Combining materials....?

[Markc]

I have painted an object in 3D Coat with metallic materials and some Matt painted areas.
Initially just exporting the textures and applying to a Conductor node in LW, everything is metallic.

So I did the Matt paint on a separate layer in 3D Coat.
I setup the paint material to a BSDF node in LW.

If I use the material mixer, the only option is an alpha level which affects both materials and so makes the metal surfaces lighter.

Is there a different node to achieve this (metal object with Matt paint)

View attachment 146841

 

[Markc]

Update: I rendered the paint layer separately and comped with the metal (image 1).
The blue is the paint layer, seems a better result than from node editor material mixer (image 2).

View attachment 146844
View attachment 146846

 

[Ma3rk]

One of the tools in the OD Tools set is a PBR importer. It's use is somewhat relying on naming convention in order for it to be just a couple of clicks, but 3DC already outputs it's files for textures that way.

View attachment 146848

Even so, you can "manually" enter paths where needed. Then back in Node Editor, make adjustments. Typically, that's just setting Bump & Normal percentages, etc.

 

[Markc]

That looks useful, but not sure if it would fix my issue (plus I don’t have OD Tools atm).
If done within one material node in LW (I.e. conductor) everything gets a metallic finish, and if I mix another material it still looks very shiny (as my image 2).

 

[RPSchmidt]

Control your specular level by using a specular map. 3d coat will output a spec map.

Set your overall level of reflectivity (specular) and then use your spec map image and plug it into your specular. Your black areas in your spec map will be matte.

If you didn't live paint your spec map, you can always go back and do it.

Alternately, you can desaturate your albedo / diffuse texture in Photoshop, and use Levels to get a similar effect, although it won't be as precise.

 

[Ma3rk]

I should have added this earlier. This is just the Node Editor Result after using the Importer tool:

View attachment 146850

Use that as a basic guide to manually make nodes & connections. Set the UV options, etc.

Along the lines of combing materials, I built a prop last week that forced me to play around with multiple layers for some decals.

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For me anyway, there always seems to be a bit of Tummy/Head Patting/Rubbing with alphas figuring out what needs to be inverted where.