Physically Based Rendering (PBR) in Lightwave

[prometheus]

It's a good idea to find a real reference photo with the item and use the "pick color" tool from the image.

0,0,0, ultimate black, multiplied by other scalar or color will still remain 0,0,0..

It is, but depends on image, if you for instance pick the surface of items within already lit scenes, the actual "true" color may be incorrect since the color of the lights in the scene affects the surface per that light attribute..when you pick it with pick color tool, and your scene may have the lights differently.

So color temperature of sunlight or other sources will result in different colors in the reference image, so choosing that would be a bit wrong, unless you match that real life photo color temp.

So best is probably to find a texture that is as much as possible within the "clean white spectrum"..I suppose? and evenly lit.

 

[lardbros]

PBR real-world values and basic guidelines: Non-Metal

I summarize a few rules for non-metals.
The base color can be thought of as being somewhat flat in tonality. We avoid too dark and too bright colors. For dark values, we should not go under 30-50 sRGB brightness (This is about a overall brightness, individual RGB values can also be lower). Even charcoal has sRGB values over 30: sRGB (39/39/39).



I attached the compound node below.


p.s.: F0 (Fresnel Reflectance at 0 Degrees) means: the amount of light (in %) a material reflects exactly in the direction of the observer, taking into account the Fresnel effect and therefor the refraction index of the material.

Thanks for all this Thomas, invaluable info. Good to have it all in one place

 

[chunderburger]

these posts are reminding me of the Gerardo days, thanks Thomas