9

Shader Basic Parameters R ollout 1467
Pr ocedur es
To set a material’s shading type:
1.
On the Shader Basic Parameters rollout, open
the shader drop-down list.
2. Click the name of the shader type to use for the
active material.
TouseWiremode:
• On the Shader Basic Parameters rollout, turn
on Wire.
The material is now shaded as a wireframe
mesh. The wire p ortions of the geometry do
not change; color components, shininess, and
so on, remain the same.
Tip: For a wi refr ame material, turn on the
2-Sided option a s well.
You have two choices for how wireframe
materials are rendered. The controls for
tuning wireframe shading are on the Extended
Parameters (page 2–1471) rollout.
• If you choose Pixels, the thickness of the
w ires maintains the same apparent thickness
regardless of the scale of the geometry or
hownearorfartheobjectispositioned.
In other words, pixel wires have a constant
display size as if the wires were t raced over
an image.
• IfyouchooseUnits,thewiresbehaveasif
they were modeled in the geometry. They
appear thinner at a distance and t hicker at
close range. Scaling a wireframe object does
scalewirewidth.
Inter face
sha der dr op-down li s t—Chooses a shader. The
material’s Basic Parameters rollout can change
to show the controls for the shader you choose.
Default shader=Blinn
There are seven different shaders. Some are named
for w hat they do; others are named for their
creators. These are the basic material shaders:
• Anisotropic (page 2–1480):Forsurfaceswith
elliptical, "anisotropic" highlights. These
highlights are good for modeling hair, g lass, or
brushed metal.
• Blinn (page 2–1480):Forrounder,softer
highlights than Phong shading
• Metal (page 2–1481):Formetallicsurfaces
• Multi-Layer (page 2–1481):Forsurfaceswith
more complex highlights than Anisotropic
• Oren-Nayar-Blinn (page 2–1482):Formatte
surfaces such as fabric or terra-cotta
• Phong (page 2–1482): For surfaces with strong,
circular highlights
• Strauss (page 2–1483):Formetallicand
nonmetallic surfaces. The Str auss shader has a
simpler interface than other shaders.
• Translucent (page 2–1484): Similar to Blinn
shading, the Translucent shader also lets you
specify translucency, where lig ht is scattered as
it passes through the material.
For more information about the shaders, including
illustrations, see Understanding Shaders (page
2–1468).
Wire—Renders the material in wireframe mode
(page 3–1034).Youcansetthesizeofthewirein
Extended Parameters (page 2–1471).
2-Sided—Makes the material 2-sided (page 3–901).
Ap plies the material to both sides of selected faces.
Face Map—A pplies the material to the faces of the
geometry. If the material is a mapped material,
it requires no mapping coordinates (page 3–967).
The map is automatically applied to each facet of
the object.