V-RAY FOR 3DS MAX: V-RAY MATERIAL

This document gives a sample lesson plan for involving the V-Ray Material module into a lecture

Lecture
• Since this is the first lecture on the topic of shading it is good to begin by discussing some
common terms like
o The difference between a shader and a material
o The main components of a CG material – Diffuse, Reflection and Refraction
o Fresnel reflections and Index of Refraction
o The difference between highlights and reflections
o Self-illumination
o Translucency
• You may want to spend time discussing how light is reflected/refracted by different materials in
the real world to create different looks
• Using photos of real world materials may be useful to better explain the concepts
• Next you can move on to explain the main components of the V-Ray Material
o It is a layered material and layers are blended so that the Energy Preservation Law is not
broken – i.e. a material cannot reflect or refract more light than it is receiving
o Main layers – Diffuse, Reflections, Refractions
o Secondary layers
▪ Self-illumination
▪ Translucency – builds on top of the Refractive layer
• You may discuss the usage of texture to control certain parameters and the importance of
proper UV maps
• Bump and Normal mapping are also shading effects that can be discussed during the lecture. It
is important to point out that the actual geometry is not affected here.
• We have provided you with a lecture that covers all the important settings of the material that
need to be explained
• Since the topic is You may want to point out that things will become much more clear during the
Demonstration and Activity cycles

Demonstration
• In this cycle, you can use the provided scenes and handouts to demonstrate the different
components of the V-Ray Material. It is up to you to decide which ones to use, additionally you
may prepare your own materials if there are specific examples you’d like to show
Activity
• In this cycle, you are going to let your students experiment with the provided scenes. You may
want to give them the provided handouts to use as a guideline