VRay Material Library: Textures, Procedural maps, Shaders and All functionalities covered in detail

The following?is an excerpt from my new book (Chapter 2)?with?Taylor & Francis/CRC Press, entitled:??

V-Ray 5 for 3ds Max 2020: 3D Rendering Workflows

?Click on the above link to find out more about my new book.

This chapter will start with a quick summary about the V-Ray 5 rendering engine.

Followed by taking users through the process of installing V-Ray 5 accordingly, and setting up the Custom UI and Default Switcher function.

Following that, users will be shown how to load and access the V-Ray Material browser dialog.

Throughout this chapter, users will be taken through every single VRayMtl parameter and functionalities such as, the Diffuse, Roughness, Reflect, Glossiness, Max depth, Fresnel reflections, Metalness, Refract, IOR, Abbe number, Fog color, Fog multiplier, Translucency, Affect shadows, Output, Falloff, BRDF, Coat, Sheen, Bump, and many other V-Ray features.

Finally, users will learn how to use procedural maps such as, VRayBitmap, VRayTriplanarTex, Bitmaps, Bricks, Metals, Carpaint, VRayDisplacementMod, VRayUVWRandomizer, VRayMultiSubTex, VRayPointCloudColor, VRayDirt, VRayAerialPersepective, VRayLightMtl, VRayMtlWrapper, VRayOverrideMtl, VRay2SidedMtl, VRayBlendMtl, Mix, VRayEdgesTex, and much more.????

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VRay 5 is fully integrated with 3Ds Max, and??comes equipped with a list of robust and powerful procedural maps and shaders to help achieve complex and striking results.?

By default, most V-Ray 5 Material presets are ready to render.

In the discussions that will follow, we will focus primarily on the VRayMtl parameters/ Presets and some its most popular procedural maps.???

In order to access the VRayMtl parameters, V-Ray 5 needs to be installed and loaded first.

To load V-Ray, press F10 to open the Render Setup dialog. Alternatively, simply click on its main toolbar button.

In the Render Setup dialog, go to the Common tab

<Common tab>

Scroll down and open the Assign Renderer rollout parameters. Click on its Production toggle.

<?Assign Renderer rollout parameters??and Production toggle>

Pick the V-Ray 5 render, in the Choose Renderer dialog. The V-Ray renderer should load automatically.

<Choose Renderer dialog with V-Ray 5 highlighted>

To begin using the VRayMtl, simply open the Material Editor (M).

For the purpose of this discussion, we will be using the Compact Material Editor version, as opposed to Slate (Node base).?

<?Compact Material Editor button on the main toolbar>

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??????????????????????????<?Material Editor dialog open>??????????????????????????

This chapter assumes the standard material was automatically loaded in the Material Editor dialog.

Otherwise, you should probably see the Physical Material instead.

???????????????????????????<?Physical Material dialog loaded>

By default, 3ds Max has the Custom UI and Defaults Switcher set to, DesignVIZ.ART, which automatically loads the Physical Materials.

To change this, simply go to the Customize toolbar and choose the Custom UI and Defaults Switcher option.

??????????????<?Custom UI and Defaults Switcher from the Customize main toolbar>

Currently, you may have the DesignVIZ.ART loaded.

????????????????????????<?Dialog with DesignVIZ.ART loaded?>

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To change it, simply select the?Max.vray DefaultUI option, and click to Set.??

??????????????????????<Dialog with?Max.vray DefaultUI option Set>

Note:?Next time you open a brand new 3ds Max scene, the Material Editor should automatically load with V-Ray materials by default.

However, this action might remove the new V-Ray toolbar, along with the new Asset Browser.

<?New?V-Ray toolbar with Asset Browser>

Currently, there's no way to pull back the new V-Ray Asset Browser from the Customize User Interface .

For this reason alone, users will be required to close 3ds Max and uninstall V-Ray 5 first.

Next, open 3ds Max and set the Custom UI and Defaults Switcher to be Max.ray.

<Dialog?with?Max.vray DefaultUI option>

Close 3ds Max and reinstall V-Ray 5.

Next time you open 3ds Max, the new V-Ray toolbar should appear automatically, along with the V-Ray materials loaded in the Material Editor dialog.???

?To continue, let's assume most readers didn't re-install V-Ray 5, and have the Standard Materials automatically loaded in the Material Editor.

?To load the VRayMtl, simply click on the Standard toggle, and choose the VRayMtl from the Material/Map Browser list.?

<Standard toggle clicked to?Load VRayMtl>

If you happen to have the Physical Material loaded, simply click on its toggle to load the VRayMtl

<?Physical Material toggle clicked to load VRayMtl?>

Because V-Ray 5 displays the shaders and lighting more accurately in the material slots, the shader preview may take slightly longer to update.

To avoid this, simply go to the Settings tab.

Under the System rollout parameters, enable the, Native 3ds Max material swatches

<?Settings tab with Native 3ds Max material swatches enabled under System rollout?>

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For realistic material previews, users??can still use the V-Ray Asset Browser toolbar.

<?V-Ray Asset Browser toolbar?>

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This new VRay material library can also be found in:??C:\Users\User\Documents\V-Ray Material Library

Alternatively, simply visit the Chaos Group website to download it from there:

https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/VMAX/V-Ray+Asset+Browser

?V-Ray Asset Browser dialog comes with a huge range of ready to render Material Library presets which are fast to display, and provide a full preview of its physical properties.

Most of its physical properties derive from the VRayMtl parameters we will be discussing in this chapter.???

The Material Library presets are a massive help to speed up users' workflow.

<?V-Ray Asset Browser dialog open>

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V-Ray Asset Browser comes with the following functionalities:

Filter case sensitive: When enabled (it turns blue), this button takes into consideration the upper and lower cases of text typed in the search bar.????

This text field is often used to quickly search for specific materials.

Filter by meta Data: When enabled, it filters the searches by metadata.??

Sort by name:??When enabled, it sorts the materials displayed in the dialog alphabetically.??

Open ME on apply: When enabled, the Material Editor dialog(M) opens??automatically when materials are applied to object/s.

Users need to right click on a specific material slot and choose to, Apply to selected objects .???

Use real world scale: When enabled, it automatically enables the real-world scale function of selected VRayBitmaps,??when applied via the V-ray Asset Browser dialog.

This function applies to the tiling and other material values.

Always enable this button prior to applying materials to selected objects, or adding materials to scene/material slot.

Note:?This function can be found inside the Coordinates rollout of textures applied. It may Not work sometimes (bug), and users will be required to enable it manually.?

<?Coordinates rollout parameters with Use Real-World Scale enabled>

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Use triplanar mapping: When enabled, it adds the VrayTriplanarTex procedural map.

It serves as substitute for UVW maps on objects. It's useful to apply it on objects without UVWs (merged 3d assets , etc).

Always enable this button prior to applying materials to selected objects. Or prior to adding materials to scene/material slot.

As mentioned earlier, users can apply materials from the V-Ray Material Browser dialog, by simply right clicking on a specific material slot, and choosing to Apply to Selected object(s) .

Users can also choose to, Preview the material, Add to scene and Add to favourites.???

The option to Add to scene loads the selected material in the material slot.

Some of the V-Ray preset materials come with a VRayBitmap procedural map applied to its diffuse toggle and a TX file assigned to it.

<?TX file extensions in the folder list?>

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<TX file assigned and material slot maximized>

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TX file formats are extremely useful for memory cache efficiency, when rendering textures, and reducing aliasing artefacts.

These file formats contain pre-filtered levels of detail of a texture (from low to high resolution).??

Each level of detail is loaded according to their proximity to the camera/view.

The high resolution version is automatically loaded for close ups. And the low resolution when further away.?

When the VrayTriplanarTex is applied, it automatically goes into the Mapping source toggle.

VRayTriplanarTex will be later discussed in more detail.?

<?Material applied with Use triplanar mapping, and VRayBitmap with VrayTriplanarTex used in the Mapping source?>

?To apply each VRay material from the Material Editor, users need to select a material slot, and object/s in the scene. Followed by clicking on the, Assign Material to Selection button.??

<?Click the Assign Material to Selection button?>

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Basic parameters

This chapter is an overview of V-Ray materials and parameters. Not step by step tutorials, as depicted from chapter 6 and onwards.

However, to test some of the parameters described here, please open the 3ds Max file under the name, VRay Materials.max

This 3ds Max scene comes with a V-Ray Frame Buffer file format (vfbl) and a LUT file loaded in its V-Ray Frame Buffer dialog.

The LUT file associated with this chapter is under the name, 3DCollective_sRGB_Agfa_Futura_03Hard.cube

<?LUT file being loaded by clicking the Browse toggle?>

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The VRay Frame Buffer file format associated with this chapter is under the name, VRay Materials.vfbl?

<?Load layer tree preset clicked to Load VRay Frame Buffer layers file>

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Diffuse

Diffuse?Color?-??This color swatch enables users to pick and choose a diffuse color, by using the Color Selector dialog.?

To access the Color Selector dialog, simply left click on its color swatch and hold down. Once the Color Selector dialog appears, pick a color in the Hue section. Or type in a specific value and adjust its Whiteness slider.

Alternatively, one can sample colors by selecting the, Sample Screen Color picker, and picking a color??inside, or outside 3ds max.??????

<?Diffuse color swatch dialog used to change colors??>

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<?Color Selector dialog used to Diffuse color to orange>

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<?Sample Screen Color picker?button>

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Diffuse?toggle- The diffuse toggle allows users to plug a host of standard and V-Ray procedural maps listed in the Material/Map Browser.

The VRayBitmap procedural map is often used to apply textures to its Bitmap toggle, as previously shown. It's worth noting that, reflective surfaces will affect the original diffuse color and/or its texture.?

Users often increase the Metalness function value to darken materials, when materials lose too much of their original color because of reflectivity.??

Some of the chapters ahead will show other ways to fix this problem.?

<?Diffuse toggle used to open a List of procedural maps in the Material/Map Browser?>

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Roughness?toggle- The toggle enables users to plug textures and other procedural maps from the Material/Map Browser list.

This toggle works best with black & white and greyscale textures /procedural maps. Once a texture is applied, it automatically overrides the numerical values.??

Roughness?value- This function determines how coarse a surface appears.

<?Roughness value set to 0.0?>

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<?Roughness value set to 0.5>

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Preset?rollout is a downsized version of the V-Ray Asset Browser dialog.

Unlike the V-Ray Asset Browser dialog, the Preset rollout allows users to choose a smaller number of material presets available from the dropdown list.

The preview for each material preset is available from the material slot.??

<?Material Editor dialog with?V-Ray material Preset list?>

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To Maximize the material slot, simply double click on it

< Material slot maximized?>

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?Reflect

Reflect?Color?-??This color swatch allows users to pick and choose the Reflect intensity/color, by using the Color Selector dialog.?

The default color is black, which's equivalent to no reflections.

Darker colors yield less reflections, and lighter colors (e.g. white) yield the opposite effect.?

It's also common for users to set specific colors (e.g. orange/brass color), when creating metalic surfaces such as brass, etc.?

?Reflect?toggle?-This toggle enables users to set the reflectivity of the surface, by plugging textures and other procedural maps from the Material/Map Browser list.

It works best with black & white and greyscale textures. Artists often plug a grey texture to this toggle, to realistically emulate a surface reflecting light unevenly.??

Once a texture/procedural map is applied to the toggle, it automatically overrides the color swatch values.??

Fresnel reflections- When enabled, the reflections and highlights are calculated automatically by the camera/viewing angle of the surface. This function is turned on by default.??

<?Reflect Color Selector dialog set to 0.0, with the Fresnel reflections enabled>

<?Reflect Color Selector dialog set to 112, with the Fresnel reflections enabled>

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<?Reflect Color Selector dialog set to 112, with the Fresnel reflections disabled>

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<?Reflect toggle, with grey texture applied via VRayBitmap and Fresnel reflections disabled??>

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At times, having the Reflect toggle with a greyscale texture, in conjunction with, the Fresnel reflections enabled, can yield appealing results.??It's just a matter of trying what works best (e.g. with or without Fresnel turned on).

The more contrast the greyscale texture has, the sharper the reflections/glossiness will be.

To achieve the opposite effect (e.g.??more diffused results), the greyscale texture needs to have less contrast (e.g. more grey than black areas).?

<?Reflect toggle, with grey texture and Fresnel reflections enabled>

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There are also instances when users might be required to Invert the greyscale texture inside the Reflect toggle, in order to achieve specific results.

To do so, simply go inside the Reflect map Coordinates, and scroll down to the Output rollout.

In the Output rollout parameters, enable the Invert function.??It works in exact same way as the Invert tool in Photoshop (Ctrl+i).?

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<?Reflect map greyscale texture inverted under the Output rollout?>

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The Reflect toggle texture can also be mixed/blended with its color swatch to produce specific results. To do so, simply scroll down to the Maps rollout, and reduce the Reflect toggle's numerical values.

Note:?This amazing technique can also be used with any function with a toggle.

<?Reflect toggle value set to 45 and mixed with the Reflect color swatch?>

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It is also common practise for users to apply the Falloff procedural map to help control the Fresnel effects, manually .

<?Falloff procedural map applied to the Reflect toggle?>

<?Fresnel?Falloff Type >

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<?Front: Side color values tweaked to achieve different reflection map results>

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<?Mix Curve points??tweaked to help control the reflections?>

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<?Final render result with Falloff Parameters tweaked?>

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Fresnel reflections- This function is padlocked with Fresnel IOR, and it's set 1.6 by default.??To manually change this, simply click on the L (padlock) button.?

Its adjacent toggle allows users to plug bitmaps and/or procedural maps to it

?Reflect?Fresnel IOR??with the padlock(L) unlocked>

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Glossiness- This function determines the appearance of glossy highlights and the type of reflections on surfaces. It's value is set to 1.0 by default.

The value of 1.0 yields a sharp/linear highlight with sharp/linear reflections

The appearance of highlights are only noticeable when there is reflectivity on the surface. Otherwise the glossiness values will be redundant.????

Lower values yield blurrier reflections and wider highlights.

For perfect highlight results, users should Not reduce the Glossiness values below 0.5.??

<?Reflect Glossiness value set to 0.7, with Color Selector dialog set to 112, and the Fresnel reflections turned off?>

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<?Glossiness value set to 1.0, with the Fresnel reflections turned off?>

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Glossiness?toggle- This toggle allows users to plug a greyscale texture or/and a procedural map to it. Once applied, it automatically overrides its numerical values.

Once a texture/procedural map is applied to the toggle, it automatically overrides the Glossiness values.??

<?Glossiness toggle with?greyscale texture applied to VRayBitmap?>

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Metalness-?This function yields a metallic look to surfaces. Values range from 0.0 to 1.0.

The Value of 1.0 darkens the surface and yields a more metallic look.

Users should only enter??values 0.0 or 1.0 respectively. Values in-between yield physically inaccurate results.??

The Metalness function works best when the Reflect color swatch is set to full white (255)

To match PBR setups from external applications, users often plug the roughness texture to the Glossiness toggle, and enable the Use roughness function under the BRDF rollout parameters .?

Note:?When enabled, the Use roughness function will automatically switch the Glossiness function to Roughness

Metalness?toggle- The toggle enables users to plug a greyscale texture or/and a procedural map to it. Once applied, it automatically overrides its numerical values

<Reflect color swatch set to 255,?Metalness value set 1.0 with BRDF Use glossiness function enabled>

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<?Reflect color swatch set to 255,?Metalness??set to 1.0 with BRDF Use roughness enabled and texture applied?>

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Max depth- This function sets the number of times a ray can be reflected, before it stops, and begins using the Exit color.

This function is quite useful for scenes with numerous reflections/ refractions bouncing off each other. Increasing the Max depth value will eradicate any potential black areas (exit color) in the reflections/refractions.??

However, it??may increase the rendering times.?????

Max depth value is set to 5, by default.

Reflect on back side-??This function works best on glass thickness.

The Refract color determines the opacity of a surface. A full white Refract color (255) makes a surface fully transparent.

?To create a typical glass material, simply set its Diffuse color to Black 0, Reflect color 193, Refract color to 255 (white), and the Fog color to 109,57,220 (greenish tint).

Alternatively, simply load a Glass preset from V-Ray Asset Browser dialog.

<?Glass material with Reflect Color Selector set to 193, Refract Color Selector set to 255, and Fog Color Selector set to 220?>

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When the Reflect on back side function is turned on, V-Ray takes into consideration internal and back face reflections of an object, which will subsequently increase the rendering times (inevitably).???

<?Reflect on back side??function turned off>

<?Reflect on back side??function turned on>

Dim distance- When enabled, it restricts the distance of traced rays, by entering the numerical radius. Disabled by default.

Dim fall off- When enabled, it sets the fall off radius of Dim distance. It is automatically enabled when the Dim distance is turned on.?

It's greyed out by default.

?Affect channels- This function controls how the render channels are being affected by the Reflection. It's set to Color only, by default.

Note:?For MultiMatteElement , if you wish to be able to select objects being reflected on this surface, the Affect channels need to be set to All Channels instead.

<?Reflect Affect All channels option selected?>

<?Reflect Affect All channels reflected in the Red?MultiMatteElement??>

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Refract

Refract-The color swatch of this function controls the opacity of a surface. Black (e.g. 0.0) being completely opaque, and white(e.g. 255) being fully transparent.

Default color value is 0.0 (fully opaque). When the Refract color value is 0.0 (black), VRayMtl immediately uses the Diffuse base color instead.???

Refract?toggle- The refract toggle allows users to plug textures and/or procedural maps to it. Greyscale and/or black/white textures work best.?

Note:?The main opacity of an object should always be controlled via refraction; as opposed to object properties (right click>object properties>Opacity).?

<?Refract color value set to 0.0 (black)>

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<?Refract color value set to 255 (white)?>

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Glossiness- This function controls the sharpness of refractions. The value of 1.0 equals to sharp refractions.

The value of 0.0 is equivalent to completely diffused refractions. Users often reduce these values to emulate translucent surfaces.

It's worth noting that, decreasing these values will subsequently increase the rendering times of this surface.?????

<?Refract?Glossiness?value of 1.0 >

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<?Refract?Glossiness?value of 0.18 >

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IOR- The Index Of Refraction determines how a light interacts/bends through a transparent surface.

IOR??effects are Not visible on completely solid surfaces.??Surfaces need to be partially or fully transparent.?

An IOR value of 1.0 is equal to no refraction on a transparent surface.??The default value is 1.6 .

For a more detailed list of refractive indices, please visit the following website:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_refractive_indices?

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<?Refraction IOR?value of 1.53 >

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<?Refraction IOR?value of 1.0>

Abbe number-?When enabled, it computes the light wavelength dispersion more accurately and photo realistically . However, the rendering times may skyrocket drastically.

The results are more noticeable when its value is set to a minimum of 10.????

Also, abbe values help reinvigorate a spectrum of true light colors, which become apparent on the rim of objects, and on caustic effects (if enabled).????

This function is more visible when there are physical lights interacting with an object. As opposed to HDRI being used as a light source.

Disabled, by default.?

<?Refract?Abbe number disabled?>?

<?Refract?Abbe number enabled with value set to 50.0?>

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Max depth- This function determines the number of times a ray can be refracted, before it stops, and begins using the Exit color.

Max depth value is set to 8, by default. Increasing it will subsequently increase the rendering times of this surface.?

Affect shadows-This function allows the light to pass through transparent surfaces (e.g. refractive objects) and cast its transparent shadows. The shadow colors may vary, depending on the surface.

This function is only noticeable on objects that are transparent (Refract color Not completely black).

<Refract??Affect shadows?enabled >

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<?Refract?Affect shadows disabled?>

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Refract Affect channels-?When the surface is transparent, this specific function allows users to choose the channels to be affected by the refraction, in the rendering channels (e.g. Alpha, MultimatteElement, etc).

Professionals often choose the All channels option, as it helps to insert the background and other elements behind a refractive/transparent surface.

<?Refract?Affect channels?set to?All channels>

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<Alpha render element in Photoshop??with?Affect channels?results >

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<Final render with?Background Sky inserted behind the glass?>

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Fog

Fog color-This function enables users to change the color of refractive objects and/or emulate the effect of a more opaque object, depending on its size.

Darker colors make refractive objects look more opaque, and lighter colors yield the opposite effect.?

<?Fog color set to white?>

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<?Fog color?set to light green >

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Fog multiplier-This function determines the density/influence of the fog. Default value 0.1.

Fog bias- The function allows users to control the density of objects (refractive surfaces mainly).

?Default value is 0.0.??

<?Fog bias?set to 0.0 >

<?Fog bias?set to -2.0 >

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?Translucency

Translucency- This function works in conjunction with refractions to calculate the amount sub-surface scattering on a surface. It's set to None by default.

There are three types of translucent models: Hard wax model, Soft (water) model, and Hybrid model

V-Ray Asset Browser comes with robust presets to emulate hard surfaces such as marble(Hard wax model) , water and Hybrid models??such as real translucent plastics, skin, milk, fruit juice, etc.??

Scatter coeff-This function determines the amount of scattering??inside a surface.

The value of 0.0 scatters rays in all directions. The value of 1.0 does the opposite.?

It's set to 0.0 by default.

?Fwd/bck coeff- This function controls the scattering direction. The value of 0.0 scatters the rays forward.

The Value of 1.0 scatters the rays backwards???

Thickness- This function is often used to limit the propagation of the rays travelling inside a surface.

It's set to 10.000mm by default.

Back-side colour- This function determines the color of the sub-surface scattering effect. It's set to white (255) by default.??

Light multiplier- This function controls the strength of translucency.

<?Plastic material with Translucency set as Hybrid model??and?Fwd/bck coeff??set to 0.5>

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Self-illumination

This function allows users to choose the Self-illumination color, from its color swatch, or plug a texture or/and a procedural map to its toggle.

To test this material, there's a scene named, Self-illumination.max

Self-illumination color-?The self-illumination color swatch is set to black, by default.

Compensate camera exposure- When enabled, this function automatically adjusts the self-illumination intensity to compensate for the exposure of the scene.???

GI- This function uses the Global Illumination settings to light up a scene. Otherwise, it will simply illuminate itself without contributing to the GI.??Disabled by default.

Multiplier- This function controls the intensity of the self-illumination. Default value is set 1.0.

The self-illumination effect is more apparent in dark/dim scenes.

Note:?When using a bitmap/texture in the Self-illumination toggle, ensure its colour swatch is black; otherwise the texture will not be visible in the viewport.

<?Self-illumination?color set to white with Mult set to 1.0>

<?Self-illumination?color set to white with Mult set to 100.0 >??

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<Self-illumination with GI function enabled>

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<?Self-illumination with compensate camera exposure enabled>

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Coat parameters

To test this material parameters, there is a??scene under the name, VRay Materials.max

Coat amount- This function controls the blending amount (visibility) of the Coat colour, Coat glossiness , Coat IOR, etc

The value of 0.0 makes the Coat color or its map/layer in the toggle completely invisible.

The value of 1.0 makes the Coat color or its map/layer in the toggle completely visible and blending with the diffuse colour or map/layer in the toggle.

Users can also use its adjacent toggle to plug materials or/and procedural maps.?

The Coat amount is set to 0.0 by default?????

Coat glossiness-?This function sets the amount of glossiness and reflectivity of the coat.

Its toggle can be used to plug materials or/and procedural maps.??

The default glossiness value is set to 1.0??

Coat IOR-?This function sets the index of refraction of the Coat.

Users can plug materials or/and procedural maps to its adjacent toggle.??

Its default IOR value is set to 1.6

Coat color- This function controls the color of the coat.

Its adjacent toggle can be used to plug materials or/and procedural maps.?

?The default Coat color is set to white.

Lock coat bump to base bump- When enabled, it reinvigorates the base bump map over the coat bump map (if any).??

<?Coat amount set to 0.0>

<?Coat amount set to 1.0>

To continue reading the entire chapter 2, please click the link below:

https://jamiecardoso-mentalray.blogspot.com/2022/05/vray-material-library-textures.html

I really hope you like it.

Jamie