Step-by-step

GET THE JET-BLACK LOOK

01 Setting UP the geometry

A model’s geometry plays a vital role in how the object captures reflections. If it’s got some really sharp edges then it won’t capture the right reflections, that’s why setting up a chamfer-style edges is essential to capture the lights’ reflections. So if you have a model you want to display, try softening it’s edges, but if you can’t do that, then simply set it up at a 3045 degree angle from the light you want to capture.

02 Creating the Material

Creating the material is pretty straightforward, it’s not really about the material as much as it’s about the lights and reflections. So simply create a Vraymtl (if you’re using V-ray). Set the diffuse to black, turn on the fresnel reflections, ramp up the reflections all the way to 100 and you’re good to go. Do not use any bump or displacement maps, they’ll just end up ruining the look.

03 lighting the SCENE

Lighting is by far the most important part of this entire set up. If you have an iphone model or something similar try lighting it up from the sides first. In this example, we have a car and for that I used really big lights and set up two of them, one on the top and the other one in the opposite direction to the camera.

04 SOFTBOX effect

Quite often in a studio set up people use softboxes to light their scene, if you want to achieve that look, simply apply a texture to your scene, make it one of those fall off textures you can find in 3ds Max or simply use a ramp made in Photoshop. Using softboxes create a really good look, but I couldn’t quite make it work for the jet-black look.