Please don't translate or copy these tutorials
elsewhere. But feel free to link to this page. Thank you.
This tutorial is all about creating materials in
V-ray. It's quite basic, but even for experienced users there might be some
useful tips and tricks.
I am using Vray 3.0 but you should be able to
follow along with any older version.
and check out this lesson on how to create a glass material, step by step :)
Link
In this Lesson we're going to Explain the
material editor, and create a white wall material.
Start by creating a Vray material. Click on standard,
this will open a new window, called the Material/Map browser. Select Vray mtl
and Ok.
You will notice that the material already changed
to a slightly darker color.
The diffuse color of a material is the color that
appears under diffuse, or scattered light. It is what we usually think of as
“the” color of a material, and what you will set first, when you create a basic
material.
Create
a tea pot from the extended primitives menu. And now on the Slate Material
Editor toolbar, click 
(Assign Material to Selection). In the viewport, the
tea pot will turn grey.
Change the color of the diffuse slot
to Red (RGB 209, 8, 8).
Roughness
This example demonstrates the effect
of the Roughness parameter. Note how as the Roughness increases, the materials
appears more "flat" and dusty.
Roughness = 0.0 Roughness = 0.8
Reflect/ Refract
The Reflect/Refract produces
a reflective or refractive surface. For example, to make the tea pot reflective
we will assign a lighter shade of grey (RGB 208, 208, 208) as its reflection, you
will notice the material became reflective.
And change the color of
the refract slot to the same shade of red we chose, just copy the color and
paste it on the refract slot, and you will now notice the material refracts
light in the assigned red color.
The material now is a
basic glass material, in a shade of red. (you can check out how to create a
glass material on this Link)
For clear, fairly strong
reflections, keep Reflection Glossiness at 1.0. And For slightly blurry but strong reflections, set a lower
Reflection Glossiness value.
Reflection Glossiness = 1.0 Reflection Glossiness = 1.0 Reflection Glossiness at 0.8
Refraction Glossiness = 1.0 Refraction Glossiness = 0.8 Refraction Glossiness at 0.8
IOR
For objects that are not dielectric,
you may keep the IOR as it is, but when creating dielectric objects the IOR can
change,( eg: The IOR of standard glass is 1.5, and
the IOR for water is 1.33).
This example demonstrates the effect of the Fresnel option. Note how the strength of the reflection
varies with the IOR of the material.
This example demonstrates the effect of the IOR. Note how light bends more as the IOR deviates from 1.0.
IOR = 1.6 IOR = 1.5 IOR = 1.3
Subdivs
Subdivs (Subdivisions): A
subdivision surface is a polygon mesh that has been divided into more faces
while retaining the object's general shape. Increasing the subdivs helps you
render the material a lot more clearly if needed, such as in glass materials
and other reflective/refractive materials.
Fog color, is the color
you choose to give the material a tint of it. When decreasing the multiplier
the effect of the fog color decreases as well. And for better results use fog
bias.
Max Depth
The max depth setting for
both reflections and refractions. To speed up calculations, you can control the
depth of reflections and refractions that will be calculated by Vray. Usually 5
is enough.
BRDF Type
The BRDF types determine
the type of the highlights and glossy reflections for a material. You would use
Ward for metals such as stainless steel. Blinn and Phong for plastics and none
metals and Blinn for chrome materials. Calculation speeds do vary for each
type. Phong is fastest, followed by Blinn, and then Ward.
Soften
You can control the
blending between the light and dark areas within the specular reflection.
Fix dark glossy edges
Unwanted dark edges may
appear, use this to eliminate them.
This is where we end our Lesson and in the next lesson we will create the wall material.
