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1396 Chapter 16: Material Editor, Materials, and Maps
Setting shadow color is especially useful when
you’re using a Matte/Shadow material to composite
your shadows against a background image, such
as video. It lets you tint y our shadows to match
pre-existing shadows in the image.
Reflection group
Controls in this group determine whether the
matte sur faces can have reflections. You create
matte reflections using a shadow map.
Tip: Matte reflections don’t successfully create an
alpha channel unless you render them against a
black background.
Amount—Controls the amount of reflection to
use. This is a percentage that can range from 0 to
100. This control is unavailable unless you have
assigned a map. Default=50.
You can animate this parameter.
Map—Displays the Material/Map Browser (page
2–1256)
so you can assign a map to use for
reflections. The reflection is independent of the
environment unless you choose a
Reflect/Refract
(page 2–1505)
or Flat Mirror map (page 2–1505) .
Compound Materials
Compound materials combine two or more
sub-materials. Compound materials are similar
to compositor maps, but they exist at the material
level. Applying a compound material to an object
creates a compound effect that often uses mapping.
Youloadorcreatecompoundmaterialsusingthe
Material/Map Browser .
Using a filter control, you can choose whether the
Browser lists maps or materials or both.
Different type s of materials create different effects,
behave in particular ways, or are provided as ways
tocombinemultiplematerials.
Note: The sub-material buttons and sub-map
buttons for most materials and maps have check
boxes beside each button. These let you turn
that branch of the material or map on or off. For
example, in the Top/Bottom materia l, the Top
Material and Bottom Material buttons each have
check boxes. Similarly, the Checker map has two
map buttons, one for each color. Each button has a
check box beside it that lets you disable that color’s
map.
Thesearethedifferenttypesofcompound
materials:
Blend (page 2–1397) :Combinestwomaterialsby
mixing their pixel colors, as Mix maps do.
Composite (page 2–1399) :Mixesupto10
materials, using additive colors, subtractive colors,
or opacity mixing.
Double-Sided (page 2–1400) : Stores two materials.
One materia l is rendered on the object’s outer
faces (the usual side for one-sided materials, as
determined by face normals), and the other is
rendered on the object’s inner faces.
Morpher Material (page 2–1401) :Morpher
materials use the
Morpher modifier (page 1–721)
to manage multiple materials over time.
Multi/Sub-Object (p age 2–1403) : Lets you assig n
more than one material to the same object. Stores
two or more sub-materials, which you assign
at the sub-object level by using t he
Mesh Select
(page 1–710)
modifier. You can also assign
thesub-materialstowholeobjectsbyusingthe
Material modifier (page 1–706) .
Shellac (page 2–1407) :Superimposesonematerial
on another.
Top/Bottom (page 2–1408) : Stores two materials.
One material is rendered on an object’s top faces