Good morning everyone.
I’m new to the forum and I’m a TechArt student.
As my diploma work I was thinking of developing a photorealistic material for gems and crystals and I am having great difficulty with the Chatoyancy effect for the “Tiger’s eye” and “Star Sapphire/Ruby” stones and the Adularescence effect for the “Labradorite” and “Moonstone/Adularia”.
Is anyone aware of any systems for obtaining this effect exclusively with one material? I have found half-systems but they all include the use of Blueprints or with unsatisfactory results.
I’ve searched various forums and sites but haven’t found anything relevant.
If you had anything to recommend to me, articles, sites, guides, manuals, … I would be immensely grateful.
I would like to be able to complete this course with a project with great visual impact and with a good evaluation.
Thank you very much for the attention.
Davide Medici.
Hello,
You may be able to use a TEXTURE/MATERIAL MASK to approximate the effect.
In this video, such a mask is used to add depth lines in a solid wood texture. In your case, you’d make the lines a shade of white, of course.
You can also take a look at items in the MARKETPLACE and if you see any packs that have stones that match your aesthetic, you can buy the pack and study the material functions:
HI! Thanks for the video and the advice.
I keep the video because it can be very useful, but by looking at it quickly I have already seen some possible problems for my project.
The marketplace wasn’t much help either, but maybe I just used the wrong search terms.
To obtain the desired effect I should apply materials such as subsurface reflective and move the mask based on the position of the camera that is framing the object (a bit like the black “pupil” of praying mantises that always stares at the viewer, regardless of the position).
I tried following tutorials but couldn’t find anything “perfect”.
I should be able to create at least two overlapping layers and a dynamic mask layer at the back that reacts based on the position of the light source and the active camera.
If necessary I can also work with pure code but it would be better with just Blueprint, mathematics, even complex, is not a problem.
It doesn’t have to be game ready material but as faithful as possible to reality.
Allow me to leave a link to the wikipedia page of the Chatoyancy effect and an image of the result I’m aiming for.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatoyancy
Thanks a lot for your time.
Davide Medici.
Yeah, I understand the effect.
But what you want is not (to my knowledge) built in-engine. You’ll need to create it yourself.
The MARKETPLACE link I left is not arbitrary. It actually links to specific asset packs. It appears you didn’t click it, but you searched for “Cat-eye” or “Chatoyancy” on your own. In reality, your search term should be “gems” or “gemstones” or anything synonymous.
If you did search the above terms and found nothing, it’s a shame.
I understand that you want the light to travel/move, as the mask stays in one position, but that’s work you’ll have to do. Sometimes you just have to FAKE an effect in programming.
You may want to check out:
- Lens Flare
- Post Processing
- Distorting Material Functions
To assist you in your journey.
Thanks so much for the insights.
I still have to analyze the marketplace packages in detail using more keywords, but the main problem at first glance is that almost all of them are stylized and for gaming while there are very few protopyting and photorealistic ones.
If successful I will keep updated.
Davide
Unfortunately what you require is VERY specific.
However, if you do figure it out, you might as well sell the function/asset as a product on the MARKETPLACE.
You never know who else may need it.
Thanks for the help and advice.
At the moment I haven’t yet managed to find anything relevant but I’m working hard and I’ve expanded the range of possibilities by also testing BluPrints and not just materials. It will be more complex to apply the effect to specific objects but I have more chances.
I will send updates if there are any changes or success.
Davide.