Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
At this point, we've selected a texture image, provided UV coordinates for the floor, and decided to tile
it six times within the texture space. The only thing left to do is to tell the renderer which properties we
want the carpet image to affect.
In the
Inluence
panel, Diffuse Color is enabled by default and set to 100%. We'd like the carpet to use the
diffuse color chosen in the Material properties, but perhaps to use some of the colorization from the image
to enhance it. You could just turn the effect percentage down until you achieved a mix that you liked, but
there is another way. At the bottom of the Influence panel is a pop-up menu labeled
Blend
. This menu
determines how the colors and values found in this texture channel blend with those from other channels,
and with the base values in the Material properties. Here is a rundown of the most useful ones:
●
Mix:
The default. Simply blends values based on percentages. At 100%, you get the texture's color.
At 0%, you get the original color, unaffected by the texture.
●
Multiply:
The texture darkens the original color. Pure white in the texture has no effect on the
original. Use this when you want your texture to only darken, and never lighten the original values.
●
Screen:
The opposite of Multiply. The texture lightens everything that it touches. Black in the texture
does nothing. Use this when you want your texture to only lighten the original.
●
Value:
Uses the gray values of the texture to replace the gray values of the original. This is a good
choice for applying a colored texture to an already colored base when you only want the patterning
of the texture.
●
Soft Light:
For colorization. Use the colors of the texture to tint the colors of the original. Useful
for color casting, or when you want to tint the original without completely replacing it.
●
Overlay:
The texture attempts to darken areas where the texture is dark, and lighten areas where the
texture is light. Kind of like a combined “Multiply/Screen” operation.
So, if we want to get the patterning of the image without completely replacing the color, there are a
number of options that will work. Clearly, Value would do it, as it would use the base color from the
material, but the gray values from the texture, giving a dull red result with black and white details like
those of the texture. Overlay would also work, as the texture image doesn't have much color (it's very
close to black and white), but Overlay's result can be slightly unpredictable. It is better to find something
else if possible. Multiply looks like a good choice, as it guarantees that the base color we've chosen in the
material properties will be the lightest the result will ever be (because multiply only darkens). A test render
using Multiply blending and Value blending shows that the result with Value is unusually bright. So,
Multiply it is.
With diffuse color taken care of, the next item on the list is specular intensity. Of course, we're not using
specularity for this material, so we can skip it.
Let's deal with the roughness. Disable Diffuse Color in the Influence panel. We'll turn it back on after
we get the Normal value sorted out, but it's best to work on each setting in isolation at first. Enable
Normal influence at the default value of 0.5 and try a test render. Eh. It's pretty lame, and while subtlety
is good, the result doesn't look anything like carpet. I had to raise the Normal value over 4.0 to get an
acceptable result.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search