Remember that surface shaders are automatically attached to all new materials. Attaching a new surface shader to an object from the Get > Shader menu replaces whatever shaders were connected to the object’s Surface port.
A surface shader defines an object’s material surface attributes. Although different surface shaders provide different types of properties you can edit, there are a number of basic properties that are defined for most surfaces.
This section describes how to how to apply and edit surface shaders. Later sections describe their basic properties and how to work with them.
You can also do the following with surface shaders:
• Save a surface shader as a preset and apply it to another object in your scene—see Saving and Loading Shader Presets.
• Animate surface shader properties in the same way as any other property. For more information about animation in general, see Animating with Keys [ Animation ].
• Detach a surface shader and replace it with another type of surface. For information on attaching and detaching shaders, see Applying and Editing Shaders.
You can apply surface shaders as you would any other shader. This procedure is described in Applying and Editing Shaders.
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Remember that surface shaders are automatically attached to all new materials. Attaching a new surface shader to an object from the Get > Shader menu replaces whatever shaders were connected to the object’s Surface port. |
What do you do if you suddenly realize you’d prefer a Blinn shading model instead of the Lambert you already connected? Replace it by dragging and dropping another one in the render tree.
To change a shading model
1. Select the object that you want to edit and open a render tree for the object in a viewport (press 7).
2. From the main menu, choose View > Toolbars > Shaders to open the Shaders toolbar. Go to the Material tab.
3. Drag and drop the new surface shader directly over the one you wish to replace in the render tree.
All of the render tree’s connections will remain intact, but the new surface shader replaces the old one.
There are several ways of detaching surface shaders. You can:
• Attach a new surface shader to an object that already has a surface shader attached; the old shader is removed and replaced by the new surface.
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If you choose Get > Material when the selected object already has a material applied to it, any previous connections you might have made to the Material node are deleted. |
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• Delete the shader from the explorer: it is removed and no longer affects the object.
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• Use the render tree to graphically disconnect and/or delete the shader. For more information on how to use the render tree, see The Render Tree.
You can delete a surface shader by selecting it in the explorer, render tree, or schematic view and pressing Delete. The shader is removed from all views.
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When you are about to modify or delete a shared material, you are warned and asked for confirmation of this action. |
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