Product Visualisation – The Studio Environment Vol.2

Welcome back. This is the second in a set of tutorials where you’ll learn how to produce industry standard 3D Renders/Visualisations of your product designs and concepts.

Product Visualisation – The Studio Environment Vol.1

Product Visualisation – The Studio Environment Vol.2 (Currently Reading)

Product Visualisation – The Studio Environment Vol .3

Product Visualisation – The Studio Environment Vol .4

If you are new to this set of tutorials and would like to follow along, I suggest you start with Tutorial 1 – The Built Environment for previous steps.

For those who are unfamiliar, over the course of four weekly tutorials, we will be discussing the necessary skills to create this scene.

So banter aside, let’s mosey.

The Requirements

Difficulty: Beginner/ Intermediate

1. To open the example file, you will need 3DS Max 2009 and V-Ray 1.5RC3 or above. Download the example file at the end of each tutorial.

2. If you use the example file, please understand that the contents should not be redistributed in any way. Similarly, the content is not allowed to be used for commercial purposes.

Tutorial 2 – Materials & Textures

Overview

In the last tutorial we discussed various studio setups and built the environment for our product. In this second tutorial we will be preparing materials to add to our model/product. Materials are important because it plays a significant role in describing what your product looks and feels like – and ultimately this entire process is about conveying your design concept accurately and with flair. We will look into the major elements of creating VRay materials, using maps, and the basic ways to apply them to our model. There’s a lot to cover, so be prepared for reading. Some of the content may seem redundant if you’re familiar with materials but remember this is a guide for beginners and students – please bear with me. I won’t lie, this one’s a bigun.

Here’s a listed overview of the contents and topics this week.

Materials & Maps

VRay Material Settings

Diffuse
Reflection
Refraction

Creating Scene Materials

Metal
Porcelain
Plastic

Applying Scene Materials

Mapping Materials

UVW Map

Mapping Methods
Transform Gizmo

After completing Tutorial 2 – Materials & Textures, our scene should look like this.

1.0 – Materials & Maps

Here’s a quick spiel about the basics of materials and maps before we begin. Previously in Tutorial 1, we were given a list of materials and maps to choose from by clicking the ‘Get Material’ button. Materials are represented by the blue sphere icon next to each name, and maps are represented by the green rhombus shape icon next to each name.

In this tutorial, we will continue using VRay materials because they are built for effective use with the VRay engine.

Maps are instead used in map slots, which are located next to various parameters as a small square. Using a map will allow you to control the parameter with a texture as opposed to a static number or colour. You will see the effect of various types of maps in the following sections.

1.1 – VRay Material Settings

Now we’ll discuss the various settings of a VRay material. They are in large, quite self explanatory and the options are as usual divided into several rollout categories. There are however, numerous settings to discuss, so in this tutorial we will be looking at a few major components that will be frequently used.

In the ‘Basic Parameters’ rollout of a VRay material are three important parameters – Diffuse, Reflection and Refraction.

With these, we will explore creating various materials including plastic, metal, porcelain and glass. You can achieve a significant amount by only changing these three parameters. Additionally, links will be provided to other resources for further reading on materials and maps.

Note: You might find that the maps, reflections and refractions will look a bit flat and dull. It won’t appear like in the final scene render. This is because we don’t have any directional lights in our scene so the objects won’t pick up specular highlights. For our current purposes this is fine. The materials will come into full effect in Tutorial 3 – Lighting. With this in mind, let’s start looking at our VRay material basic parameters.

1.1.1 – Diffuse

Diffuse can be generally described as the base colour of the material. It is controlled by a colour swatch. Here we’ll look at changing the diffuse colour and adding a map to its map slot.

• Create a new VRay material in the Material Editor.

• Change the Diffuse colour swatch to an orange.

• Apply the material to one of the objects in your scene.

• Hit the Render button. You should have something like this.

You can see the effect it has on the colour of the material. Now we’ll see the effect of adding maps to a parameter. The square next to the diffuse colour is its map slot. You can add a bitmap and others to texture the material.

• Click the map slot for diffuse colour and select ‘Cellular’. This takes you automatically to the settings for this map.

• In the ‘Cellular Parameters’ rollout, set the first ‘Division Colour’ to a blue.

• Hit the Render button. Your object should look something like this.

Our object now has a pattern on it using the colours specified in the Cellular Parameters rollout. Notice that the original orange colour has disappeared. When you add a map to a parameter, its original value is replaced by the map.

1.1.2 – Reflection

Reflection obviously controls the reflectivity of your material. This is controlled by a colour swatch just like the Diffuse parameter. If you set the colour to black that means that there are no reflections, while white is fully reflective like a mirror. If you set the colour to a red for example, your reflections will be tinted red. Continuing with the same material, we will change the reflection colour.

• Click the ‘Go to Parent’ button. This will take you to the settings of the level above where you are. In this case, it will take you back to your VRay material settings.

• Right click the Diffuse map slot and select ‘Clear’. This will remove the Diffuse map.

• Change the reflection colour swatch to a mid grey.

• Now arrange the object/product to look similar to the image so we can see the effect of the reflections better. Hit the Render button.

You can see the effect it has on the reflectivity of the material. The orange is paler/whiter because it is reflecting the surrounding white environment. You can also see the second object being reflected in its surface. Also try changing the reflection colour to something other than white to black and see how this affects the reflections. Now we’ll add a map to the reflection parameter.

• Click the map slot for reflection and select ‘Checker’.

• In the ‘Coordinates’ rollout of the Checker settings, set the tiling to 5.0 and 5.0. This will effectively make the texture map look smaller on the surface of your object.

• Take note of the ‘Checker Parameters’ rollout. Colour #1 is black and # 2 is white. This means one of the checkers will reflect nothing and the other will be mirror-like.

• Hit the Render button. It should look similar to this.

Our object now has a checker pattern on it that is affecting the reflectivity of the material. In every second square is the original orange material that isn’t reflecting anything. Every other square is a highly reflective surface in which we can see our other object.

The second parameter we will be looking at here is ‘Reflection Glossiness’. This defines whether your reflection looks shiny or matte – in other words, whether the reflection is crisp or blurry. This parameter is instead controlled by a numeric value from 0 to 1. At 1, reflections look shiny and crisp. Lower values will blur the reflections. We’ll render an image to see the effect of this parameter.

• Right click the Reflection map slot and select ‘Clear’. Keep the diffuse colour orange.

• Set the Reflection Glossiness parameter to 0.6.

• Hit the Render button. Your render should look like this.

You can clearly see the effect it has on the blurriness of the reflections. Lower values will mean increased render times. Similarly, you can also add a texture map to define this parameter.

The last parameter we will be looking at here is ‘Subdivs’ or subdivisions. This is a common term in many 3D programs and is seen in various places throughout your Max and VRay settings. You can change the Subdivs for Reflection, Refraction, Lights, Cameras and many other things. In the case of Reflection and Refraction, it increases the quality and smoothness of how that parameter renders.

• Change the Subdivs of Reflection to 20.

• Hit the Render Button.

Rendered with reflection Subdivs at 20

Rendered with reflection Subdivs at 5

Our object has much smoother reflections with less noise at 20 Subdivs. Note that 8 Subdivs means 8*8 = 64 samples taken at the time of render. Thus, 20 Subdivs means 20*20 = 400 samples. Render times increase significantly so make sure you don’t go deep into the juju. 20 Subdivs I find is a reasonable amount to have for Diffuse and Reflection settings for a final render but that will depend on your how you choose to setup your VRay settings.

1.1.3 – Refraction

The refraction parameter can be generally described as the transparency of the material. Many of the options here are similar to reflections. Setting the colour swatch to black means the object will be opaque and white means it is fully transparent. Here we’ll create a glass material by changing the Refraction parameter along with Diffuse and Reflection.

• Create a VRay material in a new material slot.

• Change the Diffuse colour to a light blue.

• Change the Reflection colour to a light grey – very reflective.

• Change the Refraction colour to a light grey – very transparent.

• Apply the material to the second object – currently with a plain grey material.

• Now arrange the object/product to look similar to the image so we can see the effect of the refractions better. Hit the Render button.

The object does look transparent. The light grey colour we chose means the object is roughly 80% transparent. You will also notice that the Diffuse colour also has an effect on the material. Change the Diffuse colour to get different colours in a glass material. Note that if the Refraction colour is fully white – fully transparent – your Diffuse colour will have no bearing on the material.

Now we’ll try out the ‘Refraction Glossiness’ parameter. This works in the same way as Reflection, and blurs the refractions in the material. You can use this parameter for example to make your glass look like frosted glass.

• Change the Reflection Glossiness parameter to 0.7.

• Change the Refraction Glossiness parameter to 0.6.

• Hit the Render Button.

You see that the material has a hazy, blurred look similar to a frosted glass. Create a plain grey VRay material and apply it to both the objects in the scene, we will not require our Refraction material any longer.

We’ve now finished looking at the Refraction parameters and thankfully finished exploring all the basic parameters of the VRay material for this tutorial.

1.1.4 – Additional Reading/Resources

There are obviously many other useful parameters in VRay materials to learn about. As these tutorials aim to cover the entire rendering process, we don’t have the time to cover many of them.

There are however quick resources to use should you ever need to know what a parameter does. Spot 3D is one such resource for any VRay related content. For more on VRay materials, visit http://www.spot3d.com/vray/help/150R1/material_params.htm. I recommend you read up on it. It will not take long, and will be invaluable in future.

2.0 – Creating Scene Materials

Using the parameters we’ve just explored, we’ll now create the materials that will actually feature on our product. As this is a very simple scene we only have to set up three materials as follows:

1. Metal
2. Porcelain
3. Plastic

The metal will be placed on the first object – we will call this Product 1, the porcelain on the second – Product 2 – and the plastic will be used for the Twigs.

2 Cents: Creating materials should be approached logically. For example, if you want to create a copper material you would first think of what properties comprise that material. Copper is a reflective metal so the reflection colour will need to be somewhere between a mid grey to a white. The base colour of copper is similar to yellow so the Diffuse colour would be a mid to dark yellow. Approach the task systematically when creating complicated materials so you don’t waste time making incremental changes.

2.1 – Metal

The first material we will be making for the scene is a dark grey metal that has a kind of beaten copper look to it. We will be attempting this in two different ways – one with using a Displacement Map and the other with using a Bump Map. Each has their own strengths but first we’ll set up the material basics.

• Create a new VRay material in your Material Editor.

• Name it something like ‘Beaten Metal’, if you like being organised.

• Set the Diffuse colour to a very dark grey. (RGB: 10, 10, 10)

• Set the Reflection colour to a mid grey. (RGB: 70, 70, 70)

• Set the Reflection Glossiness to 0.8.

• Set the Reflection Subdivs to 20.

Metal Material Settings

Now we’ll look at the ‘Maps’ rollout in the VRay Material. From this rollout you can view and turn on/off all the main maps in your material.

We’ll begin by looking at a new type of map, the Bump Map. The name is self explanatory – a map is used to define or create bumps on the surface of the material. Bump maps are also controlled by the value of the colours in the texture. White areas in the map make the surface look raised up, while black have no effect. Note that bump maps only make the surface appear modified; it does not actually change the surface geometry. We’ll now add a map to it.

• Click the material slot next to the Bump map parameter and select ‘Speckle’.

• In the Speckle options, under ‘Speckle Parameter’ rollout, set the ‘size’ to 10.0.

• Apply the material to an object in the scene.

• Hit the Render button.

Notice how the appearance of the surface is changed and deformed. This is a very simple and effective way of making the surface of an object look more 3D and realistic. Play around with increasing the effect of the bump map by changing its value in the ‘Maps’ rollout. Similarly, you can control all the maps in this way.

Finally we’ll try out the Displacement map. This map works similar to a bump map except this actually deforms the surface geometry of the object – the effect is essentially 3D. Using displacement in your scene does come at the price of significantly increased render times. Regardless, we’ll give it a go.

• In the ‘Maps’ rollout once more, copy the bump map by right clicking the slot and selecting ‘Copy’. Then paste it onto the Displacement map using the same technique.

• Turn off the bump map by using the tick box next to its name.

• Hit the Render button.

Notice that the effect is significantly different to the bump map. The object will be slightly larger because the surface has been pushed out by the displacement of the map.

For the purposes of the scene however, we will be continue with the bump map. Clear or turn off the displacement map and remember to turn the bump map back on.

We’ve now completed creating the metal material for the Product 1 object.

2.2 – Porcelain

The second material we will be creating for the scene is a shiny white porcelain material.

• Create a new VRay material in your Material Editor.

• Name it something like ‘White Porcelain’ if you’re a control freak.

• Set the Diffuse colour to a light grey. (RGB: 220, 220, 220)

• Set the Reflection colour to a mid grey. (RGB: 120, 120, 120)

• Set the Reflection Glossiness to 0.9.

• Set the Reflection Subdivs to 20.

Porcelain Material Settings

We’ve now completed creating the porcelain material for the second object.

2.3 – Plastic

The last material we will be creating for the scene is a shiny dark grey plastic.

• Create a new VRay material in your Material Editor.

• Name it something like ‘Black Plastic’ if you struggle without a daily planner.

• Set the Diffuse colour to a very dark grey. (RGB: 15, 15, 15)

• Set the Reflection colour to a mid grey. (RGB: 120, 120, 120)

• Set the Reflection Glossiness to 0.8.

• Set the Reflection Subdivs to 20.

Plastic Material Settings

We’ve now completed creating the plastic material for the Twigs objects.

2.4 – Applying Scene Materials

Apply the materials to the appropriate objects if you haven’t done so already. Refer to the image if your mind’s a tangle at the moment.

• Apply the Metal material to Product 1.

• Apply the Porcelain material to Product 2.

• Apply the Plastic material to the Twigs.

At long last, we’ve completed the preparation for all the materials in our scene and have applied them accordingly.

3.0 – Mapping Materials

Having dealt with attaching various texture maps to a range of parameters in a VRay material, we will now explore ‘mapping’ those textures onto our objects. This is the process by which we take a 2D map and see how it looks when it is applied or wrapped around a 3D object. This allows us a great level of control over how the map looks on our object.

One of the biggest advantages is that we will be able to see the map in our viewport and won’t necessarily have to render the scene. There are multiple ways of mapping objects but in this tutorial we’ll be looking at the UVW Map modifier.

3.1 – UVW Map

The UVW map is simply a modifier that we add to an object. It allows several methods to wrap a texture map around an object. We will be looking briefly into how we can get greater control of the placement, rotation and tiling of a map using this modifier.

Note that you only have to add a UVW map modifier to an object if there is a texture map in the material that is applied to it. For example, Product 2 uses the Porcelain material we set up. This material did not use any maps, so the object doesn’t require a UVW map modifier. The same applies to the Plastic material for the twigs. Product 1 however, uses the Beaten Metal material which contains a bump map. Let’s add a UVW map modifier to Product 1 to view and control the bump map.

• Select Product 1 – it is made up of three separate parts so select all three. Do not select the twigs.

• In the ‘Modify’ tab add a ‘UVW Map’ from the modifier list.

• Now go to your Beaten Metal material in your Material Editor and open the options for the bump map.

• Click the ‘Show Standard Map in Viewport’ button. In your Perspective viewport, your map should be visible.

We’ve now set up the UVW map for Object 1 – pretty simple. Let’s look at some options and settings now.

3.1.1 – Mapping Methods

To view the UVW modifier settings select it in the modifier stack of the object it is applied to. Remember there are three parts to Object 1. If you make changes to the UVW map on one, the others change simultaneously. This is because we added the UVW map to all of them at the same time – it has created an instance of that UVW map. If we were to apply the UVW map to all the parts separately, when we make changes, we will have to change them all manually. Using instances will save time for this reason.

• Click one of the parts of the Product 1 object. You can Group them if it makes it easier. Click the UVW map in the modifier stack.

• Click once to see its options and twice to edit the modifier. The name in the modifier stack will be highlighted yellow when you are in editing mode.

You will notice under the ‘Parameters’ rollout a list – Planar, Cylindrical, Spherical etc. See the image below. These are the various methods or types of mapping. Play around with them and see how they effect the way the map is applied to the surface of the object.

When you select a method, you will see a spline cage in the viewport that roughly describes how the map is being applied. See the below image.

For most objects, including complex objects, the box method is the most effective mapping method. Once you’ve finished playing around, select the box method to continue on with.

3.1.2 – Transform Gizmo

When you are editing your UVW map, you can use your standard transform tools – Move, Scale and Rotate – to control the map. Make sure you are in editing mode – the modifier will be highlighted yellow. When in this mode, the object doesn’t move or scale but the map does instead. Play around with moving, scaling and rotating the map.

• When you’re done playing around, click the ‘Reset’ button in the ‘Alignment’ section of the UVW map options to return to the original settings.

• Now scale your map until it looks similar to the image below.

There are multiple ways to scale or tile a map. For example, you can do it through the map settings in your material, or scale your UVW map using the transform gizmo, or use the ‘Tiling’ parameter in the UVW map settings.

We’ve now explored the basics of UVW maps and completed the preparation for our metal material.

3.1.3 – Render Update

In the words of Rafiki from Lion King – it is time. With all the preparations for our materials completed, it is indeed time for an updated render. Hit the Render button.

Excellent, all the materials are in play now and our scene is beginning to take form. Against insurmountable odds, you’ve made it through 3700 words. You deservedly receive my congratulations for making it this far.

We’ve now completed Tutorial 2 – Materials & Textures.

4.0 – Summary

We’ve discussed the fundamental mechanics of VRay materials and explored the affects of various material parameters. We’ve looked into using texture maps for a variety of purposes and learned the basics in mapping those textures onto our objects. With this knowledge we’ve set up the materials for our scene and are one step closer to the final render.

Using our environment and materials, we will explore the possibilities of lights and global illumination next week in Tutorial 3 – Lighting. Refer to the content overview section in Tutorial 1 for a more detailed topic list.

If you would like to see more work from this project and others, you can visit Kooque. Comments and suggestions are welcome. I sincerely hope this has been of some use and hope you return for next weeks tutorial.

5.0 – Source Files

Here are the source files for this and previous tutorials.

Ink.zip – Contains MAX file with 3D model.

These might also interest you.

• Product Visualisation – The Studio Environment Vol.1
• Link Love 21 November

December 1, 2009