Metal Material

Metal materials turn an object into polished or worn metal. Unlike paint or plastic, a metal surface has almost no colour of its own in the usual sense: what you see is a reflection of the world around it, coloured by the metal. Gold reflects the scene in warm yellow, copper in reddish brown, chrome in near-white. Put a metal on a shape, a 3D model or a line of 3D text and the look depends on two things: how sharp those reflections are, and what there is around the object to reflect.

What is in the family

• Mirror and polished: Chrome is a near-perfect mirror, Silver and Gold are bright and smooth, Titanium is a polished mid grey.
• Everyday metals: Aluminum is light and slightly soft, Steel is a medium grey with a satin finish, Brass is a yellowish alloy with a gentle sheen.
• Warm and aged: Copper is reddish brown, Bronze is a darker golden brown with a softer surface.
• Rough and raw: BrushedMetal has a matte satin look, Iron is dark and rough, RustyMetal is an orange-brown surface that is only partly metallic.

How the settings change the look

The metal presets use four settings, and each changes the picture clearly:

• Color is the tint of every reflection. It is what makes gold gold.
• Roughness is the most important one. At 0 the surface is a mirror that shows its surroundings sharply; around 0.3 reflections blur into soft highlights; at 0.6 and above the metal looks matte and satin, with broad, dull sheen.
• Metalness is how much the surface behaves like metal. At 1 every reflection takes the Color; lower values let it act more like painted or corroded material. Only RustyMetal sits below 1.
• Env Map Intensity is how strongly the surroundings show in the surface. Chrome is set to 2 for a bright mirror, rough metals sit lower so they do not glow.

How to choose

Pick by finish first, then by colour. A product that should feel premium and sleek wants a low Roughness: Chrome, Silver, Gold or Titanium. Hardware, machines and industrial objects read better at medium roughness: Steel, Aluminum, Brass. Old, heavy or weathered things want the rough end: Iron, BrushedMetal, RustyMetal. Colour then sets the mood: warm metals (Gold, Brass, Copper, Bronze) feel rich and classic, cool metals (Chrome, Silver, Titanium, Aluminum) feel modern and technical.

Metal is only as good as its reflections. A mirror-like metal in an empty dark scene looks almost black, because it has nothing to reflect. Give it an environment with contrast, such as an HDR environment, a sky, or a few bright lights, and curved geometry so reflections travel across the surface. Rough metals are more forgiving and work under plain lighting.

Every setting can be changed live, Randomize rolls a new combination, and the Textures tab lets you lay a texture set over the metal when it needs visible grain, scratches or wear.