Car Flakes as map

[jstrob]

Would it be possible to have the flakes from the car paint shader available as a map so we can use them in other shaders?

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

There is flakes map that u can use.

[jstrob]

There is no flake maps.... but there is a vray flake material that we can use in a vrayblend material.

[vlado]

Do you want the flakes as a black-and-white mask?

Best regards,
Vlado

[jstrob]

yes it would be great I think.

[Art48]

Whereas grayscale would be efen better if you cannot sue normals.

[Dave_Wortley]

I think you'd want it as a normal map? But a bw option would be good for other creative possibilities.

[jstrob]

What I like is the way the flakes react to lighting. I could use them for textures like rocks or cereals in macro to add some sparkling.

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

U can add it to snow and have bad ass snow ;]

[jstrob]

U can add it to snow and have bad ass snow ;]

For sure! very good idea!

[vlado]

You can do a lot of that already using the flake material, no? I've made a note to create a texture too, but using the texture would require more manual setup.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Art48]

To be honest I find the flakes difficult to use, they're kind of hard to understand for me what does what regarding size, distribution/density, etc. I just can't get the hang of it.

[instinct]

Did you check out the examples in the docs? I find them to be quite clear actually:

http://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/V...RayCarPaintMtl

[Svetlozar Draganov]

To be honest I find the flakes difficult to use, they're kind of hard to understand for me what does what regarding size, distribution/density, etc. I just can't get the hang of it.

Feel free to open a new thread on our Forums or contact us at support@chaosgroup.com if you have any difficulties or specific questions about the Flakes even after checking the examples in the Docs.

[jstrob]

You can do a lot of that already using the flake material, no? I've made a note to create a texture too, but using the texture would require more manual setup.

Best regards,
Vlado

We can use the flake material to render it in a separate pass and then comp it and that's what I would do most of the time for better control. But having a texture would allow to use it as a blend amount map in a vray blend material and tweak it already in the render. I'm not sure if I can get the same result with the vray material alone so it may be a matter of usage and habits too. I may would like to have all the control on the material that would be inside the flakes pattern (as a coat material in a vrayblend with the flakes map as a blend amount) with all the controls I'm used too in a standard vray material like translucency etc. So having it a as a map too would be useful.