ABS Plastic

ABS is a light grey plastic with a mid satin finish. It is the everyday engineering plastic of enclosures, appliance housings, LEGO-style bricks and 3D-printed prototypes, and it looks neither shiny nor flat: just solid and practical.

How it looks

Roughness is 0.5, exactly in the middle, so lights leave a soft but recognisable highlight. Env Map Intensity is 0.4, giving a light, blurred reflection of the surroundings in a scene with environment lighting. The pale grey colour shows shading clearly, so the shape of a model reads well from any angle. It is a good neutral for showing a product's form before choosing its final colour and finish.

Settings

• Color: the light grey suits prototypes and technical renders. Swap in any colour for a printed or moulded part.
• Roughness: raise it to 0.7 for the dry look of a raw 3D print, or lower it to 0.3 for a polished moulding.
• Env Map Intensity: raise it slightly for a sheen, lower it for a flatter look.

Use it for

Prototypes and design reviews, 3D-printing showcases, electronics enclosures, tool and appliance housings, and mechanical parts. Because it sits in the middle of the range, ABS is a sensible default whenever you are not sure which plastic to use. For a whiter, slightly shinier pipe-like plastic see PVC; for a lighter-weight matte, Polypropylene.