MatPlusTutorial 02
Texture a Radio in Blender, Part 2: Carbon Fiber Body
Base materials for every part, then the main body: roughness imperfections, checker carbon fiber, green gradient and hexagon layers split by a stripe mask.
In this second part of the radio series we give every set material a simple starting look (color, metalness and roughness) so we can see where the project is heading, and then we focus on the main body.
You will build the main body layer by layer: a roughness layer with a texture from the MatPlus library, a checker-based carbon fiber, a glossy green variation with a gradient and a hexagon pattern, and finally a stripe mask and a Mesh Island mask that decide where the green goes. Along the way we also set up an HDRI environment to judge the materials.
Step by step
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Each part in MatPlus Set Materials already has a Fill Layer 0. Select Antenna, set a very dark color and, in Fill Layer Settings, enable Metal and Rough; leave it fairly glossy (Roughness about 0.22).
Then select Main Body and do the same: a dark color, Metal and Rough enabled, a little metalness (Metallic about 0.32) and slightly glossier (Roughness about 0.22).
Just a starting point
These base layers are not near the final result: they give a rough idea of where you are aiming and are the foundation for the more complex materials built on top.
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Repeat the process for the rest of the set materials:
- Buttons: a bluish tone, Metal and Rough enabled, very glossy with some metallic influence (Metallic 0.15, Roughness 0.035).
- Rubber Parts: a darker tone with Rough enabled but not Metal, a little glossy but not too much (Roughness about 0.38).
- Outer Screen: a bluish color, Metal and Rough enabled, metalness up (0.925) and roughness down to 0.
With this every part has its initial look and you are ready to build more complex materials.
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On Main Body, rename the existing layer to
Base. Add a new fill layer, disable Color so it only affects roughness, make it a lot rougher and name itMain Roughness.From the mask menu choose Add Black Mask, then add a Fill Effect. In Fill Effect Settings click Add Texture: the MatPlusMasks library opens in the panel. Set the category to Roughness Imperfection and pick a texture (the video uses
Roughness_15). You can already see some influence on the roughness.The new Smart Materials gallery
In MatPlus 1.3 the big pop-up window is gone: Toggle Smart Materials View shows the Smart Materials gallery integrated in the panel. You can change Size and Columns, filter by category and mark favorites with the star icon (click it again to remove the favorite). Textures and Intelligent Masks use the same integrated gallery.
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To see roughness properly, switch the view dropdown in the Layers toolbar from Material to the Roughness channel. In the effect's Settings tab raise Balance (up to about 0.98) and adjust Contrast. In the Coordinates tab change Tiling (about 3.7, later 6.8) to set the size of the imperfections.
Switch back to Material now and then to check how the real material looks, and fine-tune until you like it.
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New in version 1.3: go to the Settings tab and open Environment. Expand the list to see the HDRIs provided by BeFX, or load your own folder in Add your own HDRI folder (optional). Click an HDRI to apply it (the video uses abandoned garage 1k).
To see its effect in the viewport, open the Viewport Shading popover and enable Scene World. Hold Ctrl + Alt and drag with the right mouse button to rotate the environment, and click other HDRIs to compare which works best for your project.
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In Environment Settings, Opacity shows the HDRI as the background in real time; leave it at 0% to keep a clean background. Then click Background Color, bring Saturation down to 0 and make it a little darker: a neutral gray that is comfortable to texture against.
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Back in the layer stack, add a new fill layer, make it a little darker and override Metal and Rough. Add a black mask and, from the effects menu, Add Mask Generators. Click Choose Generator and pick Checker, which gives the carbon fiber look.
In the generator settings lower the pattern until you get very small squares by raising Scale (about 276).
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Adjust the color, add some metalness (Metallic about 0.57) and set the roughness. Then change the Roughness blending mode from Mix to Add, so it shares influence with the Main Roughness layer instead of replacing it. Check it in the Roughness channel and go back to Material.
Name the layer
Carbon Fiber, create a new folder also calledCarbon Fiber, select all the layers, move them into it and collapse the folder. -
Add another fill layer with Rough and Metal enabled and a bright yellowish tone (you can always come back and change it). Add a black mask, name the layer
Yellow Var, add a mask generator and choose Gradient.In the fill layer, try other colors: the video ends up with a bluish green tone and makes it glossier, to get some color variation in the green part.
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In the generator's Settings, lower Feather (about 0.55) to make the transition sharper so you can see what you are doing. In Coordinates (texture coordinate Object (Triplanar)) tweak the Rotation a little and the Depth (about -0.2), then adjust Feather again.
The video places the gradient on the lower part of the radio (Rotation Y about 132°).
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Enable Invert so the mask becomes the grid between the hexagons. Then play with Exterior and Interior (about 1.0 and 0.15) to get really thin, subtle lines (final Scale about 162).
Back in the fill layer options, make it a lot more metallic (about 0.74) and a lot rougher (about 0.78). Name the layer
Hexagons pattern.The carbon fiber is hidden for now
These green layers override everything coming from the carbon fiber below. That is fixed in the next steps with a group mask.
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Create a new group named
Green Matand move the three green layers into it (Green base,Yellow VarandHexagons pattern). Collapse it, add a black mask to the group and a mask generator, and choose Stripe.The idea is to have just a few stripes. In Mask Settings → Settings, raise Balance to 1.0 so there is a really sharp line dividing the green material and the carbon fiber.
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In Coordinates, rotate the stripes (Rotation Y about -51°) and lower Scale XYZ (about 0.11) until only a couple of green bars remain. Adjust Location (about -0.68) so the carbon fiber stays on the top and on the lower part. Exterior and Interior can also be tweaked, but the defaults work well here.
The result is a sharp transition from a really glossy material to the carbon fiber, also visible in the Roughness channel.
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The side buttons area should stay full carbon fiber. On top of the stripe mask, open the mask menu and choose Add Mask Mesh Island, then use Pick Mesh Island to pick the main case from the geometry: the mask covers only that mesh.
At first all the carbon fiber disappears, because the new mask uses the Add blending mode. Change it from Add to Multiply: now the green stripes appear only on the main case.
The main body now has its overall look: carbon fiber, glossy green stripes and a subtle hexagon pattern. In the next part we keep defining the look of the rest of the radio's pieces.