Does each material need a distinct object upon which it is applied?

What is the preferred method to apply different materials in a rendering? Do you need a distinct object for each material? Can you split the surface of a single object in order to accept different material applications? Do you add a very thin object over your model elements for material applications?

Simple example attached. Also, the window has a frosted glass material applied which you can’t see very well; why?


Thanks,

Thomas

Hi Thomas,

In general yes, think separate objects for separate materials. You can however sub-object select using Ctrl+Shift (Cmd+Shift on Mac) and then right click a material in the Materials panel to apply a sub-object material. Where this falls down is if you have textures in the material and want to control the texture mapping separately (I’m trying to get the devs to fix that). For the thin object question, you may be looking for Decals which are in Properties when something is selected.

Frosted transparency or even index of refraction won’t be seen in the Rendered display mode which uses OpenGL. Try Raytraced mode or the Render command for that.

Hey Thanks Brian!

With respect to thin objects, I wasn’t thinking about decals. Rather, it was kind of a dumb way to do what you suggested through sub-object select which I will now read about and learn.

Many thanks,

Thomas

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