Why convert PTEX to EXR?
Ptex avoids UV maps, but most renderers, engines and pipelines expect flat UV-space images like .EXR. Converting bakes each face's Ptex texture into a UV atlas so it can be edited and shipped as a standard high-dynamic-range image. Mari, Maya and Houdini all read Ptex and can project it onto UVs before export.
How to convert PTEX to EXR
Foundry Mari PAID
Import the .ptx onto the UV-mapped mesh, then use Export to write the paint out per UV patch as .exr (single or multiple channels).
SideFX Houdini PAID
Apply the Ptex map to geometry that has UVs, then add a bakeTexture ROP with the format set to EXR to bake it into UV space.
Autodesk Maya PAID
Assign the Ptex texture to the model and use Arnold or the surface-sampler bake to render it into a UV texture, saving the output as .exr.
About these formats
A .ptex file is a per-face texture map made with Disney's Ptex texture system, which paints subdivision and polygon meshes without any UV layout. Each file holds a separate texture for…
Open .PTEX details →
.EXR
OpenEXR Image
An EXR file is a high-dynamic-range image created by Industrial Light & Magic and now an open standard used across film and VFX. To open one free, use Blender, GIMP, or Krita. To share it…
Open .EXR details →Quality & what to watch
- The mesh must already have a UV layout; Ptex itself has none, so unwrapping is a prerequisite.
- Baking rasterizes per-face detail into a fixed-resolution UV atlas, so edge quality depends on your bake resolution and can show UV seams.
- Ptex's seamless per-face independence is lost once flattened to a single UV image.
