PC Shareware 2000 January/PCShareware-1-00.iso/s3d/SIMPLY3D/DOCS/UG_MATRL.DP

Common Ground | 1995-02-17 | 88.8 KB | 397 lines

Times New Roman
The Material Designer
FMaterials determine the display characteristics for objects in a view.
*2MRemember that objects exist simply as wireframe models; skeletons that define
*2Nthe shape of each object.  Materials are the "skins" that are wrapped over the
*2Oobjects' "skeletons" to make them solid entities.  A material is independent of
*2@any object or surface to which it might eventually be applied.
*APEach material resource is displayed as an icon in the Materials Resource Palette
*2Hof the Resource Manager on the Project Designer.  Each icon displays the
*22material attributes associated  with the material.
*AIThe Material Designer is used to define the characteristics of materials,
including
Illumination
) choices (the "finish" on the material),
Colors
Textures
    Highlight
 and
Opacity
..  A material can be made of a solid color (eg
tTfor plastics) or an image texture; the finish can be matte or glossy; it can reflect
*2Pa specified image texture; and it can be set to varying degrees of transparency.
*AHRemember that the way a material appears in the rendered view depends on
*2Lmany factors.  In addition to the material definition as set in the Material
*2QDesigner, other factors that influence the appearance of the material include the
*2Nway the material is mapped to the object (defined in the Object Designer), the
*2Ltype and color of the light being cast on the material (defined in the Light
*2DDesigner), the shadows, etc.  The Material Designer defines only the
*2Fcharacteristics of the material.  The way the material is used and the
*2Kenvironment in which it is used have a profound impact on the appearance of
the material.
*AMMaterials are created by default when an object is loaded into Renderize Live
*2PEZ.  In addition, material-to-object relationships can be modified as needed, or
*2Lcompletely re-assigned if necessary, using the Select Toolbox on the Project
*2NDesigner.  The functionality of the Select Toolbox is discussed in appropriate
*2Pareas of this chapter; a more detailed discussion of the command is found in the
*2 Project Designer Window chapter.
The Materials Resource Icon
*cNThe material resource icons update each time a material definition is saved to
*2Pdisplay that material's look, including the color and/or texture, shininess, and
*2Jtransparency defined for the material.  Therefore you can see a material's
*2;properties simply by looking at the icon for that material.
*AQThe default icon for a material is a rectangular box with rounded edges.  If this
*2Picon does not have enough shape to display a material's characteristics, you can
*2Pchange the material's resource icon.  To do so, point to the material whose icon
The Material Designer
Times New Roman
Myou wish to change, hold down the Shift key, and press the left mouse button:
*2*the icon is now displayed as a human head.
The Default Material
*cJWhen no object resources have been loaded into Renderize Live EZ, only one
*2Pmaterial exists in the Materials Resource Palette: the "default" material.  This
*2Jmaterial is a gray matte color, with no shininess or reflective qualities.
*AMWhen an object is loaded into Renderize Live EZ, a resource icon representing
*2Rthe object is displayed in the Objects Resource Palette.  In addition, one or more
*2Kmaterial resource icons are created and displayed on the Materials Resource
*2KPalette.  When loading an AI file or a GED file from Visual Font, different
*2Jmaterials are assigned to the front and side faces of the extruded shapes.
*APTo assign new properties to a materials, drag and drop the desired material icon
*2+into the Edit Well of the Project Designer.
The Viewport
*cKThe Material Designer window includes a viewport (located below the current
*2Dresource name), in which the material being created or edited may be
*2$previewed as applied to an object.
*AITo view a material on an object, drag the desired object from the Objects
*2OResource Palette on the Project Designer and drop it into the Material Designer
*2Kviewport.  The object will be quick-rendered and displayed with the current
*2Omaterial settings.  Note that the settings used are the current settings in the
*2OMaterial Designer, regardless of whether or not these settings have been saved.
*ADAfter viewing the quick-rendered object, you can change the material
*2Ldefinitions and click on the viewport again to re-render the object with the
*2Oupdated settings.  In this way you can quickly and iteratively work towards the
*2Odesired material effect.  Remember to save your changes once the desired effect
has been reached.
*ALThe quick-rendered object in the viewport shows an approximation of material
*2Fcharacteristics.  This quick render doesn't display lighting or shadow
*2Ncharacteristics, and doesn't take into account the mapping type.  All of these
*2'factors affect the final rendered look.
*AIAfter an object has been dropped into the viewport and quick-rendered, an
*2Kimage can be dropped into the viewport and displayed as a background behind
*2Kthe quick-rendered object.  To add a background image to the viewport, drag
*2Othat image from the Images Resource Palette of the Project Designer and drop it
*2Linto the viewport.  Similarly, a color can be dropped into the viewport as a
background for the object.
The Material Designer
Times New Roman
Material Illumination Types
*cOIllumination refers to the way in which a material reacts to cast light.  There
are four illumination types:
Constant
Matte
Shiny
Image Reflect
tKThe illumination type that is selected here determines what other color and
*2Mtexture options are available in the Material Designer window.  Each of these
*23options is discussed in full later in this chapter.
Constant Illumination
*POConstant illumination means that the color assigned to a material does not vary
*2Nwith lighting or angle, but remains constant over the entire surface.  This is
*2Oalso known as "flat shading," because none of the depth of a flat-shaded object
*2Ocan be perceived.  A sphere rendered using constant illumination will appear as
*2<a circle: the "roundness" of the sphere will not be visible.
Matte Illumination
*PLLight from a material with matte illumination is totally diffuse.  It has no
*2Mreflective spot, but the color value of the material varies with the angle of
*2Nintercept with light vector.  A material with matte illumination shows shading
*2Eeffects from the lighting environment.  A sphere rendered using matte
*2Rillumination can be likened to a basketball: it has color and texture, but because
*2Sthe ball is not shiny, it has no specular highlights or reflective characteristics.
Shiny Illumination
*PQA shiny surface reflects cast light.  Its color at any given point depends on its
*2Mown basic color and the color of the reflected light.  Shininess also implies
*2Psheen, which is the degree of reflectiveness of the material.  A sphere rendered
*2Rusing shiny illumination can be likened to a bowling ball: the surface of the ball
*2Qis shiny, reflecting a certain amount of light and generating specular highlights
*2Son those areas of the ball that reflect light into our eyes.  When defining a shiny
material, a
HiLite Size
< dial allows you to set the size of the specular highlight.
tKThe  location of a highlight on an object is determined by several factors,
*2Fincluding the positions of the light and the object in relation to the
*2Ocamera.
Therefore setting highlights can be tricky.  Renderize Live EZ supplies
*2La simple method for positioning a light so that a highlight will appear at a
*:,specified location.  This is done using the
 mouse button when a light is
wwpww
wwpww
loaded into the Move Well.
The Material Designer
Times New Roman
Image Reflect Illumination
*PPImage Reflect uses any image as a reflection map: therefore, the reflection that
*2Happears on an object mapped with this material is not necessarily a true
*2Hreflection of the environment around that object.  In many cases this is
*2Lacceptable because the reflect texture is needed simply to create a polished
*2Peffect for a material.  For example, a gray scale image of large black and white
*2Qvertical stripes makes a good reflect texture for gold, copper and other metallic
materials.
Assigning Material Colors
*cNDepending on the illumination type selected for a material, there appear up to
*2Lthree Color Wells on the Material Designer.  The Matte Color Well determines
*3&the actual color of the material; the
Shiny
)f# Color Well determines the color of
Pthe specular highlight, or "hot spot" on a shiny or reflective material, and the
HiLite
)vJ dial determines the size of the specular highlight; and the Reflect Color
PWell determines the tint of a reflect texture that is assigned to the material.
*APTo define a color for a Color Well, point to the desired well and press the left
*2Jmouse button: the Color Toolbox is now opened and any changes made in that
*2JToolbox are displayed in the current Color Well.  The use of Color Well is
*2Fdescribed in full in the Renderize Live EZ Interface Overview chapter.
*d"The Matte or "Constant" Color Well
*PJThe color that appears in this Well determines the underlying color of the
*2Mmaterial.  The name of this Color Well, "Matte", changes to "Constant" if the
*2(Constant illumination type is enabled.
*AMConstant illumination materials will appear flat-shaded in this color.  Matte
*2Nillumination materials will appear this color when fully lit; partially shaded
*2Jareas will appear at some degree of luminance below this color.  Shiny and
*2KReflect illumination materials also use this as their underlying color, but
*2Lreflection colors and highlights, in addition to light shading, will largely
influence the final look.
*AKA material can be defined with a matte color alone, or with an accompanying
*2NColor Texture.  A Color Texture, described below, is an image that is assigned
*2Oas a material texture.  When rendered, the material displays the selected color
*24texture, but "tinted" with the selected Matte Color.
The Shiny Color Well
*PJThe color in this Well determines the color of the specular highlight on a
*2Nmaterial of Shiny or Reflective illumination (this Well does not appear if the
*26Constant or Matte illumination settings are selected).
The Material Designer
Times New Roman
tOIf a Shiny or Reflect illumination type is selected, the material will act as a
*2Tshiny material, reflecting the light that hits it.  Therefore a "sheen," or specular
*2Phighlight may appear over an area of the object that is rendered with a shiny or
*2Oreflective material.  The location of the specular highlight is a factor of the
*25position of the light, the object, and the viewpoint.
*ANThe degree of shininess that you define for a material will have a significant
*2Minfluence on the material's appearance.  Using the Shiny Color in conjunction
*2Fwith the HiLite Size, you can create realistic sheen characteristics.
The HiLite Size Dial
*PPThe degree of shininess, as expressed using the HiLite Size dial, determines the
*2Odiffusion with which cast light is reflected from the surface.  The shinier the
*2Qsurface, the smaller the specular highlight is: it reflects from the surface in a
*2Sbright "pinpoint".  The less shiny a surface, the larger the specular highlight is.
*2PYou can think of a highly polished surface reflecting light in a tightly focused
*2Ibeam and a duller surface reflecting more widely and more diffusely.  For
*2Ppractical purposes, the shinier the material the smaller the spot, and therefore
*2)the lower the value you would set here.
*ARIn the real world, the intensity of the highlight diminishes as the highlight area
*2Kbecomes larger (the material becomes less polished).  However, in Renderize
*2OLive EZ the area and intensity of the highlight are independently controlled to
*2Kgive you a greater degree of flexibility in defining materials.  To enhance
*2Irealism, you may wish to reduce the brightness of your Shiny Color as you
increase the HiLite Size.
The Reflect Color Well
*PJThe color in this Well determines the underlying color of an image texture
*2Dbeing used as a reflection map.  This Well appears only if a Reflect
illumination type is enabled.
*AOThe reflect color only affects the appearance of the Reflect Texture, described
*2Rbelow.  If no Reflect Texture is defined for a material, the affect of the Reflect
*21Color is not taken into account during rendering.
Assigning Textures to Materials
*cOImages can be used as texture "maps" in material definitions.  The two kinds of
*23texture maps are Color Texture and Reflect Texture.
*AMTo use an image as a texture, the desired image must first be loaded into the
*2MImages Resource Palette in the Project Designer. This is done using the File,
*2GLoad Image command on the Menu Bar of the Project Designer.  To load an
*2Himage into a Texture Well, click on the desired image icon in the Images
The Material Designer
Times New Roman
HResource Palette and drag it to the desired Texture Well on the Material
*2,Designer, then drop the image in the Well.
*AJTo remove an image from a view, point to the image in the Background Well,
*2Jhold down the Alt key on the keyboard and press the left mouse button: the
image is removed from the Well.
The Color Texture Well
*PNThe Color Texture essentially determines what the material is made of.  If the
*2Oimage in the Color Texture Well is a picture of black marble, then the material
*2Lis black marble; if the image in the Color Texture Well is a picture of wood
*2!grain, then the material is wood.
*ALImages to be used as Color Textures are usually small swatches of a texture.
*2DThese swatches are repeated as they are mapped over an object during
*2Prendering, so they are often cropped in a way that the pattern repeats correctly
*2Nas the image is repeated, creating a "seamless" material.  The appearance of a
*2IColor Texture during rendering depends on the orientation of the material
*2Pvis-a-vis the object on which it is being rendered, and on the mapping type that
*2Ois selected (texture map orientation and mapping types are described in full in
*2$the Object Designer Window chapter).
*AGThe color displayed in the Matte Color Well influences the way that the
*2Mrendered texture appears.  In this way it is possible to modify a basic Color
*2KTexture to create a variety of materials.  For example, a single wood grain
*2Stexture can be used to create a variety of materials of different wood types: a red
*2Kmatte color can be used in conjunction with the wood grain color texture to
*2Ssimulate cherry, light yellow for white oak, etc.  If you don't want the hue of the
*2;Color Texture to be changed, define a Matte Color of white.
The Reflect Texture Well
*PLThe Reflect Texture uses an image as a reflection map.  The image appears in
*2Lthe rendered view as a mirrored reflection on the object that is mapped with
*2Pthis material.  Whereas the Color Texture defines the material that the rendered
*2Qobject is made of, the Reflect Texture appears as if it exists in the environment
*2Oand its reflection is being seen in the rendered object.  Therefore the texture
*2Iappears mirrored, and somewhat diffuse or obscured depending on the other
*2-material properties defined for the material.
*AGThe way a Reflect Texture appears when rendered depends on a variety of
*2Ofactors, including the Reflect Color that was selected, the shape of the object
*2Qbeing rendered, and the position of the lights in relation to that object and the
viewpoint (camera).
The Material Designer
Times New Roman
Setting Material Opacity
*cKThe Opacity dials are used to create transparent materials.  Opacity is the
*2Ndegree to which a surface blocks or passes light.  Wood is 100% opaque.  Glass
*2Fis much less opaque.  Nothing has 0% opacity (completely transparent).
*BGThere are actually three different opacity settings for each material:
General
, and
Hilite
 opacity.
General Opacity
*PNGeneral Opacity defines the degree of transparency of the material as a whole.
*2BSelect this button to enable it, then dial in the desired opacity.
Edge Opacity
*PLEdge Opacity is used to make an object more or less opaque at its edges than
*2Sover the rest of its surface.  The default value of zero gives the edges an opacity
*2Oas defined by the General Opacity level.  If you dial in a value greater than 0
*2Mthe edge will become more opaque; if you dial in a value less than 0 the edge
will become more transparent.
*APAs an example of a more opaque edge, think of a flat plate of glass or a bubble.
*2NThese two objects have very little opacity.  At their edges, however, both the
*2Rglass plate and the bubble are more visible, because of the thickness of the glass
*2Sand/or the finish of the edges.  To simulate this effect, set the Edge Opacity to a
*2Ovalue above zero so that the edges will appear more opaque than the rest of the
*2Pobject.  The correct settings depend on experiment.  In rendering, when it looks
right, it is right.
*ANAs an example of a less opaque edge, think of a flame.  A flame is more opaque
*2Sat the center, and more transparent at the edges.  To simulate this effect, set the
*2EEdge Opacity to a value below zero so that the edges will appear more
*2(transparent than the rest of the object.
Hilite Opacity
*PNHilite Opacity is used to add realism to a rendered object by making an object
*2Qmore or less opaque at its highlights (areas of specular highlight) than over the
*2Rrest of its surface.  An example might be a glass bowl.  Over most of its surface,
*2Mthe bowl has very little opacity.  Its highlights, however, reflect almost as
*2Kbrightly as they would on an opaque surface.  Increasing the opacity of the
*2Khighlighted spots gives the surface more credibility.  The correct settings
*2Fdepend on experiment.  In rendering, when it looks right, it is right.
The Material Designer
Times New Roman
-Defining a Matte Drop Out (Transparent) Color
*cPRenderize Live EZ gives you the ability to load or define a "transparency matte"
*2Kfor a specific color on an image and perform a transparency dropout on this
*2Jcolor.   This is extremely useful when you wish to populate a view with 2D
*2Pbitmap images such as people or trees, or if you wish to create material effects
*2Gfor wicker or other loose weaves where there are holes in the material.
Matte Drop Out
8 button enables transparency matte dropout for the Color
NTexture currently loaded in the Material Designer, assuming a matte exists for
*2Lthat image.  When this button is enabled, an area of the Color Texture image
*25will appear transparent when rendered onto an object.
Before you can press the
 Matte Drop Out
{# button and get the desired effect,
Nyou must define a "matte" or drop out area: this is the area of the image that
*2Kwill become transparent when it is rendered.  Mattes are defined for images
using the
> operation in the Image Designer.  Using this command, you can
Nchoose a color on the image that will drop out during rendering.  Although any
*2Pcolor can be chosen, most bitmaps use black as this "key" color.  For example, a
*2Ibitmap image of a person may appear as the person's likeness over a black
*2Nbackground.  You can define a matte for the black color such that it drops out
*2Lwhen rendered, and all that appears is the figure of the person.  This matte
*2Ldropout capability is extremely powerful.  Refer to the Matte command in the
*2,Image Designer chapter for more information.
'Viewing and Changing Material-to-Object
Assignments
*cLRemember that materials are assigned to specific objects or parts of objects
*2P(layers, color or blocks), and that the materials are created when the object is
*2Hloaded into the project.  To view and change material assignments (which
*2Omaterials are assigned to which parts of the object), use the Select Toolbox in
*2Kthe Project Designer.  The Select Toolbox, discussed in full in the Project
*2ADesigner Window chapter, is used to manage the object-to-material
relationships in a project.
*ALAnother way to change a material-to-object assignment is to drag and drop an
*2Iobject into the Move Well on the Project Designer, then drag and drop the
*27desired material on top of the object in the Move Well.
*AMA third way to change a material-to-object definition is to save one material
*2Kresource using a material name that currently exists: when you do this, the
*2Hnewly saved material replaces the existing material, and takes over that
*2Lmaterial's object assignment.  This method is useful when you have defined a
The Material Designer
Times New Roman
tNmaterial for one object, and you wish to use that same material definition for
other objects in a project.
Creating New Materials
*cNNew materials can be defined in two ways.  First, a new material can be copied
*2Ifrom an existing material by changing the material's name in the Material
*2GDesigner and saving under the new name.  The new material appears as an
*2Oicon in the Materials Resource Palette.  However, this material is not assigned
*2Qto any objects.  To use this new material it must be assigned to an object in one
*2>of the methods described in the section above titled "Changing
*2 Material-to-Object Assignments."
*AJThe other way to create new materials is to create new material assignment
*2Nareas on an object.  This method is described in the Select Toolbox section of
the Project Designer chapter.
,Controlling the Appearance of Materials in a
View
*cIWhile the basic characteristics of a material are defined in the Material
*2PDesigner, there are other factors that strongly influence the appearance of that
material in a rendered view.
Lights and Materials
*PLThe amount of light cast on a material in a rendered view, and the direction
*2Pfrom which that light comes, profoundly affects the appearance of that material.
*2PIf the material is defined with a Shiny or Reflect illumination, the location of
*2Lthe sheen, or specular highlight on the material depends on light placement.
*ANIf a material appears too bright due to lighting conditions, the lights can be
*2Irepositioned, or the material can be darkened in the Material Designer by
*2<changing the color in the Matte and /or Shiny Color Wells.
Self-Illuminating Materials
*PPYou can define a material so that it appears to be self-illuminating.  To do so,
*2Lpoint to the Matte Color Well, then hold down the Alt key and press the left
*2Mmouse button.  The Color Well is replaced by a series of type-ins, from which
*2Pyou can set color values numerically.  Setting the RGB values greater than 1, or
*2Osetting the HSV's Value greater than 1, will create a self-illuminating effect.
*2NThe use of Color Wells is described in Full in the Renderize Live EZ Interface
Overview chapter.
The Material Designer
Times New Roman
Objects and Materials
*PIThere are many ways that a material can be mapped onto an object.  In the
*2IObject Designer, a number of mapping-related commands allow you to choose
*2Namong six different mapping techniques and three different ways of replicating
*2Pa texture swatch over the mappable area.  In addition, the position and scale of
*2Othe texture swatch can be adjusted.  Each of these options is a property of the
*2Nobject, so different objects can use different mapping techniques for a single
*2    material.
The Material Designer
&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?O
xTPP`
&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?O
p 0p`P
ph@``
xTPP`
xTPP`
&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?O
Windows 3.10 (Maker 1.03)
Nick Josephs

Visual Software, Inc.

AMIPRO
Times New Roman
zclut
:FNMS
FFPIC