Materials

A material consists of several graphics/textures in order to create the most accurate, true-to-life image possible. Each graphic has its own task.

Structure of a material

  • Texture

    • A texture is an image file. This can be a floor, a tile, stones, fabric, metal, etc.

  • Roughness

    • Roughness indicates how rough a surface is. This is done using a black and white image. The darker the area in the image, the smoother the surface. The lighter the areas, the less shiny the surface.

  • Metallic

    • Indicates how metallic a surface is. This is also done using a black and white image.

  • Normal Map/Bump Map

    • The normal map simulates structures. The graphic for this has a blue tone and the edges where it refracts the light are either green or pink. Based on these colors, the renderer recognizes where the light refracts and thus generates a more realistic representation of the surface.

    A very good source for textures is the website www.textures.com. Registration is free and you get 15 credits per day, which you can use to download free textures in a resolution of (1024 × 1024 pixels). For higher resolutions you need a premium account.

Create a material

  1. In the Material Editor, click the Green Plus icon in the upper left corner
  2. Now appears below the new material
  3. You can also give it a name, e.g: Checker plate
  4. Color / Texture, use the left icon to select the texture
  5. Roughness, select the roughness graphic for your material
  6. Metallic, if available, select the graphic for metal here
  7. Normal Map, here you select your normal