In this tutorial, we show you how to make a green gemstone material using the versatile VRayMtl material, particularly its translucency parameters. We explore the interaction between the translucency and the Reflection Glossiness to determine respectively how opaque the object is and how rays interact with the object’s surface. All three translucency modes offered by the VRayMtl are shown.
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The new modes require GI with minimum 16 bounces (brute force or light cache). They alsorequire that the Affect shadowsoption of the material is enabled.
We use a fish figurine geometry for the purposes of thе tutorial. Chaos Cosmos Assets are also used to give the scene some final touches. The sofa and pots from our Cosmos 3D content library give depth to the image. Also the camera's depth of field is enabled for a more artistic look.
The images are rendered on CPU with V-Ray for 3ds Max 2022, update 1.3. The scene files provided are saved with 3ds Max 2018. In the "Start" scene file, the figurine is shaded with a default VRayMtl and respectively in the "End" file it's shaded with a ready made gemstone material.
Let’s see how the material will turn with SSS mode.
Set the Translucency to SSS mode. This mode works independently of the Refraction color and is useful for skin, wax, marble and other relatively opaque materials. Its SSS amount parameter reduces the diffuse component of the material and replaces it with the sub-surface scattering effect.
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When Translucency is set to SSS mode, it can work with and without a Refraction color, meaning that the Refraction color can remain black and there will be only a pure
sub-surface scattering effect.
The green color for the Scatter radius remains the same: RGB (12, 20, 5). That applies also for the SSS color: RGB (91, 150, 38). This parameter controls how far each of the red/green/components travels inside the volumе.
The Scale's value remains 3 cm to boost the sub-surface scattering effect.
