[X3D-Ecosystem] Maya, OpenUSD, Material X, and X3D

[John Carlson]

What I’m hearing is that Protos will be developed for MaterialX? Or not?  I
was hoping that we could hide some of the non-portable GLSL behind XML.  I
realize that input/output are fields.

What does a MaterialX nodegraph attribute become in X3D? A proto?

Thanks for clarifying!  This is my first look at MaterialX, so!

John
On Thu, Feb 19, 2026 at 8:34 PM Bergstrom, Aaron via X3D-Ecosystem <
x3d-ecosystem at web3d.org> wrote:

> Short answer, no new nodes are needed.
>
> The hard part will be deciding what fields should be added at export time.
> But actually writing out MLTX and GLSL, Maya and x3d.py pretty much do the
> heavy lifting.
>
> On Feb 19, 2026, at 5:21 PM, Don Brutzman via X3D-Ecosystem <
> x3d-ecosystem at web3d.org> wrote:
>
> 
>
> If I understand correctly, this is primarily an implementation-related
> endeavor that is not blocked by any missing nodes or design capabilities in
> the X3D specification.
>
> X3D4 supports glTF Physically Based Rendering and also Shaders (as
> discussed in this thread) so implementing X3D versions of MaterialX seems
> directly possible.  Please adjust this understanding if needed.
>
>    - MaterialX
>    - *MaterialX* is an open standard for representing rich material and
>    look-development content in computer graphics, enabling its
>    platform-independent description and exchange across applications and
>    renderers.
>    - MaterialX addresses the need for a common, open standard to
>    represent the data values and relationships required to describe the look
>    of a computer graphics model, including shading networks, patterns and
>    texturing, complex nested materials and geometric assignments. To further
>    encourage interchangeable CG look setups, MaterialX also defines a large
>    set of standard shading and processing nodes with a precise mechanism for
>    functional extensibility.
>    - https://materialx.org
>
> *Apr 6, 2022:* MaterialX Library v1.38.4 has been released. This release
>> adds a Web Viewer
>> <https://academysoftwarefoundation.github.io/MaterialX/> example based
>> on MaterialX JavaScript
>> <https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/MaterialX/tree/main/javascript>,
>> a graph for the glTF PBR
>> <https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/MaterialX/blob/v1.38.4/libraries/bxdf/gltf_pbr.mtlx> shading
>> model, new Worley noise nodes, and more. Please see the MaterialX
>> Version 1.38.4 release page
>> <https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/MaterialX/releases/tag/v1.38.4> on
>> the MaterialX Github for further details.
>
>
> Presumably such work might start with examples, which are then adapted as
> re-usable prototypes, and collected in a library.
>
> Possibly another approach vector for such a capability, less arduous for
> authors: browser builders seeing if they can support loading .mtlx files
> directly, for example
>
>    -
>    https://github.com/AcademySoftwareFoundation/MaterialX/blob/main/resources/Materials/Examples/StandardSurface/standard_surface_brass_tiled.mtlx
>
> all the best, Don
> --
> X3D Graphics, Maritime Robotics, Distributed Simulation
> Relative Motion Consulting  https://RelativeMotion.info
>
>>
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