Import and Export Poly Haven Textures

This guide covers the Poly Haven source on Texture Folder and the matching destination on Export Texture. Both use Poly Haven’s own suffix naming, including the packed arm file, so a downloaded folder imports as one texture set and an exported folder reads like one of theirs.

Setting	Value
Destination	Poly Haven
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_diff.png	Base Color	PNG 8-bit	Color
oak_bark_nor_gl.png	Normal	PNG 16-bit	Packed normal, OpenGL
oak_bark_rough.png	Roughness	PNG 16-bit	Linear data
oak_bark_metal.png	Metallic	PNG 16-bit	Linear data
oak_bark_ao.png	Ambient Occlusion	PNG 16-bit	Linear data
oak_bark_disp.png	Height	PNG 16-bit, or EXR 16-bit (half) outside 0 to 1	Linear data
oak_bark_alpha.png	Opacity	PNG 16-bit	Linear data
oak_bark_emission.png	Emissive	PNG 8-bit	Color
oak_bark_arm.png	Packed: R Ambient Occlusion, G Roughness, B Metallic	PNG 8-bit	Linear data

Why arm is written beside rough, ao, and metal

Poly Haven’s catalog offers the packed file and the separate maps as independent downloads, so a folder in this naming may hold either or both. Writing all of them is what makes the folder read like one of theirs. It costs one extra file per asset. Untick the box at the start of the arm row if you only want the separate maps.

The arm fill values

A lane whose role the set does not carry is written with a declared value rather than left empty: Ambient Occlusion 1.0, Roughness 1.0, Metallic 0.0. The chip under the row turns amber and says which value went in.

After export

Nothing to set. This is a file naming convention, not an engine. The folder is meant to be read by whatever reads Poly Haven downloads, including ArcBrush itself.

Reading a Poly Haven folder

Point Texture Folder at the folder and set Source to Poly Haven, or leave it on Auto. The line under the combo says what Auto matched, such as “Auto detected Poly Haven: 7 of 7 file names match. Pick a source to override.”

Separate maps win over arm

When the folder holds both arm and the separate maps, each role’s own file is read and the matching arm lane is listed as Skipped with the reason “Its own file is read: oak_bark_rough.png.” Only the roles no separate file supplies come out of arm. An arm red lane that is empty is dropped rather than imported as a fully occluded map.

To read a lane anyway, open the file in the Files section and pick <role> (read this lane instead).

The _gl and _dx pair

A Poly Haven download usually carries both nor_gl and nor_dx. Texture Folder reads the one matching the node’s Normal Convention and lists the other as Skipped with the reason “The DirectX version of the same map. oak_bark_nor_gl.png is read.” That is never an error.

Worth checking

Poly Haven documents arm as “Packed: Ambient, Roughness, Metallic” and does not state which channel holds which. The order used here (R ambient occlusion, G roughness, B metallic) follows the acronym and matches every other destination in these guides, but it is not confirmed by a Poly Haven sentence. Check it once against a real arm download that also ships its own rough file: unpack the green lane and compare.

References

• Texture technical standards (Poly Haven): the suffix list.

Related

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