Rubber

Rubber is a near-black material with the roughest, least reflective finish of all the plastics. It looks like a tyre, a bike grip, a rubber seal or the soft base of a gadget.

How it looks

Roughness is 0.95, almost fully matte, so lights leave no visible highlight and the surface takes on a dull, soft appearance. Env Map Intensity is 0.05, the lowest in the library's plastics, so nothing of the surroundings reflects in it. The colour is very dark, so the object reads mainly through its silhouette and the faint shading on its lit side. Put a light behind it or to one side to show the form.

Settings

• Color: near black by default. Coloured rubber works too: try a strong orange or yellow for safety grips and toys.
• Roughness: keep it high. Lowering it below 0.7 makes it look like wet rubber or glossy plastic.
• Env Map Intensity: leave it near 0 so the surface stays dull.

Use it for

Tyres and wheels, handles and grips, gaskets and seals, phone and tool bumpers, sneaker soles, and the soft-touch parts of a product model. It works best paired with a contrasting material on the same object: a Glossy Plastic shell or a metal frame. For a slightly lighter and less extreme matte, use Matte Plastic.