Blender Materials: Diffusion

Introduction

In Blender, materials are used to paint the surface of objects, to create an environment, or to suggest special effects. Blender offers many options. The most recent is managed by a concept named Cycles Render.

In this exercise, we will review some of the techniques used to create and manade materials.

Practical Learning: Starting the Project

1. Start Blender
2. In the Tools window, click the Create tab
3. In the Create tab of the Tools window, click Plane
4. In the Properties window, click the Object button
5. To change the name of the shape, in the Properties window, click Plane to select its name
6. Type Back Wall and press Enter
7. In the Transform section, change the following values:

   Location - Y: -2
              Y:  6
              Z: 4.95
   Rotation - X: 90
   Scale    - X: 8
              Y: 5

8. To add a new plane, in the Create tab of the Tools window, click Plane
9. While the plane is still selected, in the Properties window, change the following values:

   Name       Left Wall
   Location - X: -8
              Z:  5
   Rotation - Y: 90
   Scale    - X: 5
              Y: 8

10. To add a new plane, on the menu below the work area, click Add -> Mesh -> Plane
11. While the plane is still selected, in the Properties window, change the following values

    Name:      Floor
    Location - Z: .1
    Scale    - X: 8.5
               Y: 10

12. Zoom in to get a better view of the scene. Here is an example:

    

13. Position the mouse in the work area and press Shift + A -> Mesh -> Cylinder
14. In the Add Cylinder section below the Tools window, change the following values

    Vertices:  8
    Radius:   .065
    Depth:     6
    Location - Z: 8.5

    

15. In the Tools window, click the Create tab if necessary and click Cylinder
16. In the Add Cylinder section below the Tools window, change the following values

    Vertices:   5
    Radius:    .65
    Depth:     .25
    Location - Z: 5.65

17. In the Properties window, change the name to Ceiling Fan and press Enter
18. While the hexagon is selected, position the mouse in the work area, press M and, in the Layers window, click the second box
19. On the menu bar of the 3D View, in the Visible Layers section, click the second button
20. Zoom in to see as much as possible of the hexagon:

    

21. Press Tab to display in Edit Mode
22. On the menu bar of the 3D-View, click the Face Select button
23. Right-click one of the vertical faces to select it
24. Press I to create an inset on the selected face
25. Type .05 and press Enter:

    

26. Using the same technique, create an inset on each vertical face:

    

27. By pressing and holding Shift while right-clicking, select each of the inside faces you had created to select all of them:

    

    

28. On the menu bar of the 3D View, click the Pivot button and select Individual Origins:

    

29. Zoom out to display the hexagon far from you
30. Press E to extrude
31. Type 1.5

    

32. Press Enter
33. While the faces are still selected, press S to change their sizes
34. Type .75 and press Enter:

    

35. Press R to rotate
36. Type -30 and press Enter:

    

37. Press Tab to return to the Object Mode
38. Zoom out to see less of the ceiling fan
39. Press M and, in the Layers window, click the first button
40. On the menu bar of the 3D View, in the Visible Layers section, click the first button:

    

Introduction to Creating a Material

There are various ways to create a material. Cycles Render is a technique used to create materials with various options. To use Cycles Render, in the top menu bar of blender, change the combo box from Blender Render to Cycles Render.

The most fundamental technique is to first select the desired object in the work area. Then, in the Properties window, click the Material button. In the group of panels, click Add Node. There are other techniques we will review.

To assist you in managing materials, Blender provides various categories or groups of objects. A shader is the most fundamental technique used to create the appearance of an object. It can simply consist of painting an object with a certain color. It can consist of combining colors. It can consist of logically or illogically creating some type of appearance.

To distinguish them, each shader has a name. In the Properties window, the name of a shader appears in the Surface text box or combo box. That control also provides one of the ways to select a shader.

Practical Learning: Using Cycles Render

1. On the top menu bar, click Blender Render and, in the menu that appears, select Cycles Render
2. On the menu bar of the 3D View, click the Viewport Shading button and select Material:

   

3. In the Properties window, click the Render button
4. In the Resolution section, click 50%, type 100 and press Enter

Diffusing a Color

As mentioned earlier, the most fundamental material in Blender is called Diffuse BSDF. At a minimum, it is used to paint a surface with a color. For this reason, its most fundamental characteristic is its Color option, which you can set as we have seen previously. The roughness of a material is the ability to notice some details on its surface. To support this, the Diffuse BSDF material is equipped with a property named Roughness. Its value can be set between 0.0 and 1.00 (if you set a value above 1.00, the rendering engine would consider the value to be 1.00). In most cases, the lower the value, the closer the object appears to the color that was set. The higher the value, the darker the object would appear but still as close as possible to the color that was set.

In this exercise, we will continue to experiment with different ways to start a material and apply to the surface of an object.

Practical Learning: Starting a Material

1. In the Outliner, click Floor
2. In the Properties window, click the Material button
3. In the Material section of the Properties window, click the New button
4. Click Material.001, type Gray Floor and press Enter
5. Click the Preview button to expand it
6. Notice that the Surface type is set to Diffuse BSDF.
   Click the Color button
7. Click somewhere in the vertical bar to get a gray color (I am using R = G = B = 0.338):

   

   

8. Right-click the left border of the Properties window and click Split Area:

   

9. Position the mouse somewhere between the top border and the center of the work area
10. Click to confirm. If necessary, resize the windows
11. In the bottom-left side of the new window, click the 3D Viewport button and select Node Editor

    

12. In the Outliner, click Ceiling Fan
13. In the Node Editor, click the New Button
14. Zoom in the Node Editor to see the material window as much as possible
15. On the Node Editor menu bar, click Material.001, type Brown Metal and press Enter to change the name of the material
16. In the Properties window, click the Color button
17. Click its HSV button and set the color as:

    H: .055
    S: .628
    V: .335

    

18. In the work area, right-click the wall on the left side (alternatively, in the Outliner, click Left Wall) to select it
19. In the Material section of the Properties window, click the New button
20. Double-click Material.001, type Blue Paint and press Enter
21. Notice that the Surface type is set to Diffuse BSDF.
    In the Node Editor, zoom in and, in the Diffuse window, click the Color button
22. Click RGB
23. Set the following values:

    R: .445
    G: .625
    B: .95

    

24. In the Diffuse BSDF window, set the Roughness to .8

    

25. In the work area, click the right wall (alternatively, in the Outliner, click Back Wall)
26. On the menu under the Node Editor, click the button on the left side of New and select Blue Paint
27. In the work area, right-click the tiny cylinder above the lamp to select it
28. In the Properties window, click the button on the left side of New:

    

29. Click Brown Metal
30. Right-click the border between the Node Editor and the 3D-View
31. Click Join Area
32. Position the mouse in the Node Editor and click (or click the up-pointing arrow)
33. In the Numeric Pad, press 0 to display the camera view
34. Press N to display the Properties Region
35. In the Properties Region, click Lock Camera to View
36. Use the buttons on the mouse and the keyboard to get a better view. Here is an example:

    

37. In the Properties region, click Lock Camera to View
38. Press N to close the Properties region
39. On the main menu, click Render -> Render Image

    

40. After viewing the results, press Esc