MaterialShading

MaterialShading["material"]

is a three-dimensional graphics directive specifying that surfaces that follow are to be drawn with the material "material" appearance.

MaterialShading[{"material",col}]

uses the specified color col as the base color.

MaterialShading[parm1val1,parm2val2,…]

uses the specified parameters parms.

Details

  • MaterialShading is also known as physically based shading or PBR shader.
  • MaterialShading is typically used to render surfaces in a way that models some key aspect of light and material interaction in the real world.
  • MaterialShading["material"] specifies that reflectance on the surface should well approximate optical properties of the material "material".
  • Possible materials include:
  • MaterialShading[{"material",col}] specifies the base color for the material "material".
  • MaterialShading[<|parm1val1,…|>] specifies that reflectance on the surface should approximate the reflectance equation based on physical, geometric and lighting properties parmi.
  • Possible color parameters parmi of the material include:
  • "BaseColor"base color of the material
    "EmissionColor"color of the light emitted accross the surface
    "SpecularColor"color of the light of a specular reflection
  • Values vali for color parameters parmi can be given in the following forms:
  • cola color
    Texture[image]a 2D texture based on an image
    {…,s}fraction of the color contribution to the final color
  • Possible physical parameters parmi include:
  • "MetallicCoefficient"metallic coefficient of the materal surface
    "RoughnessCoefficient"roughness coefficient of the materal surface
  • Values vali for physical parameters parmi can be given in the following forms:
  • sfraction of the property on the surface
    Texture[image]a 2D texture based on an image
  • Possible geometric parameters parmi include:
  • "SurfaceNormals"normal vectors of the surface
  • Values vali for geometric parameters parmi can be given in the following forms:
  • Texture[image]a 2D texture based on an image
    {…,s}fraction of surface normals
  • Possible parameters parmi of the clear coat covering of the material include:
  • "CoatColor"color of the coat covering
    "CoatRoughnessCoefficient"roughness cooefficient of the coat covering
  • Possible anisotropy parameters parmi include:
  • "SpecularAnisotropyCoefficient"anisotropy coefficient of specular reflection
    "CoatAnisotropyCofficient"anisotropy coefficient of coat reflection
  • Values vali for anisotropy parameters parmi can be given in the following forms:
  • sfraction of the reflection with respect to the view angle
    {s,θ}rotation of the reflection
  • Possible parameters parmi of the material at grazing angles include:
  • "SheenColor"color of the light of reflections
    "SheenRoughnessCoefficient"roughness coefficient
  • Possible light parameters parmi include:
  • "AmbientExposureFraction"fraction of the ambient light on the surface
  • Values vali for light parameters parmi can be given in the following forms:
  • sfraction of the ambient light on the surface
    Texture[image]a 2D texture based on an image
  • MaterialShading[] is effectively equivalent to MaterialShading[<|"BaseColor"White|>].
  • MaterialShading will override any color, Opacity, Texture, Glow or Specularity settings.

Examples

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Basic Examples  (4)

Apply material shading to the unit sphere:

Show a knot made of bronze:

Style a surface in a plot:

Show a gold Beethoven bust:

Scope  (14)

Basic Uses  (6)

Apply material shading to a graphics primitive:

Apply material shading to a plot:

Apply material shading to a chart:

Style a geometric region:

Apply material shading to a 3D object:

Summary box:

Specification  (5)

Specify a named material preset:

Use a material Entity:

Use a custom base color for a named material:

Specify the material parameters directly:

MaterialShading[] with no arguments uses a White base color:

Lighting  (3)

MaterialShading works with all types of lights:

Use colored lights:

Use "ThreePoint" or "Accent" lighting to faithfully reproduce colors on the surface:

Applications  (14)

Basic Applications  (10)

Show the named materials:

Use the "BaseColor" parameter to set the base color of the material:

Use the "RoughnessCoefficient" parameter to set the shininess of the material:

Use the "SpecularColor" parameter to set the color of the specular highlight on shiny materials:

Specular highlights with the base color set to Black:

Use the "MetallicCoefficient" parameter to create metallic materials:

Set the base color:

Use the "SpecularAnisotropyCoefficient" parameter to set the material's preference to reflect light along its tangent direction:

Set a custom angle for the tangent direction:

Use the "EmissionColor" parameter to set the light emitted by the material itself:

The emitted color does not require scene lighting:

Use the "SheenColor" parameter to add highlights on the edges of materials:

The "SheenRoughnessCoefficient" parameter sets the concentration of the sheen lighting:

Metallic materials do not have diffuse lighting and appear dark when perfectly smooth:

Use the "RoughnessCoefficient" parameter to increase the roughness of the metal:

The "AmbientExposureFraction" parameter has no effect with directional, point or spot lights:

Use an ambient light to view the effect of the "AmbientExposureFraction" parameter:

Photorealistic Materials  (4)

Create a nonmetallic matte material:

Use combinations of PBR textures to create semi-realistic materials:

Use metallic textures to create metal materials with wear and tear:

Use emission textures to create glowing-hot materials:

Properties & Relations  (3)

MaterialShading with no arguments approximates the default system appearance:

Apply a texture to a cuboid:

Use VertexTextureCoordinates to specify vertex texture coordinates for a 2D texture:

Possible Issues  (1)

The default light scheme uses several colored light sources:

Use "ThreePoint" lighting to get the standard material shading effect:

Neat Examples  (1)

A red, glazed deco-cube:

Wolfram Research (2021), MaterialShading, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/MaterialShading.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2021), MaterialShading, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/MaterialShading.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2021. "MaterialShading." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/MaterialShading.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2021). MaterialShading. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/MaterialShading.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_materialshading, author="Wolfram Research", title="{MaterialShading}", year="2021", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/MaterialShading.html}", note=[Accessed: 22-February-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_materialshading, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={MaterialShading}, year={2021}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/MaterialShading.html}, note=[Accessed: 22-February-2025 ]}