Like most metals, chrome is highly reflective and its appearance is determined almost strictly by its reflections. The Diffuse component in this shader needs to be very dark. This means that we can start by setting the Diffuse color of our VrayMtl to almost black (1;1;1) and the Reflect color to a high value like (230;230;230). All materials exhibit some…
This tutorial will deal with the creation of basic steel. Most metals are defined by their reflections, so the Diffuse component is quite weak. This means that, for most metals, we need to use dark diffuse colors. For steel, it can be a near-black gray. The reflections need to be fairly strong, so set them to something like 160~220, depending…
This liquid material exhibits a sub-surface scattering effect. The most difficult thing with this kind of shader is getting the colors to look right, and it can take a bit of fiddling and experimenting to get the exact look. The 'Whole Milk' preset works well, with a couple of important adjustments. Enable Trace Reflections and increase the glossiness. Change the…
This liquid material exhibits a sub-surface scattering effect. The most difficult thing with this kind of shader is getting the colors to look right, and it can take a bit of fiddling and experimenting to get the exact look. While honey can have many different looks, this tutorial recreates the most common one: golden yellow with a hint of red…
This liquid material exhibits a sub-surface scattering effect. The most difficult thing with this kind of shader is getting the colors to look right, and it can take a bit of fiddling and experimenting to get the exact look. For chocolate shaders, use a regular Vraymtl, as it will give slightly better control for this "waxy" material. Set the Diffuse…
This liquid material exhibits a sub-surface scattering effect. The most difficult thing with this kind of shader is getting the colors to look right, and it can take a bit of fiddling and experimenting to get the exact look. For blood, reduce the Scatter radius to 1cm (this may need to be adjusted depending on the scale of the object).…
Starting from a clean water shader, the only thing we need to do in order for it to simulate soda is add a Fog Color and play with the Multiplier to fit the size of the object. For a more transparent look, use a smaller multiplier. For a dark cola look, use much more Fog.
Clean water is a very simple material. Start with an almost black diffuse color [1;1;1]. Add some Fresnel Reflections (IOR 1.33) and Refraction (make sure to enable 'affect shadows,' if not using caustics). The result is a basic water material. For a larger scale scene (where the water is in a pond, pool, or any other outdoor scenario), it is…
Ice needs a couple of things to look good. It is strongly reflective and strongly refractive. Accordingly, both of these elements should be light gray. The reflections and refractions can not be too perfect, except for ice that has been dipped in hot water. This is where some Glossiness maps come in: they create the much-needed imperfections in the shader.…
Snow can be a tricky material. It has two main features: SSS and sparkling flakes that reflect light in different directions. To create the shader, we will blend together a VrayFastSSS2 material and VrayFlakesMtl. The SSS part should be set up as follows: Colors create the bluish cast for the snow. Set large radius and Phase to 0.8, so light…
