Step 5 - Adjust materials

Now that you have set the basic rendering parameters for the car model, you can start changing the properties of materials to get different rendering results. By changing just a few properties you can get a completely different look and feel of your model.

In this final step of the tutorial you change the properties of the materials to:

Before you start making changes, you can make a copy of your project so that you can easily return to the initial state.

To make a copy of the project, select File > Save Project As... and select the new name and location for the project.

Adjust the intensity of the colors

When you want to change the intensity of the color of a material, adjust the Blend Intensity property for that material.

To adjust the intensity of the colors:

  1. In the Library > Materials and Textures > Materials select the MainBody_1 material and in the Properties set the Blend Intensity property to 0.5.

    ../../_images/mainbody_1-blend-intensity.png
  2. Repeat the previous step for the Rim and Chrome materials.

    ../../_images/rim-properties-blend-intensity.png ../../_images/chrome-properties-blend-intensity.png ../../_images/blend-intensity-set.png

Tip

When you want to make the color of a material brighter, increase the intensity of the lights in the scene instead of increasing the lightness of the color properties of the material.

In a light color property the Intensity (I) property field sets the exposure of the light. Increasing the intensity by one unit doubles the amount of light and decreasing the intensity by one unit halves the amount of light.

For example, in the Node Tree select each Point Light node and in the Properties set the Point Light Color property Intensity (I) property field to +1.

This way you double the brightness of the point lights.

../../_images/point-light-attenuation.png ../../_images/point-light-attenuation-set.png

Change the ambient color

When you want to change the base color of a material, adjust the Ambient Color property of that material. By changing the Ambient Color property of a material, you set the color of that material as it is when lights are not present.

To change the ambient color:

  1. In the Library > Materials and Textures > Materials select MainBody_1, and in the Properties set:

    • Diffuse Color, Emissive Color, and Specular Color Lightness (L) property field to 0

    • Ambient Color property fields:

      • Saturation (S) to 255

      • Lightness (L) to 127

    • Blend Intensity to 1

    This way you clearly see the effect of the changes you make in the next step.

    ../../_images/ambient-color-property-settings.png ../../_images/ambient-color-set.png
  2. Now adjust the Ambient Color Hue (H) property field.

    For example:

    Color

    Ambient Color Hue (H)

    Red

    0

    Yellow

    42

    Green

    85

    Cyan

    127

    Blue

    170

    Magenta

    212

    ../../_images/different-colors.png

Create two-tone paint effect

When you want to create a two-tone paint effect, first set the Ambient Color property and then set the color of the second paint by adjusting the property fields of the Specular Color property of the same material.

To create two-tone paint effect:

  1. In the Library > Materials and Textures > Materials select MainBody_1, and in the Properties set:

    • Diffuse Color and Emissive Color Lightness (L) property field to 0

    • Ambient Color property fields:

    This way you clearly see the effect of the changes you make in the next steps.

    ../../_images/two-tone-color-effect-properties.png
  2. Adjust the Specular Color property fields:

    • Saturation (S) to 255

    • Lightness (L) to 127

  3. Adjust the intensity of the effect by setting the Specular Exponent property.

    For example, set the Specular Exponent property to 11.

    ../../_images/two-tone-color-effect-specular-color.png
  4. Adjust the intensity of the colors by setting the Blend Intensity property.

    For example, set the Blend Intensity property for the MainBody_1, Chrome, and Rim materials to 0.5.

    ../../_images/two-tone-blend-intensity-set.png
  5. Adjust the color of the second paint by setting the Specular Color Hue (H) property field for the MainBody_1 material.

    For example:

    First paint

    Second paint

    Color

    Ambient Color Hue (H)

    Color

    Specular Color Hue (H)

    Red

    0

    Yellow

    42

    Yellow

    42

    Green

    85

    Green

    85

    Cyan

    127

    Cyan

    127

    Blue

    170

    Blue

    170

    Magenta

    212

    Magenta

    212

    Red

    0

    ../../_images/double-paint.png

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See also

To find out more about materials, see Material types and materials.

To find out more about textures, see Textures.

To find out more about rendering, see Rendering.