KeyShot Forum

Share => Materials and Textures => Topic started by: ilovedividends on December 18, 2014, 01:10:35 PM

Title: stainless steel
Post by: ilovedividends on December 18, 2014, 01:10:35 PM
Hi all.

I am able to get certain camera angles looking nice with stainless steel, but then I go for another angle and the light just blows out the stainless like crazy or the stainless takes on a completely unsatisfying look vs the previous camera angle.  So I then change hues/sat/etc and or roughness, etc. 

I will say that I have been taking pictures around the house of some stainless and was amazed how bad/awkward it looked vs what I picture in my mind.  If the light is not just right stainless pictures look nothing like what I imagine in my mind.  Maybe this is a little marketing brainwash that I have from seeing beautiful pictures over the years.

I would like to fine tune my stainless over time and I am wondering if anyone has a stainless no brush or very light brush that is good with most angles for the most part? 

I actually started getting some better stainless after dabbling with the blue zinc a little and seeing that just a very tiny amount of blue helps a little.

Thanks.
Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: thomasteger on December 18, 2014, 01:26:20 PM
Did you check the KeyShot cloud?
Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: richardfunnell on December 19, 2014, 04:39:15 AM
If you want to get more control over your stainless (and other metal materials), working with the anisotropic material gives you much more control.
First, it allows you to define the highlight direction of the material via roughness values; second it also allows you to define reflectivity/specularity via color or texture.
This second item allows you keep your metal materials from blowing out.
I also give stainless some sort of color depending on the chromium or nickel content, 304 is warmer vs. 430 which is cooler.

Here's a quick example using a standard environment & simple part.

Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: ilovedividends on December 21, 2014, 08:54:52 AM
thanks i am working on the anisotrpoic material right now.  I looked in the cloud and saw a couple stainless materials but those alone didn't get me to where I wanted to get yet.

thanks.
Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: ilovedividends on December 21, 2014, 02:34:37 PM
Im getting better results now using anistropic.

I am playing with the X and Y roughness, and I can see a difference but I cannot wrap my mind around how they are different.  Is there a way you think of differentiating b/w X and Y?
Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: richardfunnell on December 22, 2014, 07:10:36 AM
Anisotropic is a tough material to get perfect, it will take a little bit of fine tuning to get it right.

My trick for working with X/Y roughness is to get the value to be the same on both, then slightly adjust one to get the correct direction for the highlights.
It will work best when there is a big difference between X & Y, usually I end up with something like .1 x to .01 y. It does depend on the original orientation of your geometry though, so that's something to keep in mind.
That will basically drive the highlight direction, then I add color/specular textures to get the right appearance for the brushed material.

Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: Ed on December 22, 2014, 03:48:05 PM
Richard - Do you have an example of your particular stainless steel material you can put on the Cloud?

Ed
Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: richardfunnell on December 22, 2014, 05:19:09 PM
Yes indeed, just uploaded one called "Anisotropic Stainless Steel" ;) You will probably have to tweak it for your geometry/environment, let me know if you have any questions. This one is pretty blue which can be adjusted in the color. Thanks!
Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: Ed on December 24, 2014, 07:43:07 AM
Thanks for sharing your stainless steel Richard.  Here is a quick test on a ring.  I only adjusted the material color and the texture scale.

Ed Ferguson

Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: richardfunnell on January 06, 2015, 06:02:55 AM
Wow Ed, that looks great!! Thank you for sharing  :D
Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: guest84672 on January 06, 2015, 08:59:32 AM
Impressive, Ed. Did you upload to the cloud?
Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: Ed on January 06, 2015, 02:58:32 PM
Thomas - Richard Funnell uploaded his Anisotropic Stainless Steel already (see his posting below).

My ring uses his material.  All I did was adjust the color (I'm using less blue), and scale of the texture to match the scale of the ring.

Ed Ferguson
Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: guest84672 on January 06, 2015, 03:14:03 PM
ok - thanks for clarifying, Ed!
Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: Greg Polymerou on January 06, 2016, 05:25:27 AM
I have uploaded in the Cloud a S/S material that works well with flat surfaces, at least for me. It has some bright to dark transition which fakes the effect of slightly deformed surface. Give it a try.
Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: Finema on December 28, 2016, 05:26:40 AM
Quote from: Ed on January 06, 2015, 02:58:32 PM
Thomas - Richard Funnell uploaded his Anisotropic Stainless Steel already (see his posting below).

My ring uses his material.  All I did was adjust the color (I'm using less blue), and scale of the texture to match the scale of the ring.

Ed Ferguson

Hello,

I don't find it on the cloud  :(
Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: richardfunnell on December 28, 2016, 07:08:04 AM
Quote from: Finema on December 28, 2016, 05:26:40 AM
Quote from: Ed on January 06, 2015, 02:58:32 PM
Thomas - Richard Funnell uploaded his Anisotropic Stainless Steel already (see his posting below).

My ring uses his material.  All I did was adjust the color (I'm using less blue), and scale of the texture to match the scale of the ring.

Ed Ferguson

Hello,

I don't find it on the cloud  :(

Strange, I just re-uploaded it. It's uses an image texture instead of procedural textures, and you may have to tweak the base color which is artificially light.

Let me know if it works for you!
Title: Re: stainless steel
Post by: Finema on December 28, 2016, 07:39:31 AM
yes it's OK now.
Thanks Richard.  ;)