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Hi folks, its my first time posting. Mostly I download materials and use default materials because most of what I do is simple. I am a product designer rather than a CAD pro so I'm shaky when it comes to the technical side of terminology for material creation.

I want to create something like this http://www.isecure.com/Merchant2/graphi ... -cable.jpg

Essentially it is a metal cable (achievable, even for me ) coated with 1mm ish thick transparent cable. I can achieve this effect using an offset surface and two separate materials but I want to see if maxwell can work its magic. I have tried displacement mapping the metal cable, but that affected all of the layers. I then tried to use and bump for the steel cable and add a layer to that but I couldn't see a clearly defined coating.

Hope this is comprehensible, please let me know if you have any ideas on how to achieve this.

Sincere thanks,
irishdave

I think it would be difficult to simulate the thickness (and refractions) of the plastic. I would definitely go for the two object / two material approach.

I have to agree with Brian 'two object / two material approach' and trust me maxwell will still work its magic!

Ps Also if you do take the offset surface approach dont forget to add a thickness

Tea_Bag wrote:Ps Also if you do take the offset surface approach dont forget to add a thickness

IHMO, he should avoid modeling a thickness and embed the wire inside the plastic tube.

tom wrote:

Tea_Bag wrote:Ps Also if you do take the offset surface approach dont forget to add a thickness

IHMO, he should avoid modeling a thickness and embed the wire inside the plastic tube.

Agree!

Thanks all, I will use the offset, without thinness. The cable I'm trying to emulate looks like it's bonded directy to the metal core, ie it refracts the metal so I think no thickness is required.

Thanks again

It ofcourse depends on how close you are planning on placing the camera to your cables, if you're gonna have closeups then you should model it as it looks in real life and rebuild realistic accurate materials for each part of it. For distant shots all of the above is not necessary, just a quick shiny plastic like coating will do fine.

/ Max

tom wrote:embed the wire inside the plastic tube.

Ah yes agree!