Multi layer materials

[EricChadwick]

Neil covers some of this in his tutorials.

http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_education/cg_education.htm

[EricChadwick]

There's also the Max help file. Although maybe you've already seen this? Tons of info in there.

IMO you'll probably get more responses if you offer some of your own opinions, rather than asking others to fill in all the blanks.

Most of the differences become pretty obvious once you start to play with them.

[leigh]

I hear Max has one of the most extensive and comprehensive manuals available too :)

A lot of people shy away from manuals because there seems to be this general attitude that manuals just show the raw information, and not tips or such, and so consequently people tend to ignore them. I personally always highly recommend consulting ones manual first when one encounters a problem, since more often than not, you will discover cool stuff contained therein :D

[ChrisWatkins]

Yeah the help files and manuals and books like Inside 3d Max are definately helpful. I just like to post as I begin to tackle a problem so I can work and gather more tips and such, especially since render times are longer than I can just stare at the screen when you start adding layered textures and reflections. Didnt help in this case since the first response came quite a while after my post ;) But that happens.


I've been trying to get a flashy paint material and this is what I have so far

http://www.3dchisel.com/extras/vette05.jpg

I jumped the gun a bit going into textures before Im done with the model but I was in a materials sort of mood ;) Obviously it needs a decent environment to reflect if its really going to pop.

So far I've used Multi-Blender when I wanted to apply several materials to an object either in different locations or using alpha maps. From what I can tell, Multi/sub-object seems to be fairly similar I was just advised to get and use Blur's Multi-Blender.

Composite is my new love but Im just getting to know her. The render doesnt like her at all, but thats tough :p I've been using it to use 3 layers, a base colored layer of two tone paint, a layer that adds the microflake suspension (the sparkly stuff) and the glossy clearcoat. The toughest part is the first two. Using a cellular texture for the speckles adds too much to the base layer... *shrug* Ill keep playing with it

[Chico]

A lot of people shy away from manuals because there seems to be this general attitude that manuals just show the raw information, and not tips or such, and so consequently people tend to ignore them.

Care of Adobe. I have a book on each Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere and After Effects all in their original wrapping :D
Been like that for two years.

[EricChadwick]

Well you're definitely on your way with the paint. To my eye, it seems a little too smooth and buttery, like micro-buffed plastic. But then again I haven't done much work with car paint.

Multi-sub object material is quite different from the other materials, in that it basically separates each sub-material onto a separate surface of the model, using Material IDs. The materials aren't layered onto one another.

Reading manuals can be boring, but when I tackle a new portion of the software, I like to get into the guts and see what the software designers have to say about things. First the relevant tutorials, then the Help file or printed manual.

Besides basic info about how a feature works, I often get a wealth of other details, like hotkeys and shortcuts, and other realted features that may handle my needs even better than the first one that caught my eye.

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.