Hello, I liked the way to damage edges so much that I had to buy Wireframe pro. I had not thought of using it in this way before. If Eric is improving Wireframe pro to make a dirty up shader, then I need it to do 2 functiions: collect dirt in corners and create nicks in edges. I have model of a casting that I am trying to find away to dirty up as the product shots I create look a little too clean. The file is created in a CAD package the brought into CarraraPro. Because the boxes are boring military green I'm trying to make them look more interesting and real. Aluminium underneath with paint on top. This is my first attempt and will be playing with it alot more. Look forward to the upgrade, Thanks, Andrew.

Andrew, Great image! Even if it is not logical when you examine it, it still helps to bring out the geometry in subtle and convincing ways. I've got some military surplus hardware lying around that needs a shader like this. Would you mind sharing your formula? That olive drab is convincing. Yeah I see it as a 2-part dirt'n'damage shader. One shader to detect inner grooves, the other to effect outer edges, and some sort of fractal noise to define the scale and randomness of the damage.... Eric has LOTS of work to do! He'll probably regret me ever posting this WireframePro trick! har har har holly

I love the effect! -Kix

Holly, here's a screen grab of the shader. The RGB of the green is shown and is based on actual CARC paint scans and samples. Army green is really flat, so I have added a bit of highlight just to accentuate the edges. Cinema4D has a shading model more advanced than Gauroud that is better for these type of surfaces but I have found C4Pro far easier to use and setup. If I can remember what Cinema4D calls the shader type than maybe Eric can add this to his Shaders Plus. My initial enthusiasm for Wireframe Pro has been tempered some what by models that have lots of fins and edges that just bogged down the shader room to the extent that I could not use wireframe pro with them. I'll try again with the Workstation I have at work. I would post more but the products I do are in development. I need more time at home to do more creative stuff. Thanks, Andrew

Here we go, help if I could spell: Gouraud is the standard lighting model. Need something more advanced: oren-nayar blinn. Thanks, Andrew

Andrew,

There is a patch in the works now for Wireframe Pro that really helps with the start up performance on complicated meshes. Render time wasn't bad, but that first shading call where I cached the mesh was doing much more work than it needed to, so WFP would seem to hang at the beginning of the render. There are some other parts of the patch that are still under construction and I hope to have the whole thing ready for release in a few weeks.

Carrara's built in lighting model is Phong, a little more advanced than Gouraud. I'm currently finishing up an update for Shaders Plus that greatly improves on the Anisotropic lighting model and I am looking for other models to add to it. I've bookmarked a search on the oren-nayar-blinn and will have to look closer at that.

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

I don't know enough about shaders yet. Or how they work together in Carrara. But I figured what to fill in for the collapsed Source 2 branch to make the edge color.

Great stuff in here, I like this thread (don't let it get locked). mdc

Neato, great stuff Shonner. Is this Huey, Looey of Dooey? Cann't remember their names from Running Silent. I did not realise the actual models were that detailed. Sorry, for the other collapsed shader branch I just used one of Litst' Aluminum Shaders. Just copy one of the metallic ones from C4. Thanks for the response Eric. WooHoo, much to look forward to. Andrew.