Quixel snow assets look terrible in-engine

[evanallred123]

I’m trying to make a scene using Quixel snow assets, but they look absolutely terrible in-engine. I’ve spent the past four hours fiddling with the Megascans default materials, transluscency, subsurface scattering, you name it, but I can’t for the life of me get the assets to look anything like they are pictured in Quixel Bridge.

Here is how the asset “Snow Pile” looks in-engine, with subsurface scattering enabled and tuned how it’s “supposed to be” based on the asset’s textures:

Here is how it’s supposed to look, according to Bridge:

Here is the material instance setup, using the material M_MS_Default_Transmission_Material that imports with the mesh from Bridge:

I know there are obvious differences in lighting, but no lighting differences should account for this degree of visual disparity. The Quixel picture looks incredibly realistic with very nice subsurface scattering that realistically softens the snow, while the in-engine asset looks like a pile of painted rocks.

Does anyone know how to make Quixel snow assets look how they are pictured in Bridge? Or if not, does anyone have any resources or experience with making realistic snow in Unreal? Thanks in advance for any help!

[John_CTS]

Did you ever resolve this? I’m having the same issue!

[Jinkel]

Try to lower normal intensity and up the min transmission.

[EnDrX]

Hello!

Have you find any solution?

[Urooj.shahzadi (Shahzadi Urooj)]

Hello @evanallred123 , @John_CTS , @Jinkel , @EnDrX
I have investigated the issue at my end. Kindly create a support request and mention this thread in the ticket. Lets continue our discussion there. Will be looking forward.

[Alexknight0011]

Hi! I think the main issue it might be related with shader setup, I’ve made one myself from scratch and ended up looking like this. Also I think usually the renders of the thumbnails, may be done in marmoset toolbag.

Screenshots from viewport:

[Urooj.shahzadi (Shahzadi Urooj)]

Thanks for sharing the screenshots. Previews can be a bit different as it depends upon the lighting setup you use and few tweaks sometimes to match the renders.

I’ve prepared a guide that should help users achieve better results when dealing with snow assets. Please follow the steps below and let me know how it goes at your end:

1. Add a physical object into the scene in order to add a snow surface on it.

2. Download the snow surface and add it to your plane
   

   

3. The maps that I received with the surface asset were following:
   

   

4. Click on the Material Instance and scroll down to parent material, as highlighted below:
   

   
   
   Which you can see is “M_MS_Surface_Material”.

5. Click on the parent material dropdown and look for transmission then you will find “M_MS_Default_Transmission_Material”. Click on this material. As to reflect the transmission in snow assets, we will require this as a parent material.
   Note: if it is already M_MS_Default_Transmission_Material at your end then you can jump to the next step.
   

   

6. Now scroll up and check “Enable SSS Parameters”
   

   

7. Now scroll down and go to 06 - SSS section to set the values.

8. Enable “SSS Color”

9. Enable “SSS Controls” and set the RGB values as highlighted below:
   Min: 0.1
   Max: 0.4
   Albedo SSS Tint: 0.9

8. You will notice some difference in the surface before and now:
   
   
9. For comparison, see the screenshot below:
   
   
10. One more important step that I’d suggest you to do, in order to achieve the desired results. Go to Bridge Standalone and download this same asset. (Asset Id is mentioned with the asset name in content browser.
    
    
11. After downloading the asset, go to your content browser in UE5 and click on Import > Go to the asset you just downloaded in Bridge > Select Transmission map and import it. Transmission map will be then available in the content browser, as highlighted below:
    
    
12. After Transmission map has been imported, go to the Material Instance of the snow asset you were setting up.
13. Check the “Transmission” box
    
    
14. Now drag the transmission map into this channel and the difference will be visible then.
    
    
15. You can then check it in the scene how the map is clearly showing the desired snow effect.
    
16. You can tweak the RGB values set for SSS as per your requirement. You can use the same resolution for 3D assets as well.

Note: If you have access to fab plugin, I would recommend you to download this asset through Fab for a better experience and then let us know your thoughts.