Where should I make materials - in UE4 or my DCC?

Development Rendering
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Hi guys,

I’m a beginner, looking for some general advice, so forgive me if I’m confusing any of the concepts mentioned below.

UE has a great physically based materials editor. My goal is to create beautiful walkthrough levels (not playable). Should I make the materials directly in UE4 or in the DCC (3ds Max, Blender, etc.)? The ArchViz people seem to be making the materials in 3ds Max and then exporting them through Datasmith. But it seems it would be more straightforward to make them in UE. Any recommendations?

Regardless of what I go with, I would still have to do the UVs in the DCC, right?

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Thank you!

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hey there.
as UE works in PBR workflow, you d better do that using both external tools (like quixel or substance) and mix that in your own materials in UE (to get more control).
the best option should be modeling + uv in your modeling soft. then mapping in substance or quixel . then integration in UE.
(note : it can be more complex if you want to bake maps and merge UDIMs in order to limit draw calls. you will need to do that in your DCC after mapping.)