8
Standard Material 1309
Plug-in drop-down list—
U se the drop-down list to
choose a DirectX viewport shader.
The list is unavailable when DX Display Of
Standard Material is on.
Standard Material
Material Editor > Type button > Material/Map Browser
>Standard
Scooter rende red with the default standard mater ial
Standard material is the default material in the
Mater ial Editor sample slots. There are several
other kinds of
mater ial ty pes (page 2–1301)
.
The Standard m aterial type provides a fairly
straig htforward way to model surfaces. In the real
world, the appearance of a surface depends on how
it reflects l ight. In 3ds Max, a standard material
simulatesasurface’sreflectiveproperties.Ifyou
don’t use
maps (page 3–1062)
,astandardmaterial
gives an object a single, uniform color.
This topic introduces the con trols for Standard
material, exclusive of mapping.
Standard Color Components
A surface of a "single" color usually reflects
many colors. Standard materials typically use
a four-color model to simulate this. (There are
some variations depending on which
shader (page
2–1310)
you use.)
•
Ambient color (page 3–1002)
is the color of the
object in shadow.
•
Diffuse (page 3–1023)
is the color of the object
in direct, "good" lighting.
•
Specular (page 3–1108)
is the color of shiny
highlights.
Some shaders generate the specular color,
rather than letting you choose it.
•
Filter (page 3–1033)
is the color transmitted by
light shining through the object.
The Filter color component isn’t visible unless
the m aterial’s Op acity is less than 100 percent.
Note:
Raytr ace material (page 2–1353)
uses a
different, six-color model to simulate surfaces.
Several components are similar to those in
Standard Material, but they behave differently
in Raytrace.
When we describe an object’s color in
conversation, usually we mean its diffuse color.
The choice of an ambient color depends on the
kind of lighting. For moderate indoor lighting, it
canbeadarkershadeofthediffusecolor,butfor
bright indoor lighting and for daylight, it should
be the complement of the primary (key) light
source. The specular color should be either the
same color as the key light source, or a high-value,
low-saturation version of the diffuse color.
For more tips on choosing color components, see
Choosing Colors for Realism (page 2–1244)
.