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  • Material Hint [Realistic Match, Water, Rubber, Anodized Aluminum, etc.]: Guides the plugin when interpreting the simple 'Shaded' material representation.
  • Color Map:
    • Brightness, etc.: Image controls for the color 'texture' bitmap used in the shaded renderer. For images with RGB values greater that 220, we recommend setting Clamp Max to 220, or reducing brightness by 10%.
    • Image Map Interpolation: When enabled, the bitmap will be interpolated, resulting in reduced texture aliasing.
    • Map Alpha Channel [Off, Bump, Roughness]: When enabled, will use the color map's alpha channel (if any) to control bump or roughness in the resulting MXM. The slider controls the maximum strength.
  • Transparency Map:
    • Brightness, etc.: Image controls for the transparency 'texture' bitmap used in the shaded renderer.
  • ID Color: The color the material will display as in the ID Material channel.
  • Preview: Generates a preview of the material of on the selected formZ preview object (6” sphere, 6” cylinder, 6” cube, or 6” plane).
  • Export MXM: Saves the auto-translated MXM to disk, with the option to re-link as a referenced MXM, and continue editing the material in MXED.

 

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Closest Match

The Closest Match material hint attempts to match the Shaded material as closely as possible, while still allowing enough flexibility to emulate a variety of materials. The description below provides a starting point for thinking about how to use Closest Match. Details have been omitted in the interest of clarity.

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In the images below, the Shaded render representation is on the left and the Maxwell translation on the right.

Image Modified

  • Hint: Closest Match
  • Color: 197, 228, 254
  • Ambient Factor: 100
  • Diffuse Factor: 75
  • Specular Factor: 0
  • Specular Roughness: 0
  • Specular Color: 255, 255, 255
  • Transparency: 0

Uses: paper, matte wall paint

Image Modified

  • Hint: Closest Match
  • Color: 197, 228, 254
  • Ambient Factor: 100
  • Diffuse Factor: 75
  • Specular Factor: 50
  • Specular Roughness: 0
  • Specular Color: 255, 255, 255
  • Transparency: 0

Uses: glazed tile, porcelain, lacquer, enamel paint

  • Hint: Closest Match
  • Color: 197, 228, 254
  • Ambient Factor: 100
  • Diffuse Factor: 75
  • Specular Factor: 50
  • Specular Roughness: 25
  • Specular Color: 255, 255, 255
  • Transparency: 0

Uses: powder-coat finishes, aluminized surfaces

  • Hint: Closest Match
  • Color: 254, 69, 0
  • Ambient Factor: 100
  • Diffuse Factor: 75
  • Specular Factor: 100
  • Specular Roughness: 25
  • Specular Color: 254, 147, 123
  • Transparency: 0

Uses: metallic paints

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Shaded ParameterMXM Mapping
ColorBase BSDF Reflectance 0° (attenuated); BSDF Reflectance 90° 255, 255, 255
Ambient FactorAttenuates Color and Specular Color (not applied to bitmaps; use map adjustment controls)
Diffuse FactorAttenuates Color and Specular Color (not applied to bitmaps; use map adjustment controls)
Specular FactorTop Coat Layer Opacity/Mask (Layer is additive)
Specular RoughnessTop Coat Layer BSDF roughness
Specular ColorTop Coat Layer BSDF Reflectance 0° & Layer 1 BSDF Reflectance 90°
TransparencyTop Coat and Base Layer Opacity/Mask multiplier

 

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Realistic Match

Similar to Closest Match, by yields materials that will appear to be more naturalistic, and will generally clear noise faster.

Industrial Coating

Yields a baked enamel-type finish. Specular Roughness values result in materials like car paint; higher values resemble a powder-coated finish.

Architectural Glass - Normal; Architectural Glass - Clear

These material hints are used for fast-rendering architectural glass. In most cases, they will work well without adjustment. These materials will reflect, but not refract, light. This allows solid volumes to appear as if they were composed of a thin glass shell.

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The Clear variant applies an additional top coat to the glass which may be useful for some applications. Experiment with both types to see which works better for your application.

Image Modified

  • Hint: Architectural Glass, Normal
  • Color: 213, 243, 244
  • Ambient Factor: 100
  • Diffuse Factor: 75
  • Specular Factor: N/A
  • Specular Roughness: 0
  • Specular Color: N/A
  • Transparency: 80

Image Modified

  • Hint: Architectural Glass, Clear
  • Color: 230, 242, 241
  • Ambient Factor: 100
  • Diffuse Factor: 75
  • Specular Factor: N/A
  • Specular Roughness: 0
  • Specular Color: N/A
  • Transparency: 80

Architectural Glass, Normal Technical Summary

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Shaded ParameterMXM Mapping
ColorBase BSDF Reflectance 0° (attenuated); Base BSDF Reflectance 90° (full color)
Ambient FactorAttenuates Color (not applied to bitmaps; use map adjustment controls)
Diffuse FactorAttenuates Color (not applied to bitmaps; use map adjustment controls)
Specular FactorNot Used
Specular RoughnessBase Layer BSDF roughness
Specular ColorNot Used
TransparencyTop Coat and Base Layer Opacity/Mask multiplier

 

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Anodized Alumimum

Results in a multi-layer anodized surface. The lowed the Specular Roughness, the "shinier" the material.

Aluminum, Copper, Cobalt, Gold, Silver

The metals series creates efficient-rendering metals with minimal effort. The only parameters that need to be adjusted are the color and roughness.

For highly realistic metal materials, referenced MXM files with complex IOR files and bump or roughness maps are recommended.

Image Modified

  • Hint: Aluminum
  • Color: 195, 196, 197
  • Ambient Factor: 100
  • Diffuse Factor: 75
  • Specular Factor: N/A
  • Specular Roughness: 41
  • Specular Color: N/A
  • Transparency: 0
Image Modified
  • Hint: Gold
  • Color: 231, 136, 0
  • Ambient Factor: 100
  • Diffuse Factor: 75
  • Specular Factor: N/A
  • Specular Roughness: 0
  • Specular Color: N/A
  • Transparency: 0

Metals Technical Summary

  • 1 layer
  • 2 BDSFs weighted 60:40
  • ND, K, and Reflectance 90° set appropriately for each metal type
Shaded ParameterMXM Mapping
ColorBSDF Reflectance 0°
Ambient FactorAttenuates Color (not applied to bitmaps; use map adjustment controls)
Diffuse FactorAttenuates Color (not applied to bitmaps; use map adjustment controls)
Specular FactorNot Used
Specular RoughnessBSDF 1 roughness; BSDF 2 attenuated (50%) roughness
Specular ColorNot Used
TransparencyTop Coat and Base Layer Opacity/Mask multiplier

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Water

The water hint will work well without adjustment in most cases. Only the color and transparency parameters affect the material.

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Shaded ParameterMXM Mapping
ColorBSDF Transmittance
Ambient FactorNot Used
Diffuse FactorNot Used
Specular FactorNot Used
Specular RoughnessNot Used
Specular ColorNot Used
TransparencyAttenuation, mapped 1m - 10m

 

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Emitter

See form•Z | Lighting | Emitter Materials.

 

Wireframe