Highly polished metal texture

Complex UV Layout in Maya

Over the last couple of years UV layout in Maya has changed for the better. In this course we're going to be taking a look at some of those changes as we UV map an entire character

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# 1 06-03-2004 , 06:14 PM

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Im trying to make a metal object that has a highly polised, shiney and refelctive look to it. I have tried some things but they just don't look right.

I have seen loads of examples of this sort of photo-realistic silver look but have not found out how to do it myself. If anyone out there can help I would be gratefull.

_LIVID

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# 2 06-03-2004 , 09:01 PM

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Open up the default metal gold shader in the hypershader and play with the colors till you get what u want.

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# 3 06-03-2004 , 09:07 PM

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I'll do that and see what happens

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# 4 06-03-2004 , 09:11 PM

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The maya Shader Libray is a good place to reverse engineer some textures.

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# 5 06-03-2004 , 10:40 PM

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I have a look and I can't see a default gold or metal shader?
Am I looking in the right place? I really wanna see real time refelections in the metal as well.

_LIVID

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Last edited by Tim_LIVID; 07-03-2004 at 11:02 AM.

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# 6 07-03-2004 , 04:33 PM

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shoudl be in your c:\program files\AliasWavefront\maya Shader Libray folder if you have 4.5-5 . 4.0 is c:\Alias.
Did you load the Shader library after you loaded Maya?
U can also go to Alias website and download.

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# 7 08-03-2004 , 10:52 AM

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I downloaded a chrone shader from the Alias website. It's good, but it just doesn't look right. It looks too 2D.

Im looking for something that makes it photo-realistic, I hope im explaining this right.

I have heard some people saying that I might need to use Mental Ray tp get the effect I need.

_LIVID

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# 8 08-03-2004 , 04:47 PM

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For photorealism then u have to use caustics/mentalray

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# 9 09-03-2004 , 11:02 AM

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Great, so where do I find that option.

As regards to Mental Ray, I have had can't seam to find it ( https://forum.simplymaya.com/showthre...threadid=10109 ). I can't seam to see it in my plug-in maganger.

Does that mean I have lost it and have to get it again somehow?

_LIVID

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# 10 09-03-2004 , 01:01 PM

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errr...about the shaders.... I don't think any come with Maya... I have never seen any such shaders in the shader library. I had to download mine from the Denfo site. (hundreds of shaders can be found there...)

after you download them from the internet, THEN you can stick them in your shader library.

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# 11 09-03-2004 , 02:52 PM

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Shaders are an obtion on the setup cd, once you install the maun program you can select to install shaders. I dont use 5 put I would be surprised if they did not include them in the cd.
Their are several tuts on caustics/mental ray/HYDRI on the web, just do a Google search.

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# 12 27-03-2004 , 01:59 PM

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For photorealism then u have to use caustics/mentalray

Originally Posted by

No that's not true, that's a misconception that turning on raytracing will make things look better it doesnt always! You can get photoreal results with maya software render. To get a good looking metal material it's all about the spec component and the reflections /refractions etc. If you are not raytracing you will need environment maps to achieve the look you want.

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# 13 27-03-2004 , 03:18 PM

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Also if you're using raytracing to get reflections, you should have something around the object to reflect. The default pitch black background isn't very interesting to look at even if raytraced user added image

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# 14 28-03-2004 , 10:39 AM

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So I should have some other objects around my scene to be reflected and then wack up the reflections on my object and use reytracing when I render?

I will have a check and get back to you on the results.

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# 15 29-03-2004 , 08:37 AM

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You dont have to use raytracing! that's the point. It doesnt always make things better! You can get usually get the same sort of results (And quicker!) with normal software rendering.

Investigate reflection mapping and you'll see what I mean. Renderman has only just started offering raytracing. Almost all of the movie prior to that didnt use raytracing when using renderman they did it all with environments!

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