Become a Material Guru in Blender

Name: Become a Material Guru in Blender
Rating: 4.6 (1498 reviews)

How to create, use and handle all kind of textures and materials in Blender

Created byJoakim Tornhill

Last updated 6/2021

English

What you'll learn

Understand the aspects of the Shader Editor when creating cycles nodes.
Understand how to combine procedural texture with images and the difference between procedural and non procedural.
Understand the fundamentals for complex materials like glass and volumetric.
Understand how the UV can be useful in different types of tasks.
Learn the vocabulary, so thing like caustics, reflection and refraction will be understandable.
Understand how it is possible to control a materials appearance by using secondary objects like "empties".
Understand how to use more than one material on an object or create random output.

Course content

18 sections • 90 lectures • 13h 13m total length

Introduction2:20
This is the place where I say "Hello!" :)!
I hope you really will enjoy this course...and if you have any questions at all. Don't hesitate to ask!
Setup5:07
Set Blender to cycles as the render engine and align a view with the object and shader editor. Enable use nodes for materials and save the startup file as defaults.
Light9:37
Explore how lighting drives material realism in Blender with a three-point setup—key, fill, and back lights—plus HDRI for color from the environment.

Basic Node Types4:28
This will explain what is needed to put together a basic material. After the session students will be aware of the separate pieces of the puzzle needed to make a complete material.
Apply Materials4:30
Apply and manage materials in blender by creating named materials, assigning base colors, and using make links to efficiently copy materials across multiple objects.
Three Common Maps6:39
Explore the three common maps in Blender textures—generated, object, and UV—using texture coordinates, brick and image textures, and practical adjustments like offset, scale, and uniform pattern.
Colors on your material13:00
Learn to color your Blender material using emission shaders, textures such as magic texture, gradient texture, and Voronoi, plus color ramps and wavelength calculations for rainbow and black outputs.
Patterns on your material for 2.8x14:59
This is for you that use 2.8 to 2.81.. higher versions of 2.8 might have changed a few nodes and then look at the clip about 2.9x instead.
Patterns on your Material for 2.9x35:11
This is an update on how pattern can look in Blender for all of you that use any 2.9x version of Blender.
Create bumps5:28
Learn to fake bumps using a height map in the shader editor, connecting a grayscale texture to a vector bump and tuning light distance and strength for realistic shadows.
Reflection and Roughness8:32
Learn to create realistic reflections and roughness in Blender using HDRI or masquerade textures, bump maps, and color ramps with math nodes to control variation.
mask images10:46
Learn to use mask images to separate shaders in one material, using black and white masks to drive mix RGB for bricks and edges, with bumps and mass grave layers.
Separate XYZ Node5:54
Explore texture maps in Blender using the separate XYZ and convert nodes to drive base color and normals, with axis variations, absolute values, and color ramps.
Manipulating the map7:58
Explore how to manipulate maps in Blender to create complex patterns by combining texture inputs, math nodes, and vector curves, using wave textures to visualize results.
Grouping the nodes15:31
Learn to organize complex Blender materials by creating and using node groups, then reuse them across materials with adjustable inputs like x and y scale, noise, distortion, and textures.
Basic Math17:54
Learn essential math for materials in Blender, using masks, the mix shader factor, and operations like max, min, greater than, less than, multiply, add, subtract, clamp, and round to shape textures.

Brick Texture5:26
Apply a brick texture in Blender to brick walls and tiled designs, adjusting offset, width, height, and a 45-degree rotation, then vary color, columns, bias, and wavelength for diverse results.
Checker Texture3:27
Master a checker texture in blender, combine it with a brick texture to form edges, calibrate scale, width, height, and offset, and blend color1 and color2 with mix rgb.
Gradient Texture3:06
Explore the gradient texture in Blender, using an object as input to create black-to-white gradients for masking, and adjust color ramp, center, size, and sharpness for materials.
Magic Texture4:03
Explore how the magic texture generates repetitive patterns for wallpaper and fabric bumps by adjusting scale, depth, and distortion, then blend with other textures to create woven and cloth-like surfaces.
Musgrave Texture13:00
Explore the Musgrave texture in Blender to generate clouds, rust, veins, and rain, and learn how to control detail, dimension, narrative, offset, color ramp, and mapping to create realistic materials.
Noise Texture5:54
Explore the noise texture in Blender, apply it with the shade editor and bump for cloud-like patterns; adjust distortion and color saturation to vary the result.
Voronoi Texture9:16
Explore Blender's voronoi texture to generate cellular patterns from distance and base color, with randomness and scale; learn to connect to normals for bumps and create scratches via subtracting textures.
Wave Texture6:29
Explore the wave texture in Blender to create wood and water waves, adjust distortion with scale and detail, and mix textures using the factor with X and Y vector inputs.

Introduction to using Images8:06
Learn to apply images as textures in blender using image texture nodes, uv and generated coordinates to map brick textures seamlessly on planes and boxes, with CC0 licensing.
Using PBR Images11:27
Learn to apply PBR images in Blender by using ambient occlusion, displacement, normal, and roughness maps to create realistic, 3D surfaces with proper non color data handling.

Setup for Tile Wall2:11
This is a standard setup if you want to create materials on a simple plane.
Add Mortar Noise5:25
Adding the basic tile pattern and some Mortar Noise.
Create Groups for the nodes6:40
Time to make your node tree simpler by adding groups to it.
Create Tiles8:42
Adding the first basic structure for the tiles.
Mortar Size variation6:42
Time to add that "extra". First some variations on the mortar so it is not perfect.
Finalizing the tile wall (Roughness and reflection)8:23
Adding the final details, like reflection on the tiles and some bumps to make it look nice.

Find Edges11:18
Explore three edge-finding methods in blender: point-in, bevel (vector math), and ambient occlusion, for highlighting edges on high- and low-poly objects.
Add snow (dust and rust same principle).19:42
Here I go through how you can add snow on a mountain. Same techniques can be used to add smudge or dust on something.
You will learn:
- Using the Normal output from the texture coordinate and taking the Z-axis from that.
- Using the Generated output from Texture coordinate and how to combine it with a musgrave texture to get variations on the snow border.
- Using the Bevel Node to get snow on top of an object and how to spread that snow.
- Ambient Occlusion to get a softer spread of snow/dust on an object.
- How to combine two or more methods to get a descent end result.
You download the .blend files in the resources. It is zipped, so you need to unpack it before you can use it.
Adding smudge using the vertex paint10:08
Vertex paint is an easy way to add smudges to your object and this session goes through that, but also how you can add manual paint to your object.
Create an Eye using Z-axis separation15:36
This is an exercise on creating masks using mainly the "Separate XYZ" together with ColorRamp to find and change the Z-axis.
Topics;
- Mask both for color and Shader using the Z-axis.
- How to use the MixRGB and Mix Shader.
- How you can use Vector Math (Add + Multiply) to add some distortion to your map.
- Use for the input "Tangent".
- Mixing Colors in different ways.

Setup the scene8:44
When you have an old nail going through a material, you would like it to be smudge around that area where the nail hits the material. Same goes for like a wooden pin going in to a building. It gets darker and more moister where the two materials meet. Here we will learn how to handle these situations and the first video is to setup a scene to demonstrate different methods for it.
Smudge you Main object using Ambient Occlusion3:00
The easiest way to change the main material using a secondary object is to add an Ambient Occlusion Node and this lecture shows how that works.
Smudge your main Object using a reference Object in the Texture coordinate Node5:44
Reference another Object to set the center point on your material can be a powerful tool. Here we go through how that can be used to add smudge from secondary Objects.
Smudge your Main Object using Dynamic Paint.10:58
Dynamic Paint is mostly used when doing animations, but work excellent even if you are doing a still image, so this is the third method shown when it comes to add smudge from secondary Objects.

UV Basics13:54
This lecture goes through what UV is, how you add it to your object and also how to add and use multiple UV:s in the same material and on the same object.
Multiple Materials10:52
This session will go through how you apply different materials on the same Object just by selecting the faces. You will also use UV to place an image on a specific place.
Using UV to repeat patterns9:30
Learn a UV driven workflow to repeat patterns in Blender using UV maps, wave textures, and color wrap, then unwrap, separate x and y, and tile road markers or stitches.

Setup and Intro1:44
Open the resource folder and study reference images of rust, rain, dust, and wires, then set up lighting with the environment image to begin creating the texture.
Adding First Base Materials18:28
Examine reference images to define material structure, create a paint material with color and roughness, then build a rust node group with noise and bump, blended with a mix shader.
Starting on the rust structure13:34
Create rust and paint shaders from a grayscale mask and color ramp, control rust edges with positive/negative values in a structure node group, and enhance realism with ambient occlusion.
Rain influence5:42
Learn to add rain influence in Blender by adjusting rust distance and hardness, using map range and color invert to place rain on surfaces.
Randomness20:11
Learn to build a Blender material with controlled randomness to simulate rust, using a mask texture, ambient occlusion, and math nodes (multiply, add) to drive edge and softness.
Separate Paint and Rust with bumps7:15
Learn to separate paint and rust in blender using a prebuilt structure, masks, and bumps to control texture contrast and render the paint and rust separation.
Finalizing the Rust5:28
Finalize rust materials by combining noise and Musgrave textures, adjusting color ramp, clamp, and roughness to achieve dark and light rust variations on the object.
Finalizing the Paint10:40
Finalize the paint in a metallic shader by turning the surface metallic, using an inverted structure texture and a color ramp to adjust roughness and ambient occlusion, with noise-driven variation.
Adding Glass8:56
Learn to create a glass material in Blender by adjusting transmission, roughness, and gloss, add texture and subtle noise with vector bumps, then set a velvet background.
Adding Rest of the Materials4:21
Add and fine tune remaining materials in Blender, creating new materials, adjusting roughness and metallic to rusty metal and wires, and plan bump mapping and decals for the next session.
Adding DIETZ Logo On Glass6:43
Place the deets logo on a glass material in blender by unwrapping UVs, applying an image texture, and adjusting scale and position for a clear render.
Adding DIETZ Text on Bottom10:53
Apply DIETZ text to the bottom of a Blender model by mapping an image texture to the bottom UV map, adjusting scale, rotation, and alpha for a clean curved-surface bump.
Adding Warning Sticker and Finalizing9:13
Create a warning sticker on a Blender texture by making a UV map, applying an image texture with alpha, and refining shading and color variation for final render.

How to use the Object Index and Random output.7:10
Apply object index and random output to color multiple objects with the same material in Blender, using a color ramp and a math divide to map indices to colors.
Introduction to Location and Material Index output.8:39
Explore location and material index in Blender: map x, y, z coordinates to colors via wavelength and math nodes, and assign materials with material index, especially without groups.

Requirements

Need to have Blender on your machine and have a basic understanding of the tool.

Description

This is a massive course about Materials in Blender. It will guide you from the beginning where you literally know nothing until you reach a level where people envy your knowledge about material. The course touches all aspects around Material and have tons of examples that you will be able to use in your daily work even after you have ended the course.

I will not go through just how you do stuff, but also why and all the terms used. As an example, of many in the course, we build a glass material from scratch that will have both refraction, caustics and all the other complex stuff you have in glass, but will be both faster to render and with less noise compared to Blenders original way to do caustics and glass together.

I also go through different techniques on how to apply material so you get a good grip on how to use UV, apply decals and so on...so it's not "just" procedural even if you will get a lot of that as well. In short...I will cover all you ever will need to know about how to start and understand how material works in Blender.

It's concentrated to the engine Cycles, since Eevee still lacks a few features but most of what you learn, you can do in both engines.

Who this course is for:

Blender users that wants to achieve top notch result when creating materials and texturing, using Cycles

Become a Material Guru in Blender

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction3 lectures • 17min

Basic understanding of the node components13 lectures • 2hr 31min

Textures8 lectures • 51min

Using images as textures2 lectures • 20min

First practical example - a tile wall.6 lectures • 38min

Using the Object shape to place material4 lectures • 57min

How to use other objects to influence your material4 lectures • 28min

How to add material on a specific place3 lectures • 34min

Second practical Example - Texture a Lantern13 lectures • 2hr 3min

A closer look on the "Object Info" Node2 lectures • 16min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: