Import and Export ambientCG Textures

This guide covers the ambientCG source on Texture Folder and the matching destination on Export Texture. Both use ambientCG’s whole-word naming (Color, NormalGL, Metalness, AmbientOcclusion), so a downloaded material imports as one texture set and an exported folder reads like one of theirs.

Setting	Value
Destination	ambientCG
Filename Template	{name}_{channel}
Normal Convention	OpenGL

Files written

Shown for a set named oak_bark with all eight roles (how to read these tables). A set with fewer roles writes fewer files.

File	What it holds	Container and depth	Encoding
oak_bark_Color.png	Base Color in RGB, and an alpha that is opaque unless the Opacity row sends the cutout here	PNG 8-bit	Color
oak_bark_NormalGL.png	Normal	PNG 16-bit	Packed normal, OpenGL
oak_bark_Roughness.png	Roughness	PNG 16-bit	Linear data
oak_bark_Metalness.png	Metallic	PNG 16-bit	Linear data
oak_bark_AmbientOcclusion.png	Ambient Occlusion	PNG 16-bit	Linear data
oak_bark_Displacement.png	Height	PNG 16-bit, or EXR 16-bit (half) outside 0 to 1	Linear data
oak_bark_Opacity.png	Opacity	PNG 16-bit	Linear data
oak_bark_Emission.png	Emissive	PNG 8-bit	Color

Nothing is packed.

Writing the DirectX twin

ambientCG packages ship NormalGL and NormalDX together. ArcBrush writes the one convention you choose, under the NormalGL name. To write the DirectX file instead, set Normal Convention to DirectX and rename that row to NormalDX, so the name still describes the file.

After export

Nothing to set. This is a naming convention rather than an engine.

Reading an ambientCG folder

Point Texture Folder at the folder and set Source to ambientCG, or leave it on Auto.

• A real ambientCG download holds both normals. The one matching the node’s Normal Convention is read and the other is listed as Skipped, never as a conflict.
• A file named Metal046A_1K-PNG_Color.png works as it stands. The resolution and format tags in the middle of the name are recognized and kept out of the asset name.
• A cutout in the Color alpha comes back as the set’s Opacity, and an Opacity file in the folder wins over it.

16-bit displacement files

ambientCG’s displacement files are often 16-bit. They import at full precision only in a 32-bit (Float) document. In an 8-bit document the panel notes “16-bit file shown at 8-bit”.

References

• Changes to the filename structure of PBR materials (ambientCG).

Related

• Texture Sets
• Texture Folder
• Export Texture
• 3D Render, to preview the imported material on a mesh
• All texturing guides