeer · Accepted solution]

Hi!

Please check node editor for connections.

By default it connects to alpha channel, of there is none, in file-node Color Balance -> Alpha is Luminance ("enable"), or connect to an other channel.

[Anonymous]

I never used node editor. so if possible, can explain this in detail ?

[spp64]

It's true that the issue with roughness maps is caused by the alpha channel connected to specular roughness in the node editor, but an better solution would be to expand the 'Out Color' of the roughness map, select one of the three RGB channels, and plug that into Specular roughness. Specular roughness needs a singular channel, so it won't take Out Color. "Alpha is luminance" just makes everything way too smooth.