Importing external 3D model question

Unity Engine
1

Sorry if this is the wrong subforum, I didn’t see one specifically for working with 3D models.

I have a programming backgroung, so 3D models are not exactly my forte. I purchased an asset from free3d.com to be used in my app, and it was available in a few different formats, all of which I downloaded.

I know from general Unity experience that Unity can use fbx and obj files, so I tried importing both of those first. The meshes are there, including materials, but none of the materials have any textures applied.

I then downloaded an archive which contains the main image, normals, and “metallic” textures. However I am not sure exactly how to apply them. When I import the .obj file, it gives me an object with import settings, a bunch of Prefab Models (the asset was a pack that had about 20 different objects in it), and a bunch of materials matching the Prefab Models.

But all of the materials are completely grayed out when I click on it - I cannot edit the materials. I can drag one of the objects into the scene, which then moves the entire ‘package’ into the scene. I can then unpack the prefab, and then make prefabs from each of the objects… but each object’s material points back to the material inside the obj file, and it remains grayed out and unable for me to edit it.

The fbx file is similar, except instead of 20 different uneditable materials, there’s a single uneditable material assigned to all the objects.

Is there something I need to do in external 3D software to get the textures into the obj or fbx before I import it? Is there something I’m missing that ‘unlocks’ the materials?

Thanks for any help.

2

Writing this from memory, but…

In model inspector see the last tab. There should be a legacy material import setting (to NOT embed materials). This will “unpack” the materials from the model asset into their own seperate material assets. You should be able to edit those now.

3

Actually I was just coming here to post that I found at least a workable solution - I found that if I right-click on the material (and it only works on the material, the option is grayed out for the Prefabs and the meshes) that ‘Extract from Prefab’ is an option. Found it by mistake - saw it was grayed out for the other items inside the fbx file so I didn’t even think to look if it was available for the material.

Once I extracted it I was able to apply the textures and set the shader.