A General Mat Node Question

# 1 09-05-2008 , 05:43 AM

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Join Date: Apr 2008

Posts: 22

Hi,

Is there a way to change the amount of influence of a image file in a Mat Node? Without resorting to altering the file itself.

In 3D Max, you can change the amount of influence a image file has on that Material's particular attribute by simply moving a toggle.
For example you can set up the specular highlight within the material and still use an image file to place the highlights.

Is there a way in Maya?

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# 2 09-05-2008 , 06:35 AM

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Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

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It is very simple dude, depending one the base shader. For this example I took a blinn material and added a checker map to is specular. The idea is the same as if you use an image to represent the specular. Under your spec, when you place an image if you open the attributes for the image there is a section called Color Balance. If you open that drop-down you will find Default Color, Color Gain, and Color Offset. If you tweak these values you can very quickly and easily adjust the influence your image has on the specularity. If that is not the look you are going for and you want the image to be more/less transparent on your specularity then adjust the Alpha values in the same section.

Keep in mind though that only Greyscale values will affect the specularity. So if you are applying an image convert it to greyscale to achieve the look you are going for.

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# 3 09-05-2008 , 08:15 AM

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Join Date: Apr 2008

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Thanks alexanderH for your answer

I've tried your way but not the effect I wanted I guess I poorly framed my question.

In 3D Studio Max you can toggle the effect a texture map from 0 to 100 influence on any Mat. Attribute.

So for example I have a blue Mat. and I place a image map say of a Tiger in the color attribute on a sphere.

At O percent I have a just a blue sphere. We have 100 percent base blue material and 0 percent tiger image

At 50 percent I have a blushish sphere with a semi transparent image of a tiger mapped onto the sphere. So the base color material is at 50 percent and the tiger image is at 50 percent represented on the sphere.

At 100 percent I have the full stength of the image file so the sphere is all of the tiger image

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# 4 11-05-2008 , 07:24 AM

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Join Date: Jun 2004

Location: Cleveland, Ohio (USA)

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sounds like a job for....

the layered shader!

you can create two layers, then apply the file to the top layer and animate the transparency to your liking, with the color you want underneath on the bottom layer.

Accept no substitutions.

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