Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.

...

Section
Column
width60%

The Hair material is primarily designed for rendering hair and fur. The material is based around three components: a primary specular component, a secondary specular component, and a transmission component. A diffuse component is also provided for rendering of materials made up of cloth threads or other non-translucent fibers.

The primary specular component represents light that is reflected off the outer surface of a hair strand. The secondary specular component represents light that goes through the hair strand and is reflected off the back surface. The transmission component represents light that goes through the hair strand.

The image below illustrates the meaning of the three components:

Please note that V-Ray Hair material does not produce hair strands. You can use V-Ray Fur to procedurally create fur, hair or grass. V-Ray Fur produces flat strands if Hair material is applied to it.

Column
width5%
 
Column
width35%

 

UI Path

...

||V-Ray Asset Editor|| > Materials (right-click) > Hair

||V-Ray Asset Editor|| > Materials (left-click) > Hair



UI Options

...

Section
bordertrue
Column
width60%

The Hair material settings are organized in Basic and Advanced modes. You can switch the mode from the toggle button () under the Preview Swatch or globally from the Configuration rollout of the Settings tab. 

 From the Add Attribute button, you can select additional attributes that can add up to the appearance of the material. For more information, see the Attributes section.

UI Text Box
typetip
Holding down Ctrl (or Cmd on macOS) while having the Add Attribute menu open, allows selecting multiple entries without closing the dropdown.

The context options of the Color Slot allow to Copy and Paste a color from one color slot to another, as well as to reset the color selection.

A Reset option is provided in the context menu of each Number Slider. You can reset the slider value to the default one.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%

 

 

Parameters

...

Section
Column
width60%

Some parameters are only available in Advanced mode.

Overall Color – A common color multiplier for all color components in the material (except for opacity). Used to easily change the look of the entire hair material.

Transparency – Controls the transparency of the material. Making the hair more transparent towards the tip may produce more smooth and realistic anti-aliasing at the expense of increased render times. If you map the tip opacity, make sure you do not make the strands thinner at the tip as well - transparency already creates the effect of thinning strands. You can enable the Opaque Shadows and Opaque GI options to reduce render times for transparent hair. Note that with transparent strands, it may be necessary to increase the Max. Transp. Levels option in the Global Switches rollout of the V-Ray settings too.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%

 

 

Diffuse

...

Section
Column
width60%

Color – Controls the diffuse component of the shader. Use this for materials made out of cloth threads or other non-translucent fibers, as well as for dirty hair. Note that clean hair or fur does not normally have a diffuse component, so in such a case, leave the parameter black.

Amount – The amount of the diffuse component of the material.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%

 

 

Primary Specular

...

Section
Column
width60%

Color – The primary specular color component, which corresponds to light that is reflected off the outer surface of hair strands (see the figure above). Normally this is dark gray.

Amount – A multiplier for the primary specular color.

Glossiness – The glossiness for the primary specular component. Values closer to 1.0 make the hair shinier and sleeker. Lower values give it a matted look.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%

 

 

Secondary Specular

...

Section
Column
width60%

Lock to Transmission – When enabled (the default), the color for the secondary specular component is derived from the color of the transmission component. Since a ray of light goes twice through the hair width, the color of the secondary specular component can be computed by multiplying the transmission color with itself. When this option is enabled, the hair color is mostly determined by the Transmission color component.

Color  – The color of the secondary specular component, which corresponds to light that is reflected off the back surface of the hair strands. If Lock to Transmission is enabled, this value is ignored and the secondary specular color is derived from the Transmission color.

Amount  – A multiplier for the secondary specular component. If  Lock to Transmission is enabled, this value is ignored and the secondary specular amount is derived from the transmission amount.

Glossiness – The glossiness for the secondary specular component. Values closer to 1.0 correspond to shiny and sleek hair. Lower values correspond to matted hair.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%

 

 

Transmission

...

Section
Column
width60%

Color – The color for the transmission component, which corresponds to light that goes through the hair strands. When Lock to Transmission is enabled, this color determines the overall hair color.

Amount – The amount of the transmission component.

Glossiness L/W – The glossiness of the transmission along and across the hair strand length. For more information, see the Transmission Glossiness Length and Width Parameters example below

UI Text Box
typeinfo

The transmission component of the Hair material is stored in the Refraction render channel. 

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%

...

Section
bordertrue
Column
width30%

 

Column
width40%
Image slider
Panel
borderStylenone

 
Transmission Glossiness Length: 0.87
Transmission Glossiness Width: 0.98

Panel
borderStylenone

 
Transmission Glossiness Length: 0.85
Transmission Glossiness Width: 0.95

Panel
borderStylenone

 
Transmission Glossiness Length: 0.95
Transmission Glossiness Width: 0.85

Panel
borderStylenone

 
Transmission Glossiness Length: 0.98
Transmission Glossiness Width: 0.87

Column
width30%

 

 

 

Options

...

Section
Column
width60%

Opaque Shadows – When enabled, the hair material is always opaque for shadow calculations. This speeds up the rendering of transparent hair.

Opaque for GI – When enabled, the hair material is always opaque for GI calculations. This speeds up the rendering of transparent hair. 

Simplify for GI – When enabled, a simplified diffuse version of the BRDF is used for GI calculations. This may speed up the rendering of hair but may significantly change the final look.

Use Cached GI – Similar to the Use Irradiance Map option for the VRayMtl material; if it is disabled, the hair material is always calculated with brute force GI. 

Light Multiplier – In the absence of GI, the hair may look very dark. GI is the proper way to correct this, but if GI must be really avoided, this multiplier can be used to brighten the hair.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%

 

 

Multipliers

...

Section
Column
width60%

Mode – Specifies one of the following methods for adjusting textures.

Multiply – Multipliers can be specified to adjust colors and textures.
Blend Amount – Blend amounts can be specified to adjust colors and textures.

Overall Color – Controls the intensity of the Overall Color, which acts as a color multiplier for all color components in the material.

Transparency – Controls the intensity of the Transparency.

Diffuse Color – Controls the intensity of the diffuse component color of the shader.

Primary Spec. Color – Controls the intensity of the Primary Specular color component, which corresponds to the light reflected off the outer surface of the hair strands.

Secondary Spec. Color  – Controls the intensity of the Secondary Specular color component, which corresponds to the light reflected off the back surface of the hair strands.

Transmission Color – Controls the intensity of the Transmission color component, which corresponds to the light that passes through the hair strands.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%

...

 

Section
Column
width60%

Binding – Enables connection/binding between V-Ray and the corresponding base application material.

Color – Enables color binding. Changing the V-Ray material color changes the corresponding base application material color and vise versa.

Opacity – Enables opacity/ transparency binding. Changing the SketchUp material transparency, however, does not change the V-Ray material. Instead, it disables the Opacity binding.

Texture Mode – Enables texture binding. Changing the V-Ray material texture changes the corresponding base application material texture and vise versa. 

Auto – By default binds the Diffuse texture to the base app material. Clicking on the "eye" icon for a texture used in the shader hierarchy, changes the binded map to the newly selected one. 
Texture Helper – Allows the use of a helper texture as a base application material map. The same helper is used if the binded texture is a procedural map. This is useful if every time you have to set texture placement for a map that can't be displayed accurately in the base app.
Custom – Allows for the use of a custom texture as base application map. The selected texture is displayed in the viewport. Keep in mind that procedural textures are not displayed.

Disabling this parameter allows changing the base app material texture without affecting the V-Ray material. 

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%


Override Control


Can be Overriden – When enabled, the material can be overridden when you enable the override color option in the Global Switches.

 

 

Attributes


The attributes from the following expandable menus are available for the Hair material.

Anchor
Attributes
Attributes

 

Expand
titleRaytrace Properties

Raytrace Properties


 

Section
Column
width60%

Visible to Camera – When enabled, makes objects using this material visible to the camera.

Visible to Reflections – When enabled, this option makes objects using this material visible for to Reflection rays.

Visible to Refractions – When enabled, this option makes objects using this material visible for the Refraction rays.

Cast Shadows – When disabled, all objects with this material applied do not cast shadows.

Column
width5%
 
Column
width35%

Expand
titleMaterial ID

Material ID


 

Section
Column
width60%

ID Number – Isolates objects as an R/G/B mask in the MultiMatte render elements.

ID Color – Allows you to specify a color to represent this material in the Material ID VFB render element. 

UI Text Box
typeinfo

Each material is assigned with an automatically generated ID Color.

Column
width5%

 

Column
width35%