PR E SE N TATION SE R IE S a concise guide in x custom materials
Before we begin... these are simply a few tips help you along the way with your modelling & rendering adventures. You can only learn so much by example, so feel free to stray away from these tips and experiment! Have fun! And remember: breathe. The solution could be right under your nose. So sit back, relax, and don’t worry; you’ll do just fine. all the best, d
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IN THIS GUIDE... EMMISIVE MATERIALS
Materials that add Ambient Light
TWO-SIDED MATERIALS
Materials that do “Double Duty”
SKP TWO-SIDED MATERIALS
A material for every side
ANGLE BLEND MATERIAL
The ultimate combo material
TOON MATERIAL
Keeping materials in line
In this guide you will need: Rhino V-Ray for Rhino
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EMMISIVE MATERIALS
Let material be light Simply open your Material Library
and a new V-Ray Material.
WHAT THE WHAT?
Emmisive Materials are exactly what you think they are: they emit light. These are very useful if you want to create a quick ambient source of light. They can’t replace actual lights, but they’re good for small features like light bulbs.
Right click on the ‘Emmisive Layer’ tab and hit ‘Add new Layer’. Yep, that’s it. Clearly, we’re not going to stop here; here’s some things you can do to manipulate it:
You can do whatever you please with emissive layers. Default intensity is 1, which means that it’s giving off “just enough” light. Obviously, the higher the intensity, the brighter the light. The colour (and texture) under ‘Diffuse’ is irrelevant. If you want a colour or texture, manipulate its appropriate switches under ‘Emmisive’. Press the little ‘m’ if you want a textured emission1. Below are some samples of an Emissive Material at work2:
Internsity: 1 1 2
Intensity: 50
Intensity: 100
More information on Textured Emissive Materials in the ‘Rendering’ Guide For this guide I’ve chosen a red Emissive Material so you can all see!
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TWO-SIDED MATERIALS
Materials that do “Double Duty” When you add a new material under your Material Library , simply choose ‘Add VRay2SidedMtl’
WHAT THE WHAT?
Two Sided Materials combine the properties of two different materials into one super awesome material. It can also be a great shortcut for half-transluscent materials like frosted glass, so give it a whirl!
Once selected, you have a few buttons to play with: Front, Back, and Colour. Simply apply a couple of Materials to the ‘Front’ and ‘Back’; ‘Colour’ denotes transparency, or a wash of colour. Not much more to explain at this point, it’s all about messing around from here on! Below are some examples of materials:
‘Hi-Gloss Floor’ Front: Clear Glass Back: Wood Colour: Black
‘Kalwall-esque’ Front: Plain Grey Back: -Colour: Medium Grey
‘Glossy-Light’ Front: Clear Glass Back: Emmisive Yellow Colour: Black
*There’s also a light inside!
CAN’T FIND YOUR MATERIALS?
If you for any reason have strayed away from your default material folder, copypaste this directory (Paste your downloaded in here too for quick access!) C:\ProgramData\ASGvis\Materials 5
SKP TWO-SIDED MATERIALS
A material for every side Go to your Material Library to create a new material. Choose the option ‘Add VRaySkp2SidedMtl’
WHAT THE WHAT?
An “Skp” Two-Sided Material is different from a regular Two-Sided Material. Instead of combining two material properties, it simply applies one material on one side of the normal and another material on its flipside. And just like Two-Sided Materials, properties for this has a front and a back. But unlike Two-Sided Materials, it has no ‘Colour’ option. Only this time, front and back literally mean “front and back”, with the upside of the normal as ‘Front’ and the opposing side as ‘Back’.
This material can be particularly useful when rendering plans. If you remove a ceiling, light will simply render through, losing all the shading you desire for an interior space. In this guide, I’ve made a test Skp TwoSided Material that is Default on its front, and blank on its back.
In these two rendered plans, the one on the right was rendered without a ceiling at all. The render on the right was finished with a ceiling using the Skp TwoSided Material. Note the realism in shadows! 6
ANGLE BLEND MATERIAL
The ultimate combo material
WHAT THE WHAT?
Similar to Two-Sided Materials, Angle blended materials merge properties of two materials together. It’s just that in this case, it creates more of an “cross-faded” look.
Angle Blended material has a longer render time, because it’s blending two materials together. What is it great for? Cars and jewellery. Whatever you need to look pearly and iridescent, Angle Blend Material is your guy. Here is an example of Angle Blend Material3: 3
This is a default material! Find it under ‘Car Paint’; it’s called “Ang_Blue_CarPaint.vismat”
TOON MATERIAL
Keeping materials in line
WHAT THE WHAT?
Toon Materials really lives up to its namesake: it turns everything into a cartoon! A thick, drawing-like line is applied to every object, unaffected by lighting qualities. Great for diagrams and parti drawings.
When you add a Toon Material it will prompt you for a base material for it to wrap its black lines around. Play around with the settings, like line colour and thickness. As a rule of thumb, the thicker the line, the longer it takes. 7
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