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Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing
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Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Prepare a model and assign materials.
Type:
Tutorial
Length:
10 min.
Tutorial resources
These downloadable resources will be used to complete this tutorial:
Transcript
00:03
Now we're going to look at the Arnold layer shader
00:07
which can combine multiple materials and mask them off from one another.
00:13
We want to employ that in this case for the buttons here
00:16
which are composed of a hard plastic and a paint layer.
00:21
I've got a version of the scene in which I've assigned materials to all of the objects
00:26
and we don't have time to cover that process for every single material.
00:30
But if you have the exercise files provided with these movies,
00:34
you can take a look at those materials on your own in the material editor
00:37
for. Now let's launch the Arnold render view,
00:40
click in the perspective view,
00:42
go to Arnold Arnold render view
00:45
and we can initiate the interactive production rendering
00:48
as that begins to render. We see that there are some issues here on the L CD screen.
00:54
We're getting some strange glitching.
00:56
And if we orbit in the perspective view with halt and middle mouse,
00:60
it kind of flickers and does some strange things
01:03
this is happening because
01:05
the back surface of the glass
01:07
is exactly coincident
01:09
with the front surface of the L CD screen,
01:12
we can just move that glass forward a little bit in order to create a gap,
01:17
select the glass object,
01:19
go to the move tool
01:21
and we see a Y position of 1.688 centimeters.
01:26
Let's move that forward ever so slightly
01:28
set this to a value of 1.687 centimeters.
01:34
And now we created enough of a gap there
01:36
that we don't have that problem,
01:38
which is technically called Z fighting.
01:41
That's when the renderer doesn't know which surface is in front and which is behind.
01:45
Now, the next thing we want to do is just to do some clean up from the previous movies.
01:50
If we select one of these buttons
01:52
and zoom in with the Z key,
01:55
we'll see that it's composed of some triangles.
01:59
That's because of the unwrap UVW modifier that we applied earlier.
02:03
That's causing surfaces to be tessellated according to the viewport settings,
02:08
we don't need that anymore.
02:09
So to avoid any problems in rendering, we can delete the unwrapped UVW,
02:14
I'll close the Arnold render view.
02:17
And we previously created a selection set
02:20
up here in the main tool bar.
02:21
We can choose the selection set textured objects.
02:24
Those are all the objects that have the unwrapped UVW modifier applied.
02:29
Go to the modify panel,
02:31
select the unwrap UVW modifier
02:33
and click the trash can.
02:35
And now we don't see that triangulation and we
02:37
won't have any issue rendering these body objects.
03:37
And in the material editor menus choose material,
03:40
get from selected,
03:43
we have a material here which is called
03:45
plastic hard black.
03:47
Let's make a clone of that
03:49
select just that material note and nothing else
03:52
hold down, shift and drag to create a copy,
03:55
disconnect the normal input,
03:58
select that new node and rename it.
04:01
We'll call it label white,
04:03
then assign it to the selected button,
04:05
click the button to assign the material to the selection
04:09
and we'll make some changes.
04:10
Click on the base color swatch, bring that all the way up to a value of one.
04:15
And likewise, we'll bring the roughness up to one, the specular roughness.
04:19
We're temporarily making this an ideal diffuse material
04:22
because we want to check our exposure.
04:24
Once again,
04:25
I have changed the environment here. I've got a black floor instead of a white floor
04:31
and that's actually going to change the exposure.
04:33
So in order to get proper exposure,
04:35
let's do an Arnold render view again.
04:38
So with focus on the perspective, you
04:40
go back to Arnold Arnold red view
04:44
and reinitiate that
04:47
once again, if we display the pixel information by clicking on the gear
04:51
and going to the pixel tab,
04:53
we can hover our mouse here.
04:55
And it's showing us that even though this is an ideal diffuse,
04:59
it's kind of underexposed.
05:01
So because we've changed our environment, we have less bounce light.
05:04
And in order to get a properly exposed preview,
05:07
we should increase the light from the sky dome. So let's select that sky dome.
05:13
Back in the modified panel,
05:15
we've got the color intensity roll out.
05:17
Let's bring the exposure up to 2.3.
05:21
And once again, give focus to that perspective view.
05:24
And as we move our mouse around,
05:26
we're getting better exposure here,
05:28
the R GB values are never going above one.
05:31
All right. So we can close that.
05:33
And now we're ready to go back to our material editor. I've got that minimized
05:38
and we've got two materials here.
05:39
We've got our label white and our plastic hard black.
05:43
Let's bring our label white down.
05:46
You've got it at an ideal diffuse, but we'll bring our base color down to 0.9
05:52
and also bring the roughness down to 0.9 as well.
05:56
That's a bit more realistic.
05:58
Now, let's create the layered shader
06:00
and we can do that in the material map browser
06:02
under materials. Arnold surface
06:07
layer shader,
06:08
drag that over,
06:10
select it
06:11
and we'll rename it.
06:12
We'll call it buttons, label black.
06:15
We can connect up to eight inputs
06:18
and eight mix
06:20
inputs which will create a mask.
06:23
So we want to connect our label white and our plastic black.
06:27
The stacking of the inputs is such that a higher numbered input
06:32
is going to be in front of a lower numbered input.
06:36
So it's the opposite of the modifier stack.
06:38
Things that are higher in the interface here
06:42
are actually lower
06:44
in the stack
06:46
or it's behind whatever is below it.
06:49
So that's a little bit strange. But once we know that we can
06:52
set this up the way we want it,
06:54
we're going to connect
06:55
the label white
06:57
to input one.
07:00
And you might wonder why because you might think that the label would be on top of
07:05
the plastic.
07:07
But it's because the map that I'm going to use has a white background
07:11
and black lettering
07:13
and black is transparent,
07:15
whereas white is opaque.
07:17
So we actually want to reverse
07:20
the front and back relationship here
07:22
because the image that I'm using is actually reversed or inverted.
07:27
OK.
07:27
So we also want to connect the plastic hard black
07:31
to input two
07:32
that's going to be on top or in front.
07:35
Let's go ahead and assign this,
07:37
I can reselect that button.
07:39
And with that layered shader selected,
07:41
assign the material to the selection
07:44
and it turns black
07:45
and that's what we expect
07:46
because plastic black is in front
07:50
and it has a mixed value of one.
07:53
If we reduce that mixed value will make it transparent
07:56
and reveal the layer below it.
07:59
OK? We'll bring that mix two back up to its maximum of one.
08:03
Now we need a map to create the mask between these two materials.
08:07
I've got that prepared.
08:09
And in this case, it's a vector map
08:11
and vector maps are legacy three Ds max maps.
08:14
And even if you have legacy three Ds max map support enabled
08:20
and the render set up under system,
08:22
even if this is turned on
08:24
many of the legacy maps may be hidden
08:28
and the material map browser.
08:30
So even though you can apply it, it may be invisible,
08:34
we can work around that
08:35
by going up to the material map browser menu,
08:38
which is this down facing arrow,
08:42
click on that
08:44
and enable show incompatible.
08:47
Let's create a vector map
08:50
and that's going to be under maps general
08:53
and near the bottom
08:55
vector map
08:56
drag that over into the view,
08:58
select it
08:59
and rename it graphics,
09:02
then browse for the vector file
09:05
that's going to be in the current projects scene assets, images.
09:08
So I'll navigate to that folder
09:12
and it's called graphics
09:13
buttons
09:14
dot SVG
09:16
click open
09:18
and then we can assign that to the mix to input,
09:23
connect that to mix two
09:25
and there you go. Now we've got a mask between these two materials
09:29
if we go to our label white material and for example, change its color,
09:34
we can see that update in the Arnold render view.
09:37
OK? I'll cancel that change.
09:39
Now, I can just select all the other buttons and assign that material to all of them.
09:44
So we can back out in the perspective. You control alt and middle mouse.
09:48
And I want to select all these buttons
09:51
including this one up here.
09:53
Just control, select all of those.
09:57
And with all those buttons selected back in our material editor,
10:01
we can select that layered shader
10:03
and choose assign material to selection.
10:07
And in the Arnold of interview,
10:09
we see that now we've successfully applied a masked
10:12
layered shader
10:13
to all those objects.
Video transcript
00:03
Now we're going to look at the Arnold layer shader
00:07
which can combine multiple materials and mask them off from one another.
00:13
We want to employ that in this case for the buttons here
00:16
which are composed of a hard plastic and a paint layer.
00:21
I've got a version of the scene in which I've assigned materials to all of the objects
00:26
and we don't have time to cover that process for every single material.
00:30
But if you have the exercise files provided with these movies,
00:34
you can take a look at those materials on your own in the material editor
00:37
for. Now let's launch the Arnold render view,
00:40
click in the perspective view,
00:42
go to Arnold Arnold render view
00:45
and we can initiate the interactive production rendering
00:48
as that begins to render. We see that there are some issues here on the L CD screen.
00:54
We're getting some strange glitching.
00:56
And if we orbit in the perspective view with halt and middle mouse,
00:60
it kind of flickers and does some strange things
01:03
this is happening because
01:05
the back surface of the glass
01:07
is exactly coincident
01:09
with the front surface of the L CD screen,
01:12
we can just move that glass forward a little bit in order to create a gap,
01:17
select the glass object,
01:19
go to the move tool
01:21
and we see a Y position of 1.688 centimeters.
01:26
Let's move that forward ever so slightly
01:28
set this to a value of 1.687 centimeters.
01:34
And now we created enough of a gap there
01:36
that we don't have that problem,
01:38
which is technically called Z fighting.
01:41
That's when the renderer doesn't know which surface is in front and which is behind.
01:45
Now, the next thing we want to do is just to do some clean up from the previous movies.
01:50
If we select one of these buttons
01:52
and zoom in with the Z key,
01:55
we'll see that it's composed of some triangles.
01:59
That's because of the unwrap UVW modifier that we applied earlier.
02:03
That's causing surfaces to be tessellated according to the viewport settings,
02:08
we don't need that anymore.
02:09
So to avoid any problems in rendering, we can delete the unwrapped UVW,
02:14
I'll close the Arnold render view.
02:17
And we previously created a selection set
02:20
up here in the main tool bar.
02:21
We can choose the selection set textured objects.
02:24
Those are all the objects that have the unwrapped UVW modifier applied.
02:29
Go to the modify panel,
02:31
select the unwrap UVW modifier
02:33
and click the trash can.
02:35
And now we don't see that triangulation and we
02:37
won't have any issue rendering these body objects.
03:37
And in the material editor menus choose material,
03:40
get from selected,
03:43
we have a material here which is called
03:45
plastic hard black.
03:47
Let's make a clone of that
03:49
select just that material note and nothing else
03:52
hold down, shift and drag to create a copy,
03:55
disconnect the normal input,
03:58
select that new node and rename it.
04:01
We'll call it label white,
04:03
then assign it to the selected button,
04:05
click the button to assign the material to the selection
04:09
and we'll make some changes.
04:10
Click on the base color swatch, bring that all the way up to a value of one.
04:15
And likewise, we'll bring the roughness up to one, the specular roughness.
04:19
We're temporarily making this an ideal diffuse material
04:22
because we want to check our exposure.
04:24
Once again,
04:25
I have changed the environment here. I've got a black floor instead of a white floor
04:31
and that's actually going to change the exposure.
04:33
So in order to get proper exposure,
04:35
let's do an Arnold render view again.
04:38
So with focus on the perspective, you
04:40
go back to Arnold Arnold red view
04:44
and reinitiate that
04:47
once again, if we display the pixel information by clicking on the gear
04:51
and going to the pixel tab,
04:53
we can hover our mouse here.
04:55
And it's showing us that even though this is an ideal diffuse,
04:59
it's kind of underexposed.
05:01
So because we've changed our environment, we have less bounce light.
05:04
And in order to get a properly exposed preview,
05:07
we should increase the light from the sky dome. So let's select that sky dome.
05:13
Back in the modified panel,
05:15
we've got the color intensity roll out.
05:17
Let's bring the exposure up to 2.3.
05:21
And once again, give focus to that perspective view.
05:24
And as we move our mouse around,
05:26
we're getting better exposure here,
05:28
the R GB values are never going above one.
05:31
All right. So we can close that.
05:33
And now we're ready to go back to our material editor. I've got that minimized
05:38
and we've got two materials here.
05:39
We've got our label white and our plastic hard black.
05:43
Let's bring our label white down.
05:46
You've got it at an ideal diffuse, but we'll bring our base color down to 0.9
05:52
and also bring the roughness down to 0.9 as well.
05:56
That's a bit more realistic.
05:58
Now, let's create the layered shader
06:00
and we can do that in the material map browser
06:02
under materials. Arnold surface
06:07
layer shader,
06:08
drag that over,
06:10
select it
06:11
and we'll rename it.
06:12
We'll call it buttons, label black.
06:15
We can connect up to eight inputs
06:18
and eight mix
06:20
inputs which will create a mask.
06:23
So we want to connect our label white and our plastic black.
06:27
The stacking of the inputs is such that a higher numbered input
06:32
is going to be in front of a lower numbered input.
06:36
So it's the opposite of the modifier stack.
06:38
Things that are higher in the interface here
06:42
are actually lower
06:44
in the stack
06:46
or it's behind whatever is below it.
06:49
So that's a little bit strange. But once we know that we can
06:52
set this up the way we want it,
06:54
we're going to connect
06:55
the label white
06:57
to input one.
07:00
And you might wonder why because you might think that the label would be on top of
07:05
the plastic.
07:07
But it's because the map that I'm going to use has a white background
07:11
and black lettering
07:13
and black is transparent,
07:15
whereas white is opaque.
07:17
So we actually want to reverse
07:20
the front and back relationship here
07:22
because the image that I'm using is actually reversed or inverted.
07:27
OK.
07:27
So we also want to connect the plastic hard black
07:31
to input two
07:32
that's going to be on top or in front.
07:35
Let's go ahead and assign this,
07:37
I can reselect that button.
07:39
And with that layered shader selected,
07:41
assign the material to the selection
07:44
and it turns black
07:45
and that's what we expect
07:46
because plastic black is in front
07:50
and it has a mixed value of one.
07:53
If we reduce that mixed value will make it transparent
07:56
and reveal the layer below it.
07:59
OK? We'll bring that mix two back up to its maximum of one.
08:03
Now we need a map to create the mask between these two materials.
08:07
I've got that prepared.
08:09
And in this case, it's a vector map
08:11
and vector maps are legacy three Ds max maps.
08:14
And even if you have legacy three Ds max map support enabled
08:20
and the render set up under system,
08:22
even if this is turned on
08:24
many of the legacy maps may be hidden
08:28
and the material map browser.
08:30
So even though you can apply it, it may be invisible,
08:34
we can work around that
08:35
by going up to the material map browser menu,
08:38
which is this down facing arrow,
08:42
click on that
08:44
and enable show incompatible.
08:47
Let's create a vector map
08:50
and that's going to be under maps general
08:53
and near the bottom
08:55
vector map
08:56
drag that over into the view,
08:58
select it
08:59
and rename it graphics,
09:02
then browse for the vector file
09:05
that's going to be in the current projects scene assets, images.
09:08
So I'll navigate to that folder
09:12
and it's called graphics
09:13
buttons
09:14
dot SVG
09:16
click open
09:18
and then we can assign that to the mix to input,
09:23
connect that to mix two
09:25
and there you go. Now we've got a mask between these two materials
09:29
if we go to our label white material and for example, change its color,
09:34
we can see that update in the Arnold render view.
09:37
OK? I'll cancel that change.
09:39
Now, I can just select all the other buttons and assign that material to all of them.
09:44
So we can back out in the perspective. You control alt and middle mouse.
09:48
And I want to select all these buttons
09:51
including this one up here.
09:53
Just control, select all of those.
09:57
And with all those buttons selected back in our material editor,
10:01
we can select that layered shader
10:03
and choose assign material to selection.
10:07
And in the Arnold of interview,
10:09
we see that now we've successfully applied a masked
10:12
layered shader
10:13
to all those objects.
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