Any BRASS out there?
12 messages in this thread
Everyone seems so cool about answering my questions that I want to
post another (free advice is hard to find <g>). I'm trying to create
a good looking brass material, but am stuck. Everything I make comes
out too gold. I can't get a feel for brass – kinda gold, but
tarnished, very shiney, with all kinds of white highlites.
That's what I'm thinking of but I hate how it turns out. Does anyone
have a favorite brass that they'd be willing to share the recipe to?
Hey, that's an idea – a 3D Studio recipe book – "125 parts red, 104
parts blue, just a smidge of green. Add 3/4 parts self-illumination,
stir in one 'brick' bmp texture map, 75% dilluted, or you'll throw
the tenderness off…" Something like that (don't try to mix this one
– it means nothing!)
Oh well, another idea….
Thanks!
James
I'm going to guess you don't have R3, because the tutorial (with the
lamp) has some good brass materials defined — if you have it, I'd
be surprised you can't get something quite easily using the metal
shading mode (even *I* can get brass fairly easily with it).
So, I guess the answer is to get R3…
<<(even *I* can get brass fairly easily with it).>>
Hey, is that a shot at my crappy artistic skills? <g> I do have R3, but have
yet to "master" metal shading. It looks great in the MAT-ED, but then when
rendered, it looks like a block of… orange wood.
PMJI, James, but as you have discovered, getting flat geometry to look
"reflectively metallic" can be pretty difficult. Flat geometry just doesn't
sample reflection maps *or* show specular highlights like rounded mesh does.
What to do? You could try slightly rounding the faces of your mesh if your
model specs allow. If it *must* stay flat, use a very "busy" reflection map so
the flat faces sample more gradient areas. Also, you could designate an omni
light (that has exclusion active for all other geometry) for highlight purposes
only. Coupling this with a good mettalic shading should give you some more
metallic quality to your material.
Hope this helps a little,
-Alan Iglesias
Alan, thank you very much for all the tips. Fabulous nuggets! Yes, I am redoing
my handles with a bit of a curve – and I also like the thought of an exclusive
omni light for hilighting… Thanks again and I'll let you know how it works.
James
Glad to help, James.
-Alan
>> I do have R3, but have
>> yet to "master" metal shading. It looks great in the MAT-ED, but then when
>> rendered, it looks like a block of… orange wood.
James,
Metal shading is VERY dependent on lighting. Check out SHINY.3ds (or was it
GOLD.3ds ?) anyway the one with the text "3DS" (sorry I'm not at my Studio
computer) and experiment with the lighting. It is wonderful as it sits, but
if you move around the lights you can quickly detroy the effect…you can
learn alot that way!
-Ralph
<<Check out SHINY.3ds (or was it GOLD.3ds ?) anyway the one with the text
"3DS">>
I will. Thanks for the tips to BRASS. And the lighting tip is what I think I
was missing. It's funny – I spent a year lighting film sets, but now it's the
last thing I think of when creating a 3DS scene… I don't know why…
>> I spent a year lighting film sets…
James,
Now you have your own film set inside your monitor! I'll bet the lights
are a easyer to move around also. <g>
You are welcome…and good luck ( heck, you'll probably be telling us tips
on lighting soon)
-Ralph
Yep, the lights are way more flexable, but it takes a time to get used to them,
to adapt what I know in the physical world to the rules of the virtul world.
Anyway, I took yours and others tips about brass and wouldn't you know it – it
looks GREAT! Thanks again for all the help. I think I'll dedicate my first
virtual movie to the ASOFT Forum!
James
No, not a shot — just an assessment of MY crappy skills.
If it looks great in Mat-Ed but bad when rendered, I suspect your lighting is
the problem. I've had a lot of great materials that looked so-so until I had
better lighting. Also… I know this is pretty obvious but you're not going to
get good brass effects with flat objects unless you're moving the camera
or lights — need to see those highlights. If you're literally have a "block"
then you may need to position your camera/lights just right to see the
highlights (I find that with flat objects you MUST have movement of the
object/lights/cameras to get good highlights).
Then again, I may not know what I'm talking about…
<<Then again, I may not know what I'm talking about…>>
No, no. You're right on the button. I've gotten excellent advise from you and
the others here. I think I know what I need to make this BRASS brass. I'll let
you know…
James