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I am having problems undertanding the two blending modes.
I cannot see any diference, at least with the materials I am using up to now.
Please correct me if i am wrong:

ADITIVE should add the full properties of the two layers.
For instance if one layer is an emiter, and the other a transparent or void layer, if I use ADITIVE I would get a material 100% transparent and 100% emiter. In this case it does not matter the order of layers.

NORMAL should use a % of each of the layers, for instance in the same case it would be a 50% (or other %) emiter and a 50% transparent.
In this case it should be important the order of layers.

What I see up to now is that all options look the same to me.
Am I doing something wrong?

Ernesto

Well my problem seems to be more basic!
I really do not know how to create a simple Emiter material.
In the previous version we had a Wizard and it was possible to do that in a way that it worked for me.
Now it seems that I am forced to create a layer, and to ad an emiter into it, but the object disapears from the render...
(this is prety frustrating)

I tried to convert previous materials in V1.7 that were ok, but in V2.7 they do not work ok...
I have read the manual lots of times, but cannot see where I am failing.

Ernesto

I wonder why I can have an option: Normal or Aditive in each layer?
I thought that the Blending mode (Normal or Aditive) was the way two or more layers are blended together.
In such a case if I set one layer N and the other A, how can Maxwell Blend the Two layers in the Two diferent ways ??

I am sure i am wrong, but cannot see where!

E

hehe.. you are not wrong... You are awesome !...

Hervé wrote:hehe.. you are not wrong... You are awesome !...

+1

Bless your lil puppy heart.

The layer order is important

Humm I wonder why these things are not explained in the manual?
Or at least answered offitially by NL?
E

Blending Modes: Normal and Additive

You can choose between Normal and Additive mode to blend the current layer with the layers below.

Normal mode it will act like a “solid” Layer, it will be stacked as a real material on top of another Layer. If the Layer blending mode is set to Normal and its opacity is 100, no layers underneath this Layer will be visible. For example, if its weight is set to 50%, it will act as a semi-transparent material that is on top of the layer(s) underneath it.

Additive mode however takes the material properties found in the components of the layer (the color, reflectance of any BSDFs, coating etc) and multiplies those values with the layers underneath it, much like the “Screen” blending mode in Photoshop. This means that even if the layer’s weight is set to 100, in Additive mode the layers underneath it will still be visible. The Additive mode has the overall effect of brightening the material. When the layer in Additive mode is brighter, the colors of the layers underneath will get brighter. When the Additive mode layer is fully black, no change occurs in the layers underneath it. When the Additive mode layer is fully white (a strong reflection) everything underneath it also becomes fully white.
A good way to visualize this effect is thinking of projecting light through several photographic slides. It can be useful to create interesting blends between the textures used in the BSDFs of the different layers and also to create plastics that have a thin shiny coating on the surface that still allows the color of the plastic to show through beneath it.

It is not recommended to have more than one Layer above the others set to Additive mode if its Layer weight is already 100%. This can make unnaturally bright materials which can introduce precision errors in the render (usually visible as bright spots)

http://support.nextlimit.com/display/ma ... ing+Layers

not enough?

I wonder if you are working in NL, or if yours is just an opinion as user.
I respect you anyway, and am answering bello, but my explanation is intended to the NL team, so that they can change the current problem that is surely blocking many present and future users. I tried to explain this same thing when V1.7, but the evidence tells me that I was not clear enough.

Well, the written explanation is in contradiction with the User Interface options, that seems to comunicate two diferent things:

First Option:

If it is true that the blending mode "blends" each layer with the next, which would be the need of a blending button in a single layered material?

Again in case I have a 3 Layers material, all I need are two blending controls, one to handle blending between layer 1 and 2, and a second to handle blending betwen layer 2 and 3. The 3rd blending button is useless.

Just to gave a brute example, let´s imagine that we have a car with two breaks pedals, one that is working and another that is useless. Soon or later it will produce an accident. The same happens with the user interface just that nobody dies! Traps in UI only kills the USER valuable time!

Second Option:

On the other hand the fact that the blending Button was located in each of the layers tab, it seems to comunicate that it blends all components inside that layer, otherwise the blending option should be OUT of the layer tab, since it would be working at a higher level. In such an interpretation the user may ask, so where is the blending option to blend the layers together.

Conclusion:

Anyway this is a clear example of the TRAPS introduced in the Maxwell interface, as a result of a lack of intuitive view The mechanical design of the software is interfering with the comunication with the user. The ONLY function of UI is comunication with the user, so if you introduce TRAPS in it you are doing the OPOSITE.
The Esthetic Design of the User Interface tells me that there is someone or more people working on the LOOK of the UI, but by the current evidence I can say that they are missing the main caracteristic of a UI. It is good that a UI looks fancy, but that is the SECOND important caracteristic. You are forgetting the FIRST and MAIN caracteristic, that it should be the CONECTION between the SOFTWARE and the HUMAN MIND of the user. There are lots of proffessionals that have degrees in comunication that could solve this, but it seems that you have only GRAPHIC DESIGNERS working in such delicate topic, and Graphic Designers cannot evaluate psicological implicances.

One hour invested in solving UI problems means one hour saved for each new user, in the same way a single TRAP in the UI can make lots of users to lose their time.

Again: I am writing this as a CONSTRUCTIVE critic for NL, I hope it will be understood in that way EXCLUSIVELY.
Yours

Ernesto

But Ernesto, there are many many MANY users who get it, and create AMAZING renders despite these HUGE problems that are TRAPPING you.

Bubbaloo wrote:But Ernesto, there are many many MANY users who get it, and create AMAZING renders despite these HUGE problems that are TRAPPING you.

The problem is there, and what you say do not solve it.
Only Fools feels confortable denying the reality.
Just imagine the greater things that all users would be able to do, without the obstacles. Or perhaps how many more users could be using Maxwell if it wouldn´t be by those obstacles.
Anyay I only hope that your opinion is not NL opinion...

I cannot forget that we are writing in a Next Limit space, so their oficial silence is rather significative.
Anyway, a simple answer from their part would be much better (in the very end we are customers and although we could be wrong, we deserve it)

Yours
E

Ernesto wrote: If it is true that the blending mode "blends" each layer with the next, which would be the need of a blending button in a single layered material?

Again in case I have a 3 Layers material, all I need are two blending controls, one to handle blending between layer 1 and 2, and a second to handle blending betwen layer 2 and 3. The 3rd blending button is useless.

Additive mode however takes the material properties found in the components of the layer (the color, reflectance of any BSDFs, coating etc) and multiplies those values with the layers underneath it, much like the “Screen” blending mode in Photoshop.

It is not recommended to have more than one Layer above the others set to Additive mode if its Layer weight is already 100%. This can make unnaturally bright materials which can introduce precision errors in the render (usually visible as bright spots)

Did you ask Adobe the same? If you have only one Layer in PS you can still change the blending mode... but WHY should you do this?!?
Sorry... i give up...

i'm trying to decide whether i should go rake the yard or stay here and watch this escalate..... hmmmmm

rusteberg wrote:i'm trying to decide whether i should go rake the yard or stay here and watch this escalate..... hmmmmm

I don´t think so...
I am sorry that If we have no oficial answer, this is totally useless.
Bye

E