3 Easy steps to make Realistic Materials

Download the tutorial files here:
dragonboots.gumroad.com/l/zaqglk
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0:00 How materials tell a story
0:50 Base materials
1:40 Node Wrangler
3:45 Edge wear
5:55 Scratches
8:40 Random damage
9:42 Dirt
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Check out my Gumroad for a bunch of free Blender stuff:
dragonboots.gumroad.com
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#Blender #Materials #Procedural

[@Tiki_Media]

I was so grateful for the tips I learnt from @JamieDunbar, I revisited this tutorial. I found the bevel node technique was good, but not accurate, as wear/scratches occur in the sticking out edges, but not in the cracks. I tried using the Geometry>Pointiness node, one for edgewear, another INVERTED to add dirt in the concave crevices. I hooked it up to the "Dirt" and "Color" frames with a Color Mix node. The result is outstandingly realistic! Thanks again for showing us all those techniques and giving us the understanding to go further.

[@JamieDunbar]

That's brilliant @Tiki_Media 🤩 I tried to make the material setup in this video simple enough that anyone with a little experience could do it and get nice results. And if you just copy what's taught here you'll get nice results - but not brilliant results. My hope is that people will take the lessons on how to build masks and take them to the next level. It's in mixing them, flipping them and combining them with nodes not even mentioned in this video that you can start to make truly beautiful materials. I feel like you've really embraced the true lessons in this video ☺

[@patnor7354]

Good advice

[@KR11111]

This was way more advanced than I thought it was going to be hahaha. So many nodes and steps. Definitely NOT 3 easy steps. It still worked out in the end, but that was wayyyyy more involved than I thought it was going to be. I'm not sure I'm going to remember how to do this again on my own, but I appreciate the walkthrough.

[@Eriodas]

Really simple and direct way to do awesome textures. Thanks for the video.

[@sasekkat]

Amazing video! I have been looking for some more videos that show the process of creating realistic materials. One note I would add is that using image textures for the color node brings the whole material to another level, but this is still great for being procedural 👍

[@grilldj]

Excellent video. I like how you explain not only what to do, but why it works that way and what it’s doing. Thank you!

[@JamieDunbar]

Lol, it's so hard not going off on tangents. There's SOO much extra stuff I want to explain. Thank you :)

[@StudioHoekhuis]

Great tutorial, one of the best I've seen on this topic so far 👍

[@JamieDunbar]

Wow, thanks so much!

[@ashd1930]

Probably the best explained shader node video I've found. Appreciate your work!

[@JamieDunbar]

Naw, thanks Ash. Really appreciate that 🥰

[@dialac1]

Thank God I found your channel. What I love most is you’re explaining exactly why you are adding each node and what you’re using it for. Nodes are my biggest problem. I can usually find my way to model anything but when it comes to geometry nodes I just get all confused as to what to plug into what and what node I need to use to achieve my goals

[@JamieDunbar]

Thanks so much @dialac1 😁 I was listening to Andrew Price's podcast where he mentioned he'd had a lot of trouble wrapping his head around Geometry Nodes. And listening to him, it sounded like he'd had the same problem you're having - very few people explain WHY they're doing things. It's just: plug this isn't that, and that into this and hey-presto! You've got a realistic hamburger! And I'm like...that's great. But HOW!?

[@Kamado4949]

Thank you for your service to the Blender community!

[@crummymudd8625]

Awesome tutorial. Looks so complex, but thanks for tip on Frames, it all starts to make sense

[@JamieDunbar]

That's awesome to hear @crummymudd8625 I almost left that part out, as I was worried it might be too much for a beginner tutorial. But frames do such a good job of organising everything in your head. I'm very glad I left it in 😊

[@sebastiangaleanoramirez9145]

Great Tutorial, perfect compilation and application of new information

[@peterszalai79]

Thank you, Jamie! Super fantastic and helpful video! 🙂👍❤️

[@ahmedhafiz2419]

So precise and well explained. I might finally understand procedural material in Blender.

[@JamieDunbar]

That's awesome Ahmed! I was worried this might have been too much information too fast, but that's really exciting to hear 😁

[@ahmedhafiz2419]

@@JamieDunbar I think these kinda short and precise videos are better than 2hr long tutorials. I believe it has sth to do with your language skill. Each sentence was clear and you explained every step with the reason you did it. Hoping to see more of it. And thanks for the awesome content.

[@JamieDunbar]

@@ahmedhafiz2419 Thanks mate, that's really helpful feedback. I've been trying to learn better ways of making tutorials and this is the first video I've implemented it all in. By the sounds of it, it's working 🤞

[@themalandrajo]

It has helped me to settle all those nodes in my head finally. Good video!❤

[@JamieDunbar]

That's exactly the type of feedback I like to hear @themalandrajo Once you start to wrap your head around a handful of nodes, it becomes infinitely easier to learn the others. Good luck!

[@Violet__Veil]

great video, very detailed and good pacing

[@georgb302]

Very comprehensive tutorial. Thank you for that. Subscribed.

[@JamieDunbar]

Yay! Welcome to the club :D

[@artb1569]

Great video. All the most important things are explained briefly and clearly.

[@JamieDunbar]

Thank you! And I'm glad it's all coming through clearly. There was...a lot of editing on this one.

[@BERozzy]

Awesome video, please more tutorials on procedural materials! Loved both this one and about the realistic glass

[@JamieDunbar]

Thank you! Any requests?

[@BERozzy]

@@JamieDunbar i would really use more understand of subsurface scattering. i really love this effect, but i don't fully understand how to use it to the fullest and there seem to be not too many tutorials on this subject :)

[@JamieDunbar]

@@BERozzy Ooohh, that's a good idea. I'll add that to my list.

[@nguyenluc5597]

This is really a great video I need to make materials in the 3D process but just want to optimize the software 🎉🎉

[@frozthound]

The logic is really amazing, and easy to understand. Thank you for the lesson mate.

[@JamieDunbar]

That's great to hear. I was worried this one was getting a little too confusing, so very happy to hear it's hitting the mark. Also...."mate"? Do we have another Aussie in the house? 😄

[@frozthound]

Lol, no sir @@JamieDunbar , I guess this is the result of having Statham movies too much.

[@JamieDunbar]

@@frozthound Roflmao. Either way, I like it 🤣

[@sottozen]

Beautiful! Thanks for this.

[@HomeOfWhomatics]

Thanks, this video helped alot with some of my stuff!

[@mostlyharmless88]

This was fantastic, thank you!

[@jayaxavier5]

Awesome Tutorial!!! Thank you!!!!

[@onemunki]

It's not often I comment on tutorials but this....this is the gold standard for Blender Tutorials!

[@JamieDunbar]

Thank you! I feel honored 😊

[@liweilin6649]

very clean tutorial!

[@HMNummi]

Great stuff, thank you!

[@wndr0]

Pro tip, hold “alt” and RMB for a quick connection between the nodes (with node wrangler). Btw, this is one of the cleanest tutorial I’ve seen on yt, thank you man!

[@JamieDunbar]

Thank you! And solid tip. I *never* use that shortcut. I really should.

[@agathiyan2493]

Nice tutorial easy to follow, will definitely break the fear of procedural nodes

[@JamieDunbar]

That's awesome @agathiyan2493. Out of curiosity, what's made you fearful of procedural nodes in the past? Maybe I can make a few other videos in this series.

[@agathiyan2493]

@@JamieDunbar the math nodes, thanks man

[@Slingshooting_Downunder]

Great presentation Jamie 👍

[@JamieDunbar]

Thank you kindly 🥰

[@_TetKaneda]

great contribution. Great tutorial. You have my like. Thank you so much

[@JamieDunbar]

Yay! Thanks heaps 🤩

[@massimobaita7178]

Thank You very much, Jamie!

[@Ruan3D]

Great tutorial!!

[@FuzzyTues]

Great tutorial!

[@coffeebeanstudio]

Love the pacing bro!

[@JamieDunbar]

That's great to hear mate! I was trying out a new, faster paced editing style with this one and it's lovely to hear it's hitting it's mark.

[@frankb4793]

Great Tut Thank You!

[@Nstone53]

Really opened my eyes to what I've been missing. I love how this tut is both helpful and also comes off very "Now draw the rest of the owl" xD

[@JamieDunbar]

Lmao, I love that comparison. Thanks 😆

[@mikeyin9]

Very good, thanks bro!

[@Cineinsaner]

what a amazing video.. love this

[@PixeLabor]

best video on this topic! thanks

[@brunoosti1]

This was very well explained! Thank you. Maybe some more intermediate steps to understand better the origin of the masks mixes, but that we can do ourselves. Thank you!

[@sobreaver]

Whoaa, so clear, thank you

[@JamieDunbar]

Such a relief to hear. I really wanted this to be as beginner friendly as possible and about halfway through I was thinking...man this is getting complex 😅 Hopefully everyone finds it as understandable as you have.

[@jackbauer9901]

Help! My graphics card cought on fire and so did my brain! Thank you very much for this awesome tutorial!!!

[@JamieDunbar]

Have you tried turning them off and on again? 😜 Seriously though, thanks for the kind words.

[@samhuf6694]

Great tutorial Jamie

[@JamieDunbar]

Hi Sam 👋 Thanks mate.

[@S9universe]

super efficient thanks

[@LayZich_Toster]

Я хоть не англичанин, но всё равно большое спасибо за такой урок. Теперь мои рендеры станут чуточку лучше)))

[@JamieDunbar]

Пожалуйста. Удачи. 😁

[@Graziemilleuno]

Amazing work thank u so much

[@JamieDunbar]

Thanks Strawberry 😁

[@acedark5589]

You earned a subscriber mate

[@JamieDunbar]

Yay! Thanks Ace. Hopefully see you around 😁

[@user-cz9bm3jz4s]

Your amazing, thank you ❤

[@terrain4print]

Thank you for this. I can now generate geometry for cracks along a surface in geometry nodes.

[@JamieDunbar]

Oh that’s cool. I don’t know Geometry Nodes all that well, but it’d be really cool if some of these techniques could transfer over 🤩

[@terrain4print]

Yes, Voronoi texture works about the same. So just SetPosition with offset= normal scaled by texture. @@JamieDunbar

[@KR11111]

btw Musgrave texture has been removed for Blender 4.1. It has been merged with Noise Texture.

[@tiagopesce]

an interesting effect during color variation as shown in 2:53 it is vary hue and luminosity, because luminosity only vary in real life on porpouse, when diving into color and how much depth you can provide is a known trick by speedpainters and pixelartist to combine hues to blueish darker colors and redish lighter colours. that way you can also keep lighten differences in colors very low because the hue involved will change the percived color by the human eye as much darker/lighter then the other

[@JamieDunbar]

That's some top tier colour theory right there! Very cool tip.

[@Tiki_Media]

Superb tutorial. Thank you for creating it, and keeping it short, much appreciated! If you wish to optimize your shader node work flow, I highly suggest using the letter "O" hot key for Previewing Node Output, rather than CTRL+SHIFT+Left Mouse. 1 key press instead of 3! I wish more people would use this efficiency... ☺

[@JamieDunbar]

Okay, where has that been hiding? I had no idea the "O" key also did node previews 😵 That said, I just tested it and...the "O" key is on the opposite side of my keyboard. I usually have my hand resting near my most common shortcuts, like A, S, G, X, E, etc. Crazy thought...do you think the "O" shortcut might be there for left handers?

[@Tiki_Media]

@@JamieDunbar Haha! I am in fact left handed, perhaps that's why it works better than CTRL + SHIFT + Left Mouse, because the CTRL and SHIFT are also on the right side of the keyboard, but "O" is handier, no pun intended. I just discovered that when Node Wrangler is enabled, you can switch the keyboard shortcuts in Edit > Preferences > Keymap area. They are mixed in with standard node editor shortcuts. A right-handed person could, for example, make "W" the Preview Node Output key, if they wanted a small speed tweak. 🤓

[@JamieDunbar]

@@Tiki_Media Ahahah! I called it 😁 One of my close friends from University is a left hander, so I have some familiarity with how difficult a right-handed keyboard/mouse defaults can be. Especially for gamers!

[@thehomme]

I’m left handed but use my mouse with my right hand! It’s super annoying as it means I can’t use a tablet / pen as a mouse. Also cntl+shift+click is still just one key press action so I’m not sure there’s much of a saving with O. Whatever works for you best I guess

[@Tiki_Media]

@@thehomme Well, technically it's not one key press it is three. Also there are plenty of necessary Blender keys located all across the keyboard and not just on the left-hand side. Whatever works for you the best I guess.

[@nipunmadusanka4584]

wohhhh its brilliant

[@Roboticgladiator]

The next question is how to bake the metallic, roughness, and specular out so that it can be combined in a texture map for importing into UE5.

[@DavidBoura]

+1

[@soumyadeepghosh3434]

love this channel

[@JamieDunbar]

Naw, thank you so much 😁

[@1907timo]

Amazing tutorial! I just have a quick tip: The "dirt" should be an independent bsdf that should be added to the mixed metal and paint bsdfs. There are two reasons to do so. Your approach leads to dirt missing everywhere where there is no paint over the metal. In the real world there would normally be scratches in the paint and dirt all over the object. Your pattern would only occure if the object would be dirty and then scratched heavily. If intended this would need a more complex setup because the dirt would have been pushed and smeared around by the forces creating the damage in the paint. The second point is that every material should be its own bsdf. A bsdf tells blender how light interacts with a surface. It is not a color it is a material. By adding dirt color to the paint color you are not generating dirt but rather dirt colored paint. Dirt is an other material than paint (obviously :D) and has its own physical properties that can only be rendered realistically by adding an extra bsdf for it.

[@JamieDunbar]

Yeah, all of this is a solid point. Admittedly adding the dirt at the end was a bit of an afterthought, and the masking isn't set up perfectly for it. It gets the job done, but it's not as accurate as it should be. I don't think you *need* an extra BSDF. You could get around it with better masking. But it's also a perfectly viable way of doing it too and is likely a little easier to set up.

[@michaeldelorens]

What an intro! Good work! Like & Subscription😻

[@JamieDunbar]

Haha, thank you. And welcome to the channel! 😁

[@mr.boomguy]

Generally, I suck at Blender, but I'm starting to get a real hang of Fusion 360 (my prefered 3d program). Yet it's still so interesting to watch the ways people make 'close to professional' art with a free software. Plus, I'm coming back to it occasionally if I feel like torturing my mind with it xD (aka challenging it beyond it's capabilities)

[@JamieDunbar]

Fusion is one of the few 3D programs I haven't touched at all. It's breathtaking how much people can create using free tools these days. Blender. Davinci Resolve for editing. Krita or Gimp for images and photos. Heck there's even some basic motion capture tools that are free. It's genuinely possible to make Hollywood level visuals for nickles and dimes these days. (Okay, maybe dollars and cents. Inflation you know 🤑)

[@TheRealPlato]

thank you for the video

[@JamieDunbar]

☺🥰

[@Red_Paper6495]

I got my brain on fire while watching this video.

[@pajs2137]

Nice :D

[@recklessgameplays64]

thanks bro

[@JamieDunbar]

You’re most welcome ☺️

[@kulewa1]

I'm already using your methods.

[@pine_and_appl]

Someone please tell this man how to pronounce voronoi. Great tutorial though, never knew how to get good edge detection working before so this was very helpful.

[@thehomme]

I thought this was great. What I’d suggest is the final step is replaced with a painted texture to the object the material is being applied to, a bit more work but you can get a more natural look that suit the objects actual surface

[@JamieDunbar]

Yeah there's still a lot more people could do to take this material to another level. It still bugs me that I didn't connect anything to the roughness map!

[@AleksandarPopovic]

Yes, and that can export like 3D models. For that reason, i don't like procedural materials. you can bake all teksture, but if you don't have substance painter, it has sense.

[@KevinJSXM]

Thank you for the tutorial. My edges don't highlight after adding the bevels. I've rewatched the section over and over. Using 4.0.2

[@JamieDunbar]

I'm using 4.02 myself now and it still works at my end. Are you using the provided file or your own model? Sometimes one of the other methods may work better for certain models. Try using the Geometry->Pointiness or Ambient Occlusion method. Or download the scene files to make sure your setup is the same.

[@dialac1]

Where did you learn the use and how to connect and manipulate nodes to get your desired result?

[@JamieDunbar]

I spent about 7 years learning Maya before moving over to Blender. Once you learn enough Maya, you start to see that everything is nodes. So not just materials, or a tool like Geometry Nodes. But literally everything from extruding a face through to rigging is connecting nodes. Most of it happens in the background so the user doesn't have to deal with it - but there's editors you can jump into to see the node tree. It's where Maya's true power comes from. Because you can literally connect any node to any other node. Sometimes in ways that crash the program 😅 So when I moved over to Blender, I had to learn the names of the nodes, but they do the exact same thing. Once you've learned on system it becomes a lot easier to learn a second. (And if you really want an experience, try learning Houdini 🤣)

[@iphilgood01]

A genius

[@stormzyx3006]

Very cool, it's a pity it doesn't work out to achieve the effect that dirt covers scratches

[@JamieDunbar]

Yeah, unfortunately I didn't pick up on that when I made the tutorial. It's not too hard to get it to work though. You'll need to combine the dirt and random damage masks with a mix node. Setting the mix node to subtract seems to work.

[@doraromantini]

''the bump node really helps bring up cracks'' - got me laughing, let's continue with the tutorial lmao

[@JamieDunbar]

Roflmao. That never even occurred to me 😂

[@hotsauce7124]

Thank you so much!. Is it possible to create Procedural Fingerprints on a model?

[@JamieDunbar]

Procedural fingerprints....probably not. Fingerprints are extremely complex shapes. However, AmbientCG has a couple of nice fingerprint materials you could add into your shader. Grab them here: ambientcg.com/view?id=Fingerprints007 And this tutorial goes over how to apply them: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4CmhWaJftdmobc

[@hotsauce7124]

YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!@@JamieDunbar

[@JamieDunbar]

@@hotsauce7124 Lol, you're most welcome 😄

[@channelname8623]

great tut. once i got to 9:06, my shaderball looks identical aside from the random damage, instead of it showing the metal underneath where the random damage is, it shows the darker color set on the mix color node for the paint. what are some potential causes of that? edit: nvm found it, its 4.0 causing the issue, by default "normalize" is checked in the noise texture and if you leave it on, it doesnt behave correctly. i can get the paint and metallic look, but despite having the nodes set up exactly the same, and having it in cycles. cant get the edge wear to show up. using 4.0. i assume thats the issue. im going to try again on 3.6. edit: i ended up getting the pink/purple texture bug when trying in 3.6, its always hilarious when it says it cant find a texture that isnt meant to be present in the first place haha. though its kind of annoying that rather than being able to tell blender not to look for a texture, one isnt supposed to be there, your only option is to external data, find missing files 😂 Anyways, i got it working in 4.0, the issue i didnt realize was that the edge wear doesnt show up in material preview, you have to have to view it in the rendered mode. i learned a lot from this tut.

[@JamieDunbar]

Oh wow, you solved those issues pretty quick. Saw your initial post about 2 hours ago and was going to comment on the new 'normalize' setting. Looks like you've got it all sorted though 👍

[@Phantom422]

Not 100% sure but you can also use a math node instead of mix color node on the tear and wear, if im correct the math node takes less time to compile than the mix color node.

[@JamieDunbar]

Yes you could! There's also just the "mix" node, which works with float values rather than colour. I think either of those would offer a small performance improvement. I assume because a float is one value, while colour uses R,G and B. I'm not sure you'd notice a big difference with a relatively small node tree like this, but once you start getting big enough node trees it probably becomes really important.

[@Robonator14]

If anyone has the issue that the random damage doesn't look the same as in this video: Make sure to disable "normalize" for that noise texture. Also if you are like me and you are bothered by the chip damage inside crevices etc, then try adding a math-substract node between the color-ramp and noise texture node of the randomdamage block. In the bottom value, attach a color attribute-color node. then select the object, go to the data tab and add a color attribute thingy to it, which you then have to select in the attribute color node. then in the viewport change it to vertex paint mode. Now you can select white as your paint and paint out all the areas you dont want to have chip damage in. reduce strength of the brush via rightclick to make it a little smoother.

[@JamieDunbar]

Vertex painting is a great method for adding some extra hand-painted custom details 😍 If all you want is to remove details from inside the crevices, you should be able to do that procedurally. Try inverting the "bevel" setup. That should give you black inside the crevices and white everywhere else. Then multiple that by the "random damage" setup.

[@rtdietrich]

Congratulations, the animation of the first 3 seconds of the video, including the following motorbike are really professionally animated with Blender. But the following one is only semi-professional.

[@JamieDunbar]

Ahahaha, sorry mate, those are all video clips. I'm not quite THAT good 😅

[@rtdietrich]

ROFL@@JamieDunbar

[@villa.visuales]

una maravilla

[@adobotrashFR]

hi! i just downloaded the tutorial file testing it out, and for some reason the edge wear for pointiness and bevel is just black for me, i can't figure out why even if i adjust the ramp and all. is your unit scale mm? .001?? im a total beginner anyways and finding these stuff is amazing!! thank you.. oh also its just the ambient occlusion one is working

[@JamieDunbar]

Hey Adobotrash. What version of Blender are you using? I know a few settings changed in 4.0 which may be the cause. Also, if you're only getting black - are you using Cycles or Eevee?

[@adobotrashFR]

@@JamieDunbar @JamieDunbar yeah im using 4.1 right now. and now that you mentioned it, i checked cycles and eevee theyre both not working. thanks for replying! tried sending a comment with a video link to show, i don't think youtube is okay with that lmao.

[@JamieDunbar]

@@adobotrashFR I tested the file in 4.1 this morning. It's all still working at my end. I tried messing with the unit scales and that didn't change anything. Applying the scale on the shaderball does change the material, but didn't change the edge wear, regardless of whether I was using bevel, AO or pointiness. The only setting I know changes things in 4.X is the noise node got a new "normalize" toggle. Everything should still work, regardless of this toggle, but it definitely makes a difference in some places. If that doesn't work let me know and I'll get you to send me your file to test.

[@adobotrashFR]

@@JamieDunbar amazing you're still replying haha thank you so much.. so far i tried to default "load factory settings" and opened the file which by the way i redownloaded again this afternoon, still didn't work.. i downloaded blender 3.6 on their website and tried the file still didn't work.. the noise node is working fine for me, i dont think there's a problem with that... again its just the "pointines" and "bevel" version of edge wear that is not working on the shader ball. tried making a monkeyt and applying the material, still nothing please thank you!

[@adobotrashFR]

okay completely my mistake.. im was not on viewport shading.. just found out that the other 2 edge wear was only visible at viewport shading. terribly sorry for this but appreciate your replies you're amazing!! i subbed :)

[@richochet]

Thank you some great stuff here, (please can you consider being explicit about the node connections for new users? I'm trying to follow you but often not clear of which node exactly you are referring to, maybe you could zoom out further more to help with context).

[@JamieDunbar]

Thanks for the feedback Alex. Ironically I've been trying to zoom in a lot more, as sometimes people have trouble reading the nodes. But I fully appreciate being able to see the entire tree to get context of where you are. I guess there must be a happy medium somewhere in there.

[@richochet]

@@JamieDunbar Thanks Jamie for the message back. Maybe a simple node setup screenshot of this (and future) videos?

[@JamieDunbar]

@@richochet Yeah I can definitely add a couple of seconds near the end of "and here's our final node setup!" For this video though, don't forget you can download the scene files and go through the nodes at your own leisure.

[@richochet]

Thanks Jamie, or even a screenshot download link could help, but anyway cheers and noted.

[@Goyr]

Help! I can't seem to get the "edge wear" section to work (don't see any difference on the model at least). I've tried both AO and Bevel (It's a hard surface robot), with no effect on either. I've checked what the mix and colorramp is set to, values on either and what they are plugged into. (I'm new to blender, but I'm familiar with node system via Unreal Engine)

[@JamieDunbar]

Hey Goir. If you haven’t already, try downloading the shaderball and just make sure the material is working. There’s a few too many variables if you’re using your own model and I’d just be guessing. Also throw it into Cycles and render view. Some settings don’t work in Eevee and material view.

[@Goyr]

@@JamieDunbar Thanks, I'll give it a go!

[@0thrman]

Love the tutorial. Just wanted to post a update on if it's not working for you. (I had to troubleshoot this) if you download the blender project provided, just grab the model and recreate everything in another project. For whatever reason, the materials don't create the same output. I think it's a version difference that causes the mess up but if you know why this worked on a new project and not the one provided please let me know.

[@JamieDunbar]

Oh that's interesting. Thanks for the heads up. I'm guessing you're working in Blender 4.0? This was made in 3.6, and I know I've seen one or two materials break with the big Principled shader update. I'll take a look and upload two versions of the file 😉

[@Robonator14]

@@JamieDunbar I have just followed the tutorial and in most cases to get a similar result, you have to make sure to disable "Normalize" in the noise texture node. However the very last step for dirt is not working at all and i havent yet figured out how to fix that

[@JamieDunbar]

Thanks @@Robonator14. I'm still figuring out what the "normalize" checkbox does under the hood. In some cases it seems to improve the material. In other cases (like the scratches) it turned it completely black. The ramp also plays a big part, so I'd suggest tweaking that slightly if normalize isn't giving you the desired results. I'm not sure what's going on with the dirt in your scene though. The "final" material works at my end. I even tried recreating it from scratch to make sure and didn't have any problems 🤷‍♂

[@JamieDunbar]

I just took a look at the download file in 4.0. Out of curiosity, does the "final" material work okay for you? Is it just when you create the material yourself, or do both break? The "final" material seems to still be working at my end, so I'm having a little trouble trying to recreate your issue.

[@Robonator14]

@@JamieDunbar I made it work now by changing the texture coordinate for the dirt block from "object" to "generated", because i saw someone else in another tutorial do it this way. Now it looks as it should. Before that it would apply the "texture" all over the model and i could not get it to only cover part of the object like it is in the video, no matter how much i played around with the other settings. To answer your other question, the final worked just fine for me. Looks as it should just a little more scratched up than it is in the video, almost as if the paint is cracking.

[@BUTCHFXLTD-uz8fp]

Was really struggling with the bevel section, none of my adjustments where doing anything to my object and couldn’t figure out why! So frustrating

[@JamieDunbar]

the two most common issues people seem to be having are either being in material view, or using Eevee. The bevel node is a render only feature, and only works in Cycles. And don't forget, there's the scene files available for download if you want to make sure you've got the setup correct 😊

[@user-wf1yw7nk8k]

why my bsdf has only color, metalic, roughness, IOR, alpha and normal inputs?

[@JamieDunbar]

Hey mate. This tutorial was made in Blender 3.6. It sounds like you're using Blender 4.0. The BSDF went through a design overhaul in the last update, so it looks quite a bit different. Don't worry though, it still has all the inputs you need, they're just arranged slightly different. Everything in this tutorial should still work

[@dineshfilms566]

as i am a new cg artist All this work that you have done should i practice with byhard and remember..(or)? And By learning like this daily, can i automatically design with new things with my self for my future films without watching tutorials...? Pls say

[@JamieDunbar]

Hi Dinesh. It will take time and lots of practice. But yes, eventually you'll learn how to use the tools well enough you'll be able to make stuff on your own without having to watch tutorials. That said, you never stop learning. I'm currently trying to learn how to do feathers and I'm having to watch a few tutorials to learn.

[@dineshfilms566]

@@JamieDunbar thank you sir

[@jhonysteak5512]

Does anyone know where I could find information to do the same thing but with several procedural textures? I'm experimenting and moving forward but I don't think it was that complicated. What poses a problem to me is the combination of several BSDFs as he shows in his tutorial, I would like to understand why it doesn't work.

[@JamieDunbar]

In theory all you need to combine multiple BSDFs is to mix two of them into a 'Mix Shader' node and something to plug into the factor to control how they mix. If you want to add a third, plug the new Mix Shader into another Mix Shader, along with another BSDF and something into the factor. What becomes difficult is remembering which BSDF is plugged in where and how they all need to be mixed to get the result you want.

[@jhonysteak5512]

@@JamieDunbar Thank you for your attention, that's what I've seen in a lot of tutorials that I've watched, but it's strange, it's really boring when I do that and still nothing happens with the brushes. I'm abandoning the idea of achieving this for my project, but I'm going to go back to the good old method, I separate my mesh according to the desired textures then I do my bake and then I make the connections between the textures with Photoshop then I export all into Blender. But I'm going to keep looking regularly to see where it's going wrong. I think it could save me a ton of time if I could just paint my object with my tablet.

[@JamieDunbar]

@@jhonysteak5512Although you can make some very impressive materials in Blender, there does usually come a point where they're complicated enough I'll move over into Substance Painter. It's just an easier UI to work with. It sounds like your workflow in Photoshop is similar.

[@jhonysteak5512]

@@JamieDunbarYes, but it would have cost me one less operation, the textures are really simple, I just watched two more tutorials with no more success. It seems that I'm missing a "texture slot" tab, did they rename it differently in 4.0?

[@bUildYT]

when i use the bevel node with optix cycles loads or chrashes, why?

[@JamieDunbar]

I know what cycles crashing looks like. But what do you mean by ‘cycles loads’? My best guess is it could be a drivers issues. Have you updated the drivers on your graphics card recently?

[@bUildYT]

@@JamieDunbar after some reseachr found that others have the same issue, bevel node + nvidia optimized setup dont like each other... (its hard to discribe, the cycles image freezes completely but everything world grid and 3d curser r still movebl, cycles just doenst update... and when turning render preview off blender crashes, weard but firgured around it somehow (just optix disable for viewport...)

[@JamieDunbar]

@@bUildYT Ooohh, yeah I've seen Cycles break like that before. Yes, that sounds like it's a drivers issue. Updating your drivers may fix it...but it also might be a clashing of new features that hasn't been resolved yet. If updated drivers doesn't fix it, you may need to wait for a Blender update 🥲

[@MattBixler]

Great tutorial! Something I've found useful is using map range nodes instead of black-to-white color ramps. It's just a little more versatile for edge cases, and they can be plugged into group controls: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZrPiqVjlLqegLM

[@JamieDunbar]

Really solid tip. I chose to use ramps in this video purely because they're a little more visual and I hoped that might be easier for a beginner to understand. But the map range node is definitely the more powerful node.

[@JoeDeutscher]

I've tried a million methods for edge wear using the bevel node, but I have never once gotten these types of results out of it. What am I doing wrong?

[@JamieDunbar]

Hey Joe. Do you mean you can't get good results following this tutorial? Or just in general? The model plays a big role in which material setups work best. This model has a lot of beveled edges, so the bevel node setup works well. But it may not be as good for other models. For example, I'll usually use the Geometry nodes "Pointiness" slot for organic sculpts.

[@jure224]

Easy ? Not really!

[@JamieDunbar]

Haha, that’s fair. Although this is a ‘relatively’ simple material, it’s definitely further along the learning curve. If you’re looking for something easier, maybe start with the glass shader tutorial I did recently? It should teach you a lot of the steps that better lead into this video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4CmhWaJftdmobc

[@pers0com406]

Once you understand blender and nodes more it’ll be easier, don’t give up!

[@Somebodythatyouneverknew]

Skill issue

[@DDProductions147]

​@@Somebodythatyouneverknew Fr fr

[@flexithefurry11yearsago10]

Very nice video, just wanna point out that the blue yeti is not an end addressed microphone and it's side addressed instead. Please rotate the mic so you speak into the side with the mute button. Sorry but the audio nerd in me was screaming the entire time XD

[@JamieDunbar]

Hey Fexi. I am not an audio nerd, and my house is annoyingly echoy, so I'm VERY happy to get audio advice. I'm confused though. The Yeti has a source direction option. I thought it could pick up audio from any direction (assuming it's set correctly)?

[@flexithefurry11yearsago10]

@@JamieDunbar the yeti defenetly can pick up sounds from all directions, tho that might be your issue. Generally speaking a larger polar pattern records more ambient noise which leads to your echoy sound. Try using your microphone in the cardioid pattern (the symbol for that looks like a heart where they rounded of the pointy bit) The optimal speaking distance is about 20 cm away from the microphone. Cardioid is a highly directional mode that records only from the front and not from the back, the reason you don't want that btw is that in omni directional mode (the circle on the selector switch) sound is traveling from your mouth past the microphone hits a wall and comes back into the microphone. And a mic can hear Much more reverberation than we can. Edit: almost forgot, try hitting minus 12 dB recording level in your recording software.

[@JamieDunbar]

@@flexithefurry11yearsago10 Awesome, thanks mate. I also looked up some info on the Yeti and saw a nice simple "do/don't" picture with the side addressed vs end addressed. I get what you mean now. Looking forward to recording the next one with this new knowledge 🤩

[@flexithefurry11yearsago10]

@@JamieDunbar looking forward to watch it

[@RiVOtheProtogen]

Yeahm that's very easy

[@Juhamies]

I thought it was "3 easy" steps :D I lost it already 3-4min into the video :) But then again, I´m total n00b with blender lol

[@JamieDunbar]

Haha, yeah sorry mate. It's a beginner tutorial...but it's definitely at the high end of beginner. There's a lot of information that gets covered pretty quickly. It might be worth tackling the other video I released recently. This glass shader tutorial is definitely a bit easier than this one, and it'll teach you a few similar concepts that might prepare you better for this one. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4CmhWaJftdmobc

[@ahmadjames151]

Can i send the texture to unity ? how ?

[@JamieDunbar]

Yes you can. You can't send the procedural material to Unity, because Blender has it's own setup and nodes. But you can "bake" the material into texture maps and send those to Unity.

[@xrcustomizing7102]

Just going to say that boring in the real world is ever totally covered in grime and nicks and dirty stains either

[@eobet]

8:40 adjust height, not strength to be more physically correct!

[@JamieDunbar]

Hey mate, can you explain how that works? I've seen the same thing in a few other videos, but when I try it myself I just don't see the difference.

[@Arjjacks]

@@JamieDunbar I think he means distance, not height. Basically, instead of using the strength to toggle the bump, which is a bit arbitrary, you set the distance to how deep (or protruding) the bumpiness should be. Distance is in meters, so anywhere from 0.001 to 0.01 (a mil to a centimeter) is generally the range of micro detailing like scratches. You then leave the strength at 1.

[@JamieDunbar]

@@Arjjacks Ooohh, so it's not so much that it gives different results, it's just easier to measure? If you're using real world units, you can just dial it in to exactly what you want it to be?

[@Arjjacks]

@@JamieDunbar Precisely. If you want to get really creative, you can even use the distance from the camera to alter the distance of the bump dynamically, so that details close to the camera only have a depth of a millimetre, say, while details further away ramp up to a meter in depth/height. Which would look cancerous up close, but far away just looks like extra detail off in the distance. All dialable to exact measurements.

[@JamieDunbar]

@@Arjjacks I need one of those memes with the electricity firing through the neurons. That's some next level trickery there!

[@carlosbigfreeze6841]

Can you make this in UE5?

[@JamieDunbar]

You wouldn't be able to export this as it is and have it work in Unreal. But you could bake the textures into images. Those could be exported to Unreal.

[@shubhanshsrivastava3151]

I HAVE FOLLOWED ALL THE STEPS BUT STILL MY MODEL LOOK FLAT, CANT SEE ANY BUMP ON IT...HELP!!!

[@JamieDunbar]

Whenever I run into these kinds of weird problems where something isn’t working at all, I like to bring it back to the most simple thing and make sure that’s working. So if you have no bump map, disconnect the material, make a brand new diffuse shader and try connecting a bump to it. If that works, slowly start adding the more complex material back in and see if you can figure out where it’s breaking.

[@xXdarkpeaceXx]

bro you dont use a blue yeti like that. please consult the manuel! ITS NOT A SHOTGUN MIC!

[@WalkerRileyMC]

WHY is node wrangler not just fully integrated in yet? It really doesn't make much sense....

[@JamieDunbar]

I know right! I'm currently working on a couple of new tutorials which of course involve a material at some point and of course I use the Node Wrangler shortcuts. And I'm like...oh man, do I have to divert everyone's attention again to explain how to turn this thing on 😩