hrothgar wrote:mverta,
Thank you thank you thank you!!
quick question before i go any further. you say Coatings are special. what are they and why didn't you just make MikesShiny's transparent gloss coat with the coating instead of a BSDF?
Okay, to be honest, I don't
entirely understand coatings, other than to say they simulate extremely thin layers of material, like in a soap bubble. I can tell you that using them you can get real-world coating layers that are totally physically accurate and do crazy real-world stuff, but to be honest, other than soap-bubbles, I'm not sure what I'll use them for. Eventually you'll see some screenshots of various coating thicknesses in action and you'll get it.
But you were right about thinking "Coating" would be like a Clear Coat. That's EXACTLY what I thought at first... maybe that needs a relabeling, too. But for now, just know the effects you're looking for can all be achieved with that one, all powerful Basic Material. Nothing basic about it.
The whole thing freaks me out on some level... it's almost too simple to believe. But you get addicited to it QUICK. I've seen some complex shaders that render at lightening speed you won't believe. Trust me, this userbase will find those looks REAL soon... You can expect some serious kick-ass anisotropic metals in the first few days, that's for sure.
_Mike
- By Matteo Villa