Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
The beauty of a material design such as this is that the base Diffuse Color can be adjusted, scaled, and
otherwise manipulated while keeping the related channels properly tied in. As you develop your own mater-
ials and alter presets, try to keep in mind that a sound construction from the beginning will save you a lot
of time in the long run. Keep a clean structure with the material layers and you will be able to manage and
manipulate it much more easily.
Grouping Materials
Layers will help you to create complex and believable materials, but when textures require depth, additional
layers can add up quickly and get out of control. This is where grouping can help you create materials with
complexity of a higher order of magnitude.
To demonstrate this, you will take the completed concrete texture and add more to it. Let's start by adding
some chipped-off paint. Because you have already looked at the creation of some simple materials, there is
no need to go into great depth on the creation of a simple painted concrete material. Find the Red Curb 01
material at the bottom of the concrete section, where the base material was located. Simply double-clicking
the material to add it will work, but just adding all of the material components on top of the stack will also
cause a bit of a mess. Instead, it can be helpful to start adding groups into the material:
1.
Go to the Add Layer drop-down menu in the Shader Tree and choose Group. This places an empty
group inside the current material.
2.
Position the group on top. Then select all of the concrete layers and drag them into the new group.
