3Ds Visualization Studio

When you are applying material into a your mental ray‘s scene, you will realize that there is a increased of number of material available to you. Which materials you what choose are depend on your project requirement and there have two main types of materials common used in architectural rendering which are the Arch & Design material and the series of ProMaterials.  Let start off with the Arch & Design material that is the more versatile of the two materials there are a set if advance technique for mental ray materials that designed for architects to add in the buildings and surface .

The series of ProMaterials however it different from Arch & Design because it have a unique material type for several surfaces and it have a simpler interface for you to adjust those that are most important at specific material. It comes with an extensive predefined series of material libraries normally used by 3D architectural artists and ProMaterials are created in 3ds Max when there have transfer a particular project from Autodesk Revit into 3ds Max using the FBX file format. In term of materials, if they are created and assigned to objects in Revit, then it will be automatically assigned to objects in 3ds Max using a ProMaterial type.

ProMaterial Ceramic

The first ProMaterial that will be introduced to you is ProMaterial Ceramic that used for ceramic surfaces. The Ceramic surfaces include objects like ceramic vases and ceramic tiled floors. Here are a few objects that rendered using the ceramic surfaces from the ProMaterial Ceramic Material Library:

There have some of the important adjustment that can be found in the Ceramic Material Parameters rollout:

• Type: Ceramic or Porcelain option use to determine the surface characteristics that can be found in material.
• Surface Finish: Adjust setting between high-glow, satin and matter finishes.
• Surface Bumps and Tiling Pattern: Two different bump maps options that available for you to use to control indent between titles and the surface.

ProMaterial Concrete

The second ProMaterial is ProMaterial Concrete that normally designer applies at the surfaces made with concrete blocks, and concrete with high exposure. A few effects of materials from the ProMaterial showed below:

Some of the option you must take note when come to the Concrete Material Parameters rollout:

• Surface Finish option whereby it allows you to select the surface finish of the concrete surface then do some adjustment. This options include Straight Broom, Curved Broom, Smooth, Polished, and Custom Map.
• Sealant enables you to determine the surface shininess that applies at concrete. These options are None, Epoxy. and Acrylic.
• Last one is brightness Variations that provide you with a variation to the color of the concrete, according to an automatic procedural map and a custom map.

ProMaterial Glazing

This material is primarily by interior designer for exterior or interior glass windows, doors, storefronts, and curtain walls purposes. In this material library, there will be several predefined material and here are some of the samples:

Some of the settings to note in the Glazing Material Parameters rollout:

• Color (Transmittance) whereby it allows you to set one of six standard glazing colors or a custom color and map.
• Refraction Levels that allow you to adjust number of reflections and refractions permitted through the glazing. A value 1 in the option will produce only reflection and then a value 2 in the option will produce reflection and refraction.
• Reflectance however allows you to adjust the amount of reflection that produced by the surface. The amount of 1 equals 100 percent reflective surface in this material.