Hi everyone,

I'm completely new to Carrara, so please don't laugh if I say something completely stupid.
Anyway I imported a Rhino model ( I made some time ago ) into Carrara 3.
Most shaders for my car I could easily find in the predefined shaders (or modify some shaders slightly).
But I couldn't find a shader for the carpaint (or a shader that comes close).
That's why I tried to create some carpaint myself, but I can't say it looks very realistic (it looks more like some sort of plastic)
So, does anyone know how to create realistic carpaint and/or what settings I should use ?
I also included the settings I used for the carpaint, which may make clear what I did wrong.

Any help is creatly appeciated.

Attached Link: Real World Metals

I bought the Real World Metal Carrara Shaders by litst Without giving away too much, I hope, I can tell you he used a bitmap of noise in the hightlight ande the reflection channel. That gives a subtle 'metallic' effect. Maybe more experimenting in the reflection channel helps. And maybe there should be more to reflect too, in a picture like the one you show. The thing with car paint is the transparant layer on top. That creates something like a 'freshnel'-type effect on how the color looks. Maybe Digital Carver's Guild Shaders Ops can be of help too. It helps to have a shader collection like the one from litst ( a visit to www.3dshaders.com can be equally rewarding ), because you can tear them apart and look how they do it. But you have to pay some cash.

Those shaders you mentioned look very realistic. Maybe I'll buy them after some experimenting. Thanks for the help.

Here's a post I put on the Carrara list a while back talking about using Fake Fresnel to simulate the way some newer paints change color based on viewing angle.

Stealing heavily from Gary Beale's classic paint tutorial, but with Shader Ops Fake Fresnel added to mix colors based on viewing angle, I created a quick metallic paint shader inspired (but exaggerated to better show the effect) by the upcoming 2004 Mystichrome Cobra Mustang. A luxury I will have enjoy only as a 3D object because of how my wife so politely said I was not allowed to pillage the children's college fund to buy a new mustang, though the boy was on my side as he exclaimed "Daddy car BRRRMM!" ;)

Here is the end result

And here is the shader

Regards,
Eric Winemiller
Digital Carvers Guild
3D plug-ins for Carrara
http://digitalcarversguild.com

All these comments are excellent. I would do the following. Mix in turbulence into the reflection, color, shininess, and highlight channel with a large global scale and make it very subtle. Turn up the shininess. The color in the reflection is very dark. Along with the turbulence, I would mix it with white until the reflection was stronger. Darken the base color. -Kix

I've used Rhino and I recall it has a material(shader) property called Clear finish. It is quite like the fresnel effect and is used for making the surface more reflective as it turns from the viewer and look like lacquered. So I think you quite definately need the Shader Ops and its fake fresnel to create similar materials. Once you-ve got it add the fake fresnel into the reflection slot Just as Ewinemiller has it. In Rhino the material blends into full colorless reflection as the material turns away. I have no idea what the value for the fake fresnel should be but maybe Rhino can answer that if you check the carpaint-shader. There might something else to Rhino's materials but I cannot remember them right now. And probably you need something more to reflect as Hoofdcommissaris said. I wish I could test this first myself but I haven't been able to get the shaderops demo working (what does that tell about my suggestions)...

I wish I could test this first myself but I haven't been able to get the shaderops demo working (what does that tell about my suggestions)...
HK,

That is expected, in the Shader Ops demo, Fake Fresnel is non-functional. It just returns black always.

Regards,
Eric Winemiller
Digital Carvers Guild
3D plug-ins for Carrara
http://digitalcarversguild.com

Hi Everyone Here is a recipe for a car paint I just put together. I hope you like it. Kirk Saavedra www.shaders3d.com

and here is a pic of that recipe.. Kirk Saavedra www.shaders3d.com

if you want it more shine..just put "shininess" at 10% instead of 5% now this give a nice look of laquered paint. enjoy Kirk Saavedra www.shaders3d.com

I think the brick shouldn't reflect. It would make your model stand out more.

After some more experimenting (trying to apply the suggestions you all made),I created a blue and a green shader for the carpaint. Hope you like it.

I think you got it. It looks pretty good from ware I am standing. I am kind of partial to the blue, not too sure I would every buy a green car.

I will take the green one then. But what about the glass in the windows? Could it look nice if they would be dark/black with less reflection?

Yes, I still have to fix the windows. Should the windows reflect all colors or just it's own color (like carpaint) ?

Glass tends to reflect all colors, but tinted glass absorbs a lot of it. If there is no 'inside' in the car you should not make it too transparent and experiment if a dark brown in the reflection channel does the job. Or try using an operator with a value and a color.