REDSHIFT MATERIAL: TOP TIPS FOR YOUR 3D TOOLBOX
Enhance your image creation and achieve stunning results with this expert guide to the Redshift render engine
Redshift from Maxon is one of the most popular and versatile render engines available to artists today, with features such as super-quick render previews and reliable animation rendering. Redshift is a ‘biased’ render engine, allowing a great deal of artist flexibility to achieve the desired look, which may not always be ‘photoreal’.
Redshift is available for a wide range of host applications and platforms, all accessed through a single Redshift licence. Redshift also offers pathways to share materials between applications through Redshift’s own file types. This makes it easy for an artist to get the most from their investment in money and time in Redshift and the host 3D content creation applications.
So how does an artist new to Redshift unlock its secrets? I have been using Redshift professionally as my primary render engine for my professional work since 2016. Most render engines can now make stunning images, but I stick with Redshift because the logical nodal and AOV system enables the creation of a wide range of render assets that are easy to manage and track. In the following steps, I will share some of the top material tips that I use every day for animations and stills for clients worldwide that let me make compelling images with tight deadlines.
As mentioned earlier, Redshift works in multiple applications. Thankfully the team at Maxon, who make both Redshift and Cinema 4D, ensure that the controls and features I demonstrate here should be transferable to any 3D application that hosts Redshift.
01 MAKE AN AMBIENT OCCLUSION AOV
The technique to create an Ambient Occlusion Layer in Redshift is not immediately apparent. There is an AO AOV. The best way I have found is to create a Custom AOV and combine it with an AO material. Create a new Redshift material, add an AO node, delete the Material node from the new AO material, and connect the 'Out' of the AO node to the 'Surface' of the Output node. In the AOV manager, create a new Custom AOV, and drag the new AO material into the default material option in the Custom AOV properties. In the Render View, the new custom AO node should be visible.
02 MANAGE MULTIPLE MATERIALS ON AN OBJECT, PART 1
It's possible to create multiple materials/shaders in a single Redshift material and apply them to different parts of a model by UV tags. The trick is to ensure that UV maps have unique names as many objects can support more than one UV map. To make a UV mask, add a Color Layer tag in the Redshift node view and create two 'Color ABS' nodes, one white, one black. Create a Texture node with an allblack texture of minimal size. Drag one of the UV Texture names into the UV channel of the Texture tag.
03 MANAGE MULTIPLE MATERIALS ON AN OBJECT, PART 2
Now that we have our components for our mask, we can feed them into the Color Layer tag. Connect the output of the Color ABS white node into the 'Base Layer' of the Color Layer. Connect the output of the Color ABS black node into the Layer 1 'Color' input. Finally connect the black Texture node into the Layer 1 'Mask' node. This creates a black and white image which can then be fed into a Material Blender node as a Blend Color, allowing two materials (or more) to appear on a single object.
04 TRY WITHOUT UV TAGS, PART 1
Redshift can also manage multiple materials for an object that has no UVS. Redshift’s Triplanar node takes an object and applies a surface to its X, Y and Z axes. For this cube, I want to create a band of metal on two sides with a plastic cap on each end. After I have added a Triplaner node to my material, I switch off 'Save Image On Each Axis'.
05 TRY WITHOUT UV TAGS, PART 2
Now that the Triplanar can be controlled on each axis, convert the colour for the Y and Z axis to black. Set the X to white. With a material setup similar to before, the Triplanar node can be used as an input for the Material Blender node's Blend Layer. Make sure that the Mapping properties of the material on the object are set to an appropriate setting, such as 'cubic' or similar to make the tag wrap correctly. Remember that multiple Triplanar tags can be used throughout a Redshift material, making them highly versatile.
06 USE THE CURVATURE NODE AS A WEATHERING TOOL
The Curvature node is one of the most helpful creation nodes that comes with Redshift. I use it as a mask or blend colour to create wearing in nooks and crannies in a model, without worrying about painting or even creating UV maps. In the image, we can see the result of the Curvature with a subtle blend between the light and dark metal. This blend is created by the Curvature node, the direct impact of which can be seen in the red at the top of the pipe.
07 MIX CURVATURE NODE WITH RAMP NODE
The Curvature node is even better when combined with a Ramp node to allow complete control over the effects. Use a Color Layer node to mix a Curvature node over a black and white Ramp node, with the Blend Mode in the Color Layer node's ‘Layer 1st' node set to 'Add'. Use the Color Layer as a Blend Layer for a Material Blender before adding the graded effect.
08 ADD A NOISE NODE TO FINALISE WEARING
I added further wear to the dark material by using a Maxon Noise node to add some grubby marks on the top of the object. Add the node to the Color Layer and ensure the Blend Modes are set to additive options such as Lighten or Add. An additional Curvature node has been added with a larger radius to act as a mask for the Maxon Noise node, giving a natural falloff to the marks.
09 MAXON NOISE FOR A QUICK PANEL SET
This mech arm was given a quick panelled look by creating three Maxon Noise nodes using the Cell noise, each set to a different scale and then mixed with a Color Layer node to add some variety. This is then connected to the Metalness node to adjust the appearance of the object. To add more detail, a Bump Map node has been linked to the medium-scale Maxon Noise node to create additional relief. The smallest Maxon Noise node has been connected to the Reflection Roughness. •
Save a default scene in C4D I have made the Custom Ambient Occlusion material part of my default scene. To do this, create a file with the Ambient Occlusion material with a Custom Ambient Occlusion AOV, and save it to the desktop with the name 'New. c4d'. Copy this to the main install folder for Cinema 4D. Every time a new file is opened, the Ambient Occlusion setup is waiting for my next creation.