Generic

The Generic material type is based on the Disney BRDF shader. When you use the Material Importer to import materials such as a Unified 3D Material (.u3m) or Substance Painter Project (.sp) their properties will be mapped to the properties of the Generic material.

General Properties

Base Color

This is the surface color and can be replaced by a texture.

Metallic

Controls the “metallicness” of the material. Increasing the value will produce a more metallic appearance.

Metallic values of 0, 0,5 and 1

Roughness

This will add microscopic levels of imperfections to the surface of the material. When set to 0, the material will appear perfectly smooth and polished. When the value is increased, the material will appear rougher as light is diffused across the surface.

Roughness values of 0, 0,5 and 1.

Specular

The value determines the intensity of the reflection of light sources.

Specular values of 0, 0,5 and 1.

Specular Tint

Determines how much the color the specular reflection gets from the base color. Value between 0-1. At 0, the specular reflection is achromatic.

Specular Tint values of 0, 0,5 and 1.

Anisotropic

This value determines the amount of anisotropy. Anisotropy (the opposite of isotropy) is the property of being directionally dependent. At 0 the surface will be isotropic and will reflect light evenly. Increasing the Anisotropic value add direction to the reflections. 

Anisotropic values of 0, 0,5 and 1.

Anisotropic Angle

Adjust the angle of the anisotropy.

Anisotropic angles of 0, 45 and 90 degrees.

Sheen

The perceived shininess at grazing angles on a surface. Increase the value to add sheen to the material. Primarily used for cloth materials.

Sheen values of 0, 0,5 and 1.

Sheen Tint

Determines how much the color the sheen gets from the base color. Value between 0-1. At 0, the sheen is achromatic (doesn’t tint incoming light).

Sheen Tint values of 0, 0,5 and 1.

Clear-coat

Adds a clear coat on top of the material. increasing the value will make the layer more prominent

Clear-coat values of 0, 0,5 and 1.

Clear-coat Roughness

Controls the roughness of the clear-coat. A value of 0 will make the surface glossy while increasing the value will give the surface a satin finish.

 Clear-coat roughness of 0, 0,5 and 1.

Diffuse Saturation

Adjusts the diffuse saturation of the material. Increasing this value can make the material have fluorescent look.

Diffuse Saturation of 0, 0,5 and 1.

Advanced

Anisotropic Direction

  • UV: the anisotropy follows the UV’s on the object
  • Linear: the anisotropic direction is straight
The first material shows the UV’s of the ball. 2nd material uses UV’s for the anisotropy and the 3rd shows Linear anisotropy .
Note

The Disney BRDF shader has values going from 0-1. In the Generic material type, we have, for artistic purposes, allowed some of the parameters to have values exceeding this.