How would I arrive at this material?

Hey all :slight_smile:

I’ve been inspired by this particular artwork done by Cristiano Rinaldi



I was wondering if anyone had any idea as to how I could achieve a similar material as the one on the robot person.

Thanks :slight_smile:

Use the mix shader.

Diffuse shader coloured very light grey or red (depending on which part of the robot you are going for). Mix this with a white glossy shader with a low roughness (likely zero). Then in the fac slot of the mix shader - use the Fresnel input node.

That should get you pretty close.

Much of the look of this robot comes from the environment light though. You’ll need to choose an appropriate HDR environment to replicate this look - the material alone won’t do it.

Thank you very much! The Fresnel input really changes things, but what exactly does it do and what does IOR stand for? I’ve still got a lot to learn about compositing, so I really appreciate your help :slight_smile:

The IOR node basically returns the value from the fresnel/snell’s law… here’s a hint:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/30/Partial_transmittance.gif/250px-Partial_transmittance.gif

My understanding of fresnel’s law isn’t all that strong, but after some quick research I see that it has to do with light reflections and what not which would explain why it’s being used to accomplish this texture.

Thank you!

Some high-gloss materials are even better if a diffuse shader is mixed with two glossy shaders. In which case you’ll have one glossy with a moderate roughness mixed with a diffuse that is a ligher shade of the diffuse color, and then another glossy that’s white with a roughness less than .020 which is mixed in with fresnel. One glossy gives it more depth or lustre, and then you have the bright shiny highlights as usual. Also the rougher glossy can then either be mixed manually or with a layer weight facing, depending on what look you prefer.

Hope that makes sense, at least enough to give it a try sometime.

In a nutshell - the fresnel node in this example makes reflections at glancing angles stronger - whilst reflection on surfaces facing you are less strong.

This effect is observed in real life materials like glossy plastic etc.

@pauljs75 Hey, thanks for the advice. I will have to try that!

@moony Thank you for the explanation - very helpful :slight_smile: