Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
As we have seen, the
Node Editor
window is not the only way to build the materials;
in the
Properties
panel on the right-hand side of the UI, we have access to the
Ma-
terial
window, which is usually divided as follows:
• The material name, user, and the datablock tab
• The
Surface
tab, including in a vertical ordered column only the shader
nodes added in the
Node Editor
window and already connected to each
other
• The
Displacement
tab, which we'll see later
• The
Settings
tab, where we can set the object color as seen in the view-
port in not-rendered mode (
Viewport Color
), the material
Pass Index
,
and a
Multiple Importance Sample
option
The
Material
window not only reflects what we do in the
Node Editor
window and
changes accordingly to it (and vice versa), but also can be used to change the val-
ues, to easily switch the closures themselves and to some extent to connect them to
the other nodes.
The
Material
and the
Node Editor
windows are so mutual that there is no prevalen-
ce in which one to use to build a material; both can be used individually or combined,
depending on preferences or practical utility. In some cases, it can be very handy to
switch a shader from the
Surface
tab under
Material
on the right (or a texture from
the
Texture
window as well, but we'll see textures later), leaving untouched all the
settings and the links in the node's network.
There is no question, by the way, that the
Material
window can become pretty com-
plex and confusing as a material network grows more and more in complexity, while
the graphic appearance of the
Node Editor
window shows the same network in a
much more clear and comprehensible way.
There's more...
Looking at the
Rendered
viewport, you'll notice that the image is now quite noisy and
that there are white dots in certain areas of the image; these are the infamous fire-
flies, caused mainly by transparent, luminescent, or glossy surfaces. Actually, they
have been introduced in our render by the glossy component.
Follow these steps to avoid them:
