Gold material

A polished gold metal material with ray traced or environment mapped reflections.

See also: Materials , Texture

This is a metallic material simulating polished gold. There is an option for mapping the specular color. There are options for both ray traced or environment mapped reflections, as well as an option for masking the reflections.

Parameters

Surface

Ambient Intensity

A multiplier for the ambient contribution to the material. The ambient lighting model only looks at the ambient lights in the scene. If there are no ambient light, this slider will have no affect.

Lambert Intensity

A multiplier for the diffuse contribution to the material. Traditionally metal shaders have very little diffuse, so this value should be low. Most of the color comes from the specular and/or the reflections.

Use Base Color

If this box is not checked, the Base Color is ignored. Defaults to on. If Use Base Color, Use Point Color and Use Color Map are all off, the surface color will be white.

Base Color

This is the main surface color for the material. Defaults to white.

Use Point Color

If this box is checked, the point color, (Cd), if defined, is multiplied with the Base Color. Defaults to on. If Use Base Color, Use Point Color and Use Color Map are all off, the surface color will be white.

Opacity

The opacity color for this material.

Use Point Alpha

If set, the Alpha attributes will be multiplied into the final Opacity. If no Alpha Attribute exists, Opacity is unaffected.

Color Map

Use Color Map

If this box is checked the Base Color is multiplied by the specified texture map. Defaults to off. If Use Base Color, Use Point Color and Use Color Map are all off, the surface color will be white.

Base Color Map

This the name of the texture file. The icon to the right opens a file browser.

Color Map Wrap

Determines what the texture looks like when the texture coordinates are larger or less than 0 to 1. The options are:

  • Repeat means the texture will repeat (tile).

  • Streak means the texture color at the edges is clamped and streaks outside the map.

  • Decal sets the color outside the texture map to the Border Color.

See texture for more information.

Color Map Filter

Type of anti-aliasing filter used. See texture for more information.

Color Map Width

This is the width in pixels used by the filter in both u and v directions. See texture for more information.

Color Map Border

The color used when Decal wrapping is selected.

Specular

Specular Intensity

A multiplier for the specular contribution to the material.

Specular Color

The specular highlight color. Traditionally metal shaders have the same color for the specular highlight as the Base Color, maybe a little less saturated.

U Roughness

This value controls the size or spread of the specular highlight. When Anisotropic is selected, this value controls the specular highlight in only the U direction.

V Roughness

When Anisotropic is selected, this value controls the specular highlight in only the V direction. It is ignored with any other specular function.

Sharpness

This value controls the sharpness of the edge of the specular highlight. It is used only if Glossy specular is selected.

Specular Type

A selector for the specular function. Glossy is typically used for very polished metals to get a sharp highlight common to highly polished materials. See specular for more information.

Specular Map

Use Specular Map

If this box is checked, the specular color is multiplied by the texture in Specular Map. Defaults to off.

Specular Map

This the name of the texture file. The icon to the right opens a file browser.

Spec Map Wrap

Determines what the texture looks like when the texture coordinates are larger or less than 0 to 1. The options are:

  • Repeat means the texture will repeat (tile).

  • Streak means the texture color at the edges is clamped and streaks outside the map.

  • Decal sets the color outside the texture map to the Border Color.

See texture for more information.

Spec Map Filter

Type of anti-aliasing filter used. See texture for more information.

Spec Map Width

This is the width in pixels used by the filter in both u and v directions. See texture for more information.

Spec Map Border

The color used when Decal wrapping is selected. See texture for more information.

Reflections

Reflection Intensity

A multiplier to lower or brighten the reflections' contribution to the material.

Reflection Color

The tint for the reflections. Traditionally the reflections in metal shaders are tinted with the same color as the Base Color.

Ray Trace

Use Ray Trace

If this box is checked, ray tracing is used to calculate the reflection contribution. Defaults to on.

Use Index of Refraction

If this box is checked, the index of refection is taken in account in the ray tracing calculation. Defaults to on.

Index of Refraction

This value is the ratio of the speed of light in one medium, such as air, to that of another medium. This determines how much the ray bends as it passes from air into another material. Higher values tend to "push" the reflections towards the edges.

Ray Bias

This is typically a small number used to help solve self-intersection issues.

Jitter Amount

This is a value between 0, no jitter and 1, maximum jitter. It controls how randomly the samples are distributed.

Cone Angle

The size of the cone (in degrees) over which samples are distributed.

Samples

The number samples to calculate. The more samples, the better the quality, the slower the render.

Background Color

This color is returned when the ray does not hit anything and there is no environment map specified.

Environment Map

Environment Map

If there is the path to a texture here and ray trace is turned off, then this map is used to calculate the reflection contribution. If ray trace is on and there is a texture, then the texture color is returned, when the ray does not hit anything. Without a texture here,

the Background Color is returned when the ray misses.

It is recommended to have a texture path in this slot. The background image as a texture is a good choice to start.

Env Map Wrap

Determines what the texture looks like when the texture coordinates are larger or less than 0 to 1. The options are:

  • Repeat means the texture will repeat (tile).

  • Streak means the texture color at the edges is clamped and streaks outside the map.

  • Decal sets the color outside the texture map to the Border Color.

See envmap for more information.

Env Map Filter

Type of anti-aliasing filter used. See envmap for more information.

Env Map Width

This is the width in pixels used by the filter in both u and v directions. See envmap for more information.

Env Map Border

The color used when Decal wrapping is selected. See envmap for more information.

Env Map Space

The reflection ray used to do the look up in the map is transformed into this space. See envmap for more information.

Use Faux Fresnel

If the box is checked, normal falloff is used to give an inexpensive Fresnel effect to environment mapped reflections.

Faux Fresnel Bias

  • At 1 the reflections become stronger towards the edges linearly.

  • For values greater than 1, the reflections are pushed out towards the edges.

  • For values less than 1, the reflection are less visible in the middle.

  • Zero (0) will have no affect.

Reflection Mask

Use Reflection Mask

If this box is checked, the reflection intensity is multiplied by the selected channel of the Reflection Mask. Defaults to off.

Reflection Mask

This the name of the texture file. The icon to the right opens a file browser.

Refl Mask Channel

Picks which channel of the texture is used for the mask. This allows using the one map for 3 masks. The default is lum which uses the luminance of all the channels in the texture as the mask.

Refl Mask Wrap

Determines what the texture looks like when the texture coordinates are larger or less than 0 to 1. The options are:

  • Repeat means the texture will repeat (tile).

  • Streak means the texture color at the edges is clamped and streaks outside the map.

  • Decal sets the color outside the texture map to the Border Color.

See texture for more information.

Refl Mask Filter

Type of anti-aliasing filter used. See texture for more information.

Refl Mask Width

This is the width in pixels used by the filter in both u and v directions. See texture for more information.

Refl Mask Border

The color used when Decal wrapping is selected. See texture for more information.

Properties

Reflect Limit

This limits the number of bounces for a reflection ray. Larger numbers equal longer rendering time and may not improve the images. See render properties for more information.