Recently I wanted to create a somewhat realistic clay material. After making a few variations I thought it might be helpful to others out there if I share my settings.

First up, here's a render of the material in my studio setup:
(click image to enlarge)


Here are the parameters I used for my material:
(click image to enlarge)


Notes on settings:
I used a medium Roughness settings to give the material some softness.
The reflectivity & BRDF values I used are simply what looked 'right' for the look I wanted. You'll notice a map in the color swatch of the reflection settings. I tried a few procedurals and they worked ok, but I wanted a more human touch to my material. So, I created a tilable fingerprint texture with Photoshop. I used this black & white image as both a bump map and a reflection
mask to break up the reflectivity. I'll attach my fingerprint texture because I think it could be useful for things other than this particular material.

Here's the tileable fingerprint map:
(click image to enlarge)


Quick note on my studio setup:
I used portal lights with mib_blackbody shaders providing kelvin control, FG & Photographic Exposure control. I placed single sided planes in front of the portal lights and applied an A&D material to the planes. I then placed a gradient ramp in the cut-out map of this material. Doing so provides a soft edge to the portal lights. I then linked these planes to their respective portal light so that when I need to move the light sources, the 'soft box' moves with it automatically.

Screen capture of studio setup:
(click image to enlarge)


So that's one rather simple recipe for a clay material.

Now onto the 'other random stuff'. As I've done in the past, I'm just sharing a few tests that don't really fit into my gallery, or anywhere else for that matter.

I saw people using the Sponza scene and since it's been a while since I tinkered with that file I thought I'd give it a whirl in 3ds Max Design 2009.

Sponza Test
(click image to enlarge)

Link to the Sponza Model:http://hdri.cgtechniques.com/~sponza/

In my gallery I posted a render of the Dwayne Ellis bathroom scene. Here's just another angle of that same scene:
(click image to enlarge)

(my water material needed some lovin'!...note this and the other render of this scene in my gallery primarily use the new ProMaterials)

Up next are a few Cornell box tests with 3ds Max Design 2009. For reference I used real-world information provided via Richard Rosenman's site here: http://www.richardrosenman.com/project/?cid=59

Here's my resulting renders:
(click image to enlarge)


(click image to enlarge)


NOTE: Obviously I needed to adjust my light placement so the shadows inside the box would better match Richard's photos. However, I was mainly interested in seeing how the new photometric lights in 3ds Max Design 2009 would compare. Good news...I think the results are pretty darn accurate!

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jkongabel wrote on July 22, 2008

Title: ... jeff, could you provide some further information on the setup for the clay material? I've been tinkering around with my settings, but I can't seem to get the same result. could you possibly post your max file so we can take a look at all the settings? Great looking material by the way, and thanks for the finger prints, I'll be sure to send those to the FBI for processing... report abuse vote down vote up website Votes: +1

ervin poljak wrote on June 07, 2009

Title: jeff needed ;) hi Jeff, any idea on how to enable cie and blackbody shader in max 2010? followed your instructions on the mr lighting technics series...but this works in max 2009...did the "#"-commenting properly...but cannot access the shaders...also a lot of options are missing in the rollout when accessing the mr-skylight-portal in max 2010....if you have some hints on that, i´d be very thankful.... btw...thx for sharing your knowledge and experience throughout all your posts!!!!! report abuse vote down vote up website Votes: -1

Jeff Patton wrote on June 07, 2009

Title: ... You'll edit the Light Utilities section of your 2010 base.mi file to look like this: #-------------------------------------------- Light utils declare shader color "mib_cie_d" ( scalar "temperature", scalar "intensity" ) version 1 apply light, texture end declare declare shader color "mib_blackbody" ( scalar "temperature", scalar "intensity" ) version 1 apply light, texture end declare #-------------------------------------------- Shadow Then, in order for it to appear in 3dsmax 2010 you now need to open the base_max.mi file and that’s where you’ll actually unhide the cie_d & blackbody shaders. In the base_max.mi file scroll down to the GUI sections for both the cie_d & blackbody shaders and put a # in front of the word hidden. Should look like this when you’re done: gui "gui_mib_cie_d" { control "Global" "Global" ( # "hidden" ) } gui "gui_mib_blackbody" { control "Global" "Global" ( # "hidden" ) } After doing that, you’ll find it’s available for use in 2010. report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Klaes wrote on July 01, 2009

Title: the shader is incompatible Hi when I do as you are sying in the above. I can't acces my shader. My material is saying that it is incompatible, and therfore I can't use it... how come its saying that?? please help... thanks and thanks for you greate tuts report abuse vote down vote up website Votes: +0

Matteo wrote on February 25, 2010

Title: lost images hi jeff, thanks for all the tips and materials you share with us! i would like to report that some articles, like this one, doesn't have links to images or stuff anymore! thank you :) Matteo report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Jeff Patton wrote on February 25, 2010

Title: ... Odd, all the images/links here work fine for me. EDIT: Well, all except the ice image at the very bottom, but that's just one and not all. report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Matteo wrote on February 25, 2010

Title: ... mmmh strange, i have tried different browsers and computers and still i don't see anything in some article... report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Russell L Thomas wrote on February 25, 2010

Title: Work They work for me, you may want to hit "CTRL + F5" to clear your cache as when Jeff had to work on his site and organize some links were broken, but I believe he fixed them all pretty quickly and they seem to work fine now. There could be some that slip by us of course, so providing an actual article and image would help as the one you pointed out worked for me. report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Matteo wrote on February 25, 2010

Title: ... i'll try at home later, maybe is my work network that blocks jeffpatton.net website. thanks for all your answer :) report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Matteo wrote on February 26, 2010

Title: ... ok, i have problems with my work's network, from home it's all fine, thanks a lot for you're answers and sorry for the wrong report :) report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Matteo wrote on February 26, 2010

Title: ... and sorry for the bad english, it was "your" and not "you're" :P report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Russell L Thomas wrote on February 26, 2010

Title: NP No problem, English is my only language and I screw up frequently! ;) report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0