[adamwade]

Tim, you got me going!

I am running a test tonight with a different approach. Observing metallic paint showed that the metal flake is only really visible in the highlights and then rolls off. Because the metallic flakes are pointing in all directions there is always a full spectrum of colors that seems randomly spread throughout the flake.

SO, to simulate the flake with pinpoints of different colors I am using a noise map, but with monochromatic turned off in Photoshop = rainbow noise.

The material is a 2 Layer BSDF:

1st layer is basically a nice red with roughness:50, ND3 and a coating. Weight=80

2nd layer: weight=20. Use the rainbow noise map as the relectance color @ 90, then a medium red as the reflectance @ 0. Then I made a custom *.r2 file with (30 0), so that the rainbow noise map would only show up 90-30 degrees which should be in the highlights areas only, then fall into the medium red and blend into the main red of layer 1.

The end idea being a metallic red with about 20% of the rainbow specs showing up in the highlight areas only.

Is anybody following this Yeah, a picture is worth 1,000 words, but
my test is only on SL12 right now. The layer weights may need 70/30. I don't think you can really tell until SL20 sometime tomorrow.

[adamwade]

OK, here are the results. Not what i hoped, but I think the noise maps were projected a little too small perhaps, and not strong enough.
Anyway, its a different way and I will keep trying as well.

[tom]

Great use of Maxwell materials Adam, very inventive and nice looking!

[adamwade]

Thanks Tom!

I am hoping this technique will lead to some effective results.

[Mihai]

It's starting to look really nice But please save the jpgs with lower compression, it's difficult to see fine detail with so many artifacts. You are tiling the maps? I'd try first not to tile it, so you can see the flakes clearly and check what they look like, then start tiling it.

[adamwade]

Thanks Mihai,

Sorry for the artifacts. I am posting the file on my wifes site which has some limitation for file and traffic size. Next time I will use less comression.

My next try may take a couple days or so.

[Tim Ellis]

Nice work Adam, thanks for helping.

Nice idea with the reflectance map. One method I did try was having a coating distributed with a weight map, to use the rainbow fx that they can produce.

I'll try it in combination with your method.



I re-rendered the front shot with yesterday's paint and a star glare effect.





Cheers,

Tim.

[adamwade]

Nice Tim. So far I can't get that intense red color. That's why I am trying colored noise maps to help intensify this.

But your is seriously candy apple red!

[Tim Ellis]

But your is seriously candy apple red!

Try changing the layer blending to Add.


Tim.

[adamwade]

Well, I think these are working really nice. It is a more simple approach, but very effective. The scale of the flake is pretty good.

Just thought of metallic as a base color with noise and a clear coat. Other than a low SL !! there does not seem to be a way to get noise, so I painted the base color with noise and used it as a reflectance map with a coating. My second layer is simply the base color and clear to act as an diffuser for how strong you want the noise layer to be.

I will this post to the Goodies forum too I suppose.

[Hybaj]

Reminds me kind of the material i did right after i got V1

[adamwade]

Yep, it's basically like making wood. Map the image and gloss coat it. Rather primitive I guess.

[Tim Ellis]

Nice result Adam.

I'll have a go with your latest method.

Cheers,

Tim.

[3dtrialpractice]

adam, the green one looks way great.. way better then the red.. but the flakes are still too noisy and not flakey enough.. thanks for sharing you thouhgs and your shade settings!

Hybaj, I think thats pretty clos right on the money for nice flakes!.. is it a 2 or 3 layer system? with a map for the flakes? car to share your workflow on that shader?

[adamwade]

Thanks 3dtrialpractice,

The difference between the red and green is projector scale and that the green map has those light gray dots added. It all depends on the metallic paint you are trying to match.

You might need really huge flake for that 1970's water ski boat look, but something fine for many automotive finishes.

Overall, I think the multi colored noise add richness to the color to simulate the different color sparkles you get when looking very close at metallic paint. I really want to add a pearl gradient effect too!