Understanding Metalness in PBR workflow with V-Ray Next

Chaos Group has added a Metalness parameter to the V-Ray standard material in an effort to better support a PBR workflow in V-Ray Next. In the article, they talk about PBR workflow in general. They talk specifically about conductive materials such as steel, copper, gold — in other words: metals. Topics such as the Index of Refraction include a nice table with the base colors, metalness settings, and more for metals like zinc, lead, chromium, aluminum, and more.

This article is a fantastic resource and you’ll want to bookmark it for future reference, indeed!

Understanding Metalness in PBR workflow with V-Ray Next

Zap Anderson Interview about Metalness

In this Chaos Group interview, Zap Andersson of Autodesk talks about PBR and Metalness and reflectivity.

Listen to the podcast

Other resources for free PBR Materials Textures

• Freebie: Textures: Free 4K PBR Moss Material – Pete McNally, Art Lead & 3D generalist, has a free PBR material. Cover ground, rocks, and trees in your next 3D project with this realistic seamless 4096×4096 mossy material.
• Freebie: Textures: Free Seamless PBR Denim Material – Again, Pete McNally, has designed a free seamless PBR Denim Material, 4096×4096, that is great for base/detail passes or close up garments in games or VFX.
• Freebie: Free 8k PBR Textures from Texture Haven – Texture Haven offers 8k, PBR textures that are licensed as CC0, and as such is completely free to use how you wish.

Want the Mother Lode of PBR Textures and Materials

Allegorithmic Substance Source

Access 1500+ materials. Get Substance.

Substance Source is an ever-growing content library where you can find physically based, high resolution and tweakable assets for texturing. Find assets suited to any type of 3D project at Substance Source… everything from fully procedural materials to physically based scans and hand-painted materials. Download materials every month with the Substance Live monthly payment plan or make a one-time purchase of Substance Source access (includes 12 months of updates).

Learn More

Create your own PBR materials

Allegorithmic Substance Designer

Material Authoring Tool

Substance Designer is the Ultimate 3D Material Authoring and Scan Processing Tool. It has become the standard in the entertainment industry for PBR material authoring.  Substance Designer is now only available in the Substance Suite Pro – Annual Plan.

Learn More

To download a trial version, click on the product page.