Is it possible to convert Unity shaders to Maya shaders?

[trs_andre]

Hello everyone, another doubt on shaders here.

Previously, I posted a question asking about how to get the Additive Blend Mode from Unity working in Maya, which I now think is part of a bigger problem.

The question is simple and it is just as it's written in the title: Is it possible to convert Unity shaders to Maya shaders?

I have various coded shaders being used in Unity, applied on models that were created in Maya.

However, when modeling in Maya, I want to have direct access to the final visual of the shader INSIDE Maya, so the modeling can become more intuitive, and there is no need to constantly switching between Unity and Maya to check the result. Of course in the final stage it is necessary to check on Unity, but while on a starting phase I would prefer to do it only in Maya to save time.

I have tried various methods, for example, creating a node graph in Shader Forge equivalent to the shader source code to get the same result, and then creating a similar graph in Maya's ShaderFX, but there seem to be a few details that are not doable in a node graph, such as multipass shaders, which is the case. The additive blend mode above is another one. I had some trouble with light reflection as well.

Is there any way of using a coded Unity shader and get it to work in Maya?

I believe it is quite a difficult problem, but it would help really much if someone could give me a hint or two!

Thank you in advance for the support!!

Best regards,

[sean.heasley]

Hi @trs_andre

There's no native way to convert Unity shaders to Maya shaders.

You could use the Stingray PBR shader in Maya which you can modify to look very similar to Unitys PBR shader.

However you have custom coded/complex shaders in Unity they will not be able to easily be imported over into Maya. This would have to be done by some fancy coding/scripting and or a 3rd party application.

[trs_andre]

Hi @sean.heasley,

Thank you for your reply.

I see... I guess coding is the best solution!

I'll try to figure a way around this with coding.

Thank you once again!