Modo 801 add material
The use of gradients opens up a number of interesting possibilities as well, where Material Groups can be masked by the numerous gradient input parameters, such as slope or incidence angle. Users can create these images externally using an image editor, or paint them directly in MODO using the built in paint tools. The use of image maps provides very fine pixel-level control. The texture can be a procedural texture such as a Noise layer, an image map or even a weight map using the Weight Map texture layer. It allows the contents of an entire Material Group, regardless of complexity or number of layers, to be masked by using any single texture item. The 'Group Mask' is a Layer Effect option, defined for a layer in the 'Effects' column of the Shader Tree. Whenever an alpha transparency mask is applied to a texture layer the underlying layers are revealed. The masking functions combined with the layering possibilities of the Shader Tree makes it simple to produce very complex surfaces with ease. Therefore MODO provides several other ways to mask textures that provide much finer control. While the Material Group is an easy way to assign surfacing for geometry when rendering, its reliance on polygon tags limits what is possible with just Material Groups not all surface borders are hard edged polygonal boundaries. Its a very simple procedure, but the implications of the power that the Material Group provide are immense. Defining a name and pressing 'OK' will generate a new Material Group item in the Shader Tree automatically setting the 'tag type' and 'tag name' options to the particular name that was defined. Users press 'M' opening the ' Polygon Set Material' dialog box. This is done automatically every time a user applies a Material tag using the 'M' keyboard command. layers) within the Material Group can be limited to only affect geometry surfaces that carry that specific tag in the scene. By selecting from named Items and/or Polygon Tags in the Material Group items 'Properties' panel, any contents (i.e. The Material Group item also provides the principal means for applying materials to surfaces by way of masks. This can be illustrated by selecting a few layers in the tree and pressing the 'Ctrl+G' keyboard shortcut, grouping together like materials under an undefined Material Group item.
In this case, they are strictly organizational devices, providing hierarchy to a scene, for instance associating like Materials to an item in the scene, making it easier to navigate a complex tree. These containers can hold any number of layers, including collections of other groups. When users add a Material Group item to the tree, they are simply empty containers. The Material Group serves multiple purposes and understanding its few settings are extremely important in getting the most out of them.
In the 'Add Layer' function of the Shader Tree, it is simply referred to as a 'Group', but here I'm calling it a 'Material Group' to avoid any confusion with actual ' Groups'. The number one most important item in the Shader Tree is the Material Group item. Beyond the basics covered on these pages, it was important to add an additional page to go over some more advanced aspects of shading surfaces in MODO. The basics are covered on the Shading, Shader Tree Items and Layer Effect page of the documentation.
#Modo 801 add material how to
Understanding how to work with layers in the Shader Tree and what each contributes is an important start in wielding the power that the Shader Tree provides. The result is user diligence is required to keep the Shader Tree organized and the effort necessary increases as the complexity of a project increases. Based on user feedback, it was a design requirement to allow materials and textures to be applied at any level in the scene even globally if necessary, but as the saying goes, "With great power comes great responsibility". It is this flexibility that can lead to it feeling unwieldy at times. The Shader Tree is both immensely powerful and tremendously flexible.