• 3ds Max

Creating a layered shader

Combine multiple materials with a mask.


Tutorial resources

These downloadable resources will be used to complete this tutorial:


00:03

OK, we're ready to create our layered shader.

00:06

We want to select just one of these buttons

00:09

and open up the material editor.

00:13

And in the material editor menus choose material

00:16

get from selected.

00:19

We have a material here which is called

00:21

plastic hard black.

00:23

Let's make a clone of that.

00:25

Select just that material note and nothing else

00:28

hold down, shift and drag to create a copy,

00:31

disconnect the normal input,

00:34

select that new node and rename it.

00:36

We'll call it label white,

00:39

then assign it to the selected button,

00:41

click the button to assign the material to the selection

00:45

and we'll make some changes.

00:46

Click on the base color swatch, bring that all the way up to a value of one

00:51

and likewise, we'll bring the roughness up to one, the specular roughness.

00:55

We're temporarily making this an ideal diffuse material

00:58

because we want to check our exposure.

00:60

Once again,

01:01

I've changed the environment here. I've got a black floor instead of a white floor

01:06

and that's actually going to change the exposure.

01:09

So in order to get proper exposure,

01:11

let's do an Arnold ran view again.

01:14

So with focus on the perspective, you

01:16

go back to Arnold Arnold red view

01:20

and reinitiate that

01:23

once again, if we display the pixel information by clicking on the gear

01:27

and going to the pixel tab,

01:29

we can hover our mouse here.

01:31

And it's showing us that even though this is an ideal diffuse,

01:34

it's kind of underexposed.

01:37

So because we've changed our environment, we have less bounce light.

01:40

And in order to get a properly exposed preview,

01:43

we should increase the light from the sky dome. So let's select that sky dome

01:49

back in the modified panel.

01:51

We've got the color intensity roll out.

01:53

Let's bring the exposure up to 2.3.

01:57

And once again, give focus to that perspective view.

01:60

And as we move our mouse around,

02:02

we're getting better exposure here,

02:04

the R GB values are never going above one.

02:07

All right. So we can close that.

02:09

And now we're ready to go back to our material editor. I've got that minimized

02:14

and we've got two materials here.

02:15

We've got our label white and our plastic hard black.

02:19

Let's bring our label white down.

02:22

You've got it at an ideal diffuse, but we'll bring our base color down to 0.9

02:28

and also bring the roughness down to 0.9 as well.

02:32

That's a bit more realistic.

02:34

Now, let's create the layered shader

02:36

and we can do that in the material map browser

02:38

under materials, arnold surface

02:42

layer shader

02:44

drag that over,

02:46

select it

02:47

and we'll rename it.

02:48

We'll call it buttons, label black,

02:51

we can connect up to eight inputs

02:54

and eight mix

02:56

inputs, which will create a mask.

02:59

So we want to connect our label white and our plastic black,

03:03

the stacking of the inputs is such that a higher numbered input

03:08

is going to be in front of a lower numbered input.

03:12

So it's the opposite of the modifier stack.

03:14

Things that are higher in the interface here

03:18

are actually lower

03:20

in the stack

03:21

or it's behind whatever is below it.

03:25

So that's a little bit strange.

03:26

But once we know that we can set this up the way we want it,

03:30

we're going to connect

03:31

the label white

03:33

to input one.

03:36

And you might wonder why because you might think that the label would be on top of

03:41

the plastic.

03:43

But it's because the map that I'm going to use has a white background

03:47

and black lettering

03:49

and black is transparent,

03:51

whereas white is opaque.

03:53

So we actually want to reverse

03:56

the front and back relationship here

03:58

because the image that I'm using is actually reversed or inverted.

04:03

OK. So we also want to connect the plastic hard black

04:07

to input two

04:08

that's going to be on top or in front.

04:11

Let's go ahead and assign this,

04:13

I can reselect that button.

04:15

And with that layered shader selected,

04:17

assign the material to the selection

04:20

and it turns black

04:21

and that's what we expect

04:22

because plastic black is in front

04:26

and it has a mixed value of one.

04:29

If we reduce that mixed value will make it transparent

04:32

and reveal the layer below it.

04:35

OK? We'll bring that mix two back up to its maximum of one.

04:39

Now, we need a map to create the mask between these two materials.

04:43

I've got that prepared.

04:45

And in this case, it's a vector map

04:47

and vector maps are legacy three DS max maps.

04:50

And even if you have legacy three Ds max map support enabled

04:56

and the render set up under system,

04:58

even if this is turned on

05:00

many of the legacy maps may be hidden

05:04

and the material map browser.

05:06

So even though you can apply it, it may be invisible,

05:10

we can work around that

05:11

by going up to the material map browser menu,

05:14

which is this down facing arrow,

05:18

click on that

05:20

and enable show incompatible.

05:23

Let's create a vector map

05:25

and that's going to be under maps general

05:29

and near the bottom

05:31

vector map drag that over into the view,

05:34

select it

05:35

and rename it graphics,

05:38

then browse for the vector file

05:41

that's going to be in the current projects scene assets images.

05:44

So I'll navigate to that folder

05:47

and it's called graphics

05:49

buttons

05:50

dot SVG

05:52

click open

05:54

and then we can assign that to the mix to input,

05:59

connect that to mix two.

06:01

And there you go. Now we've got a mask between these two materials

06:05

if we go to our label white material and for example, change its color,

06:10

we can see that update in the Arnold render view.

06:13

OK. I'll cancel that change.

06:15

Now, I can just select all the other buttons and assign that material to all of them.

06:20

So we can back out in the perspective you control alt and middle mouse.

06:24

And I want to select all these buttons

06:27

including this one up here,

06:29

just control, select all of those.

06:33

And with all those buttons selected back in our material editor,

06:37

we can select that layered shader

06:39

and choose assign material to selection.

06:43

And in the arnold of interview,

06:44

we see that now we've successfully applied a masked

06:48

layered shader

06:49

to all those objects.

Video transcript

00:03

OK, we're ready to create our layered shader.

00:06

We want to select just one of these buttons

00:09

and open up the material editor.

00:13

And in the material editor menus choose material

00:16

get from selected.

00:19

We have a material here which is called

00:21

plastic hard black.

00:23

Let's make a clone of that.

00:25

Select just that material note and nothing else

00:28

hold down, shift and drag to create a copy,

00:31

disconnect the normal input,

00:34

select that new node and rename it.

00:36

We'll call it label white,

00:39

then assign it to the selected button,

00:41

click the button to assign the material to the selection

00:45

and we'll make some changes.

00:46

Click on the base color swatch, bring that all the way up to a value of one

00:51

and likewise, we'll bring the roughness up to one, the specular roughness.

00:55

We're temporarily making this an ideal diffuse material

00:58

because we want to check our exposure.

00:60

Once again,

01:01

I've changed the environment here. I've got a black floor instead of a white floor

01:06

and that's actually going to change the exposure.

01:09

So in order to get proper exposure,

01:11

let's do an Arnold ran view again.

01:14

So with focus on the perspective, you

01:16

go back to Arnold Arnold red view

01:20

and reinitiate that

01:23

once again, if we display the pixel information by clicking on the gear

01:27

and going to the pixel tab,

01:29

we can hover our mouse here.

01:31

And it's showing us that even though this is an ideal diffuse,

01:34

it's kind of underexposed.

01:37

So because we've changed our environment, we have less bounce light.

01:40

And in order to get a properly exposed preview,

01:43

we should increase the light from the sky dome. So let's select that sky dome

01:49

back in the modified panel.

01:51

We've got the color intensity roll out.

01:53

Let's bring the exposure up to 2.3.

01:57

And once again, give focus to that perspective view.

01:60

And as we move our mouse around,

02:02

we're getting better exposure here,

02:04

the R GB values are never going above one.

02:07

All right. So we can close that.

02:09

And now we're ready to go back to our material editor. I've got that minimized

02:14

and we've got two materials here.

02:15

We've got our label white and our plastic hard black.

02:19

Let's bring our label white down.

02:22

You've got it at an ideal diffuse, but we'll bring our base color down to 0.9

02:28

and also bring the roughness down to 0.9 as well.

02:32

That's a bit more realistic.

02:34

Now, let's create the layered shader

02:36

and we can do that in the material map browser

02:38

under materials, arnold surface

02:42

layer shader

02:44

drag that over,

02:46

select it

02:47

and we'll rename it.

02:48

We'll call it buttons, label black,

02:51

we can connect up to eight inputs

02:54

and eight mix

02:56

inputs, which will create a mask.

02:59

So we want to connect our label white and our plastic black,

03:03

the stacking of the inputs is such that a higher numbered input

03:08

is going to be in front of a lower numbered input.

03:12

So it's the opposite of the modifier stack.

03:14

Things that are higher in the interface here

03:18

are actually lower

03:20

in the stack

03:21

or it's behind whatever is below it.

03:25

So that's a little bit strange.

03:26

But once we know that we can set this up the way we want it,

03:30

we're going to connect

03:31

the label white

03:33

to input one.

03:36

And you might wonder why because you might think that the label would be on top of

03:41

the plastic.

03:43

But it's because the map that I'm going to use has a white background

03:47

and black lettering

03:49

and black is transparent,

03:51

whereas white is opaque.

03:53

So we actually want to reverse

03:56

the front and back relationship here

03:58

because the image that I'm using is actually reversed or inverted.

04:03

OK. So we also want to connect the plastic hard black

04:07

to input two

04:08

that's going to be on top or in front.

04:11

Let's go ahead and assign this,

04:13

I can reselect that button.

04:15

And with that layered shader selected,

04:17

assign the material to the selection

04:20

and it turns black

04:21

and that's what we expect

04:22

because plastic black is in front

04:26

and it has a mixed value of one.

04:29

If we reduce that mixed value will make it transparent

04:32

and reveal the layer below it.

04:35

OK? We'll bring that mix two back up to its maximum of one.

04:39

Now, we need a map to create the mask between these two materials.

04:43

I've got that prepared.

04:45

And in this case, it's a vector map

04:47

and vector maps are legacy three DS max maps.

04:50

And even if you have legacy three Ds max map support enabled

04:56

and the render set up under system,

04:58

even if this is turned on

05:00

many of the legacy maps may be hidden

05:04

and the material map browser.

05:06

So even though you can apply it, it may be invisible,

05:10

we can work around that

05:11

by going up to the material map browser menu,

05:14

which is this down facing arrow,

05:18

click on that

05:20

and enable show incompatible.

05:23

Let's create a vector map

05:25

and that's going to be under maps general

05:29

and near the bottom

05:31

vector map drag that over into the view,

05:34

select it

05:35

and rename it graphics,

05:38

then browse for the vector file

05:41

that's going to be in the current projects scene assets images.

05:44

So I'll navigate to that folder

05:47

and it's called graphics

05:49

buttons

05:50

dot SVG

05:52

click open

05:54

and then we can assign that to the mix to input,

05:59

connect that to mix two.

06:01

And there you go. Now we've got a mask between these two materials

06:05

if we go to our label white material and for example, change its color,

06:10

we can see that update in the Arnold render view.

06:13

OK. I'll cancel that change.

06:15

Now, I can just select all the other buttons and assign that material to all of them.

06:20

So we can back out in the perspective you control alt and middle mouse.

06:24

And I want to select all these buttons

06:27

including this one up here,

06:29

just control, select all of those.

06:33

And with all those buttons selected back in our material editor,

06:37

we can select that layered shader

06:39

and choose assign material to selection.

06:43

And in the arnold of interview,

06:44

we see that now we've successfully applied a masked

06:48

layered shader

06:49

to all those objects.

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