Bobo the Blenderbug: Adding Materials

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How to use materials to give your Character a little character

By default, objects in Blender are colored an unappealing gray, which works well for the modeling process, but doesn't provide a lot of "WOW" appeal.

In this tutorial I will show you various ways to add materials/textures to Bobo. We will start by learning how to add a basic material and then progressively build upon the material so that by the end we will have something a lot more fun and appealing.

Objective: to learn how to add materials to Bobo the Blenderbug using Blender 3d.

Techniques and tools that we will be covering:
Adding a Basic Material
Adding a 2nd Material
Creating a UV Map
Texture Painting
Using Nodes to Blend materials

This is a beginner to intermediate tutorial.

You should at least be familiar with basic concepts such as selecting vertices, edges and faces, as well as grab, scale and rotate.

If you are brand new to Blender,I would encourage you to check out the following tutorial on the Blender User Interface.

If you find yourself needing more information on a given tool or technique, look for the bold blue text within this tutorial. They are links to the online user manual where you can find even more information.

This is the 2nd tutorial in the Bobo the Blenderbug series 

This tutorial can stand on it's own or be done in sequence.

You can start from here or if you want to model your own Bobo the Blenderbug, you can go to the following link and get started.
featured lens How to model Bobo the Blenderbug in Blender 3D

As a Blender user, one of the things I find the most fascinating is seeing how other artists work and use Blender. No matter how much you think you know about a technique or tool, watching how someone else uses it, will always show you something that...

Before we start... 

...there are a few things you will need to complete this tutorial

This could take a minute or two to gather everything. So you might want to bookmark this lens, get everything set up and then come back. Don't worry I'll be here when you get back.

Blender 2.48
Blender 3d is available for all operating systems, so just download the appropriate file. Installation instructions are listed at the bottom of the download page.

Bobo the Blenderbug: Adding Materials
The Tutorial Resource package contains the following:
1 - The completed blend file with the Bobo the Blenderbug.
2 - Mix Map image of Bobo the Blenderbug
3 - Full size copies of all screen shots. (some images might appear too small on this lens, so I have included them in the resource package for your reference.)

Change resource package link

Planning stage: 

When deciding to add materials and more importantly, "just what materials to add", you need to ask yourself a few questions.

* What style are you going for? Cartoon, realistic, somewhere in between.
* What kind of object are you texturing? An object, character or scenery.
* History: oddly enough knowing where your object/model has been can give valuable texturing clues.

So let's take a look at Bobo. He looks somewhat cartoony, and while we could give him hyper realistic textures, I think he would be better suited with a more simple semi-toon look.

Adding a basic material: 

First we are going to add a basic material. So open up your copy of Bobo and lets get started.

Open the shading buttons (press F5)

Select Bobo (in object mode is fine for now)
In the Links and Pipeline panel click "Add New" (1)

New Options will appear (2)

 

When choosing a color, you can choose any color that strikes your fancy. Personally, since Bobo is a Blenderbug, I'm going to make him orange.

In the Links and Pipeline panel change the default name from "material" to "base color" (1)

* In the Material panel set the RGB sliders to 1.000/0.290/0.000 (2)

* In the Shaders panel choose:


    Lambert: Ref = 1.000
    Cook Tor: Spec = 0.00
    Hard =50
    Tranlu =0.20
    Amb =0.5
    Emit =0.1 (3)

This is going to give you a flat orange color with no shine or gloss. It's somewhat of a soft solid color. It has no details or shading, but depending on what you are going for, this is a passable material.

Basic Orange Material

Creating a Fall off Shader 

With just a few additional settings, we can create a soft fall off shader that will add quite a bit of appeal.

Click on the Ramp panel and click "Show Color Band"

This effect only requires 2 positions on the color band.
pos 0: white with the alpha set to 1.00
pos 1: RGB 1.000/0.290/0.000 with alpha set to 1.00


    Set the "Input Mode" to Normal
    Method to mix
    Factor to 1.00

Now Bobo has a soft look with visual interest. The fall off "soft" look adjusts as you view him from different angles.

"Fall Off" Shader

Adding a 2nd Color 

Bobo is starting to look pretty good, but I think he needs a little variation. So lets add some blue (He is a Blenderbug after all).

Up until now we have been working in Object mode, to add additional materials we will need to Tab into Edit Mode.

Next we need to decide where we would like to add the Blue.

* Select the vertices in the areas you want to add another color.

I choose the tips of his antennas, his wings and his eyelids

 

Once you have selected all the appropriate (desired) vertices

* Switch to the Editing Buttons window (press F9)

In the Links & Materials panel click on the New button (1)

Then click on Assign (2)

 

Switch back to the Shading Buttons (press F5)

Change the material name to "2nd color" (1).

Change your RGB Sliders to 0.000/0.130/1.00 (2).

In the Ramp panel change the sliders for position 1 to 0.000/0.130/1.00 (3).

Well we managed to add a second color and while I like the blue, there is a very sharp line where the orange becomes blue. Now in a lot of cases this is a desirable effect, but on a character, a blending/fading of colors would look better.

Bobo with 2nd color added

Creating a "Mix Map" to blend materials 

Blender has a powerful Node system that allows much greater control over, among other things, materials. We are going to create a custom map that will tell the Node system where and how we would like to blend our materials.

Creating the UV map 

We will start by creating a UV map of Bobo. The UV map will tell the Node system where we will be assigning colors (materials).

* 1st go back and reassign your new blue areas back to orange.

* Next change one of your windows to the UV/image Editor

* Make sure you are in Edit mode

* With all vertices selected press the "U" key to bring up the UV unwrap options.

There are quite a few options for determining how your UV map is unwrapped. (feel free to click on each of them to see how they work).

Creating Seams 

For an advanced UV map, where we would be painting a lot of details, it is best to create seams to lay out your character in a visually readable manner. If you would like to give that a try, here are the basic instructions.

* Deselect all the vertices.

* Control + Tab to Edge mode

To create a seam select one or more edges, press Control + E to bring up the Edge specials menu and select "Mark seam"

Judging where to place seams can be kind of tricky. (the more you practice of course the better you get) It often requires a bit of trial and error.

If you select all edges, press "U", select "Unwrap" you can check your progress as you go.

Simple UV Map 

But since we will just be making a simple Mix Map to blend materials, we can just select "Unwrap (smart projections)"

 

A dialog box will pop up giving a number of options for the unwrap. For now we will only change two settings and leave the rest at their defaults.


    Select the "Init from View" button
    Set the "Island Margin" to 0.250
    Then hit OK

The result looks somewhat confusing, but that is okay. The important thing to note at this point is there is plenty of space around each island of vertices. This will make it easier to keep our paint where we want it when we start painting the mix map.

Painting the Mix Map 

We will be using the Texture Paint tools to paint our mix map. And the first thing we are going to need is a new image to actually paint on.


    * In the UV/Image Editor window go to Image>New
    * A small dialog box will pop up allowing you to choose settings for the new image.
    * You can go ahead and name your image while you are at it. (I named mine "Mix Map")

You can leave the rest of the settings at their defaults.

 

You will now notice that there is a black background behind your UV map layout.

Time to start painting.

Look along the File header bar until you see the button that has a little pencil on it. Selecting it will enable Texture Painting.
In the 3d View window, select Texture paint from the mode selection pull down menu.

Bobo should turn black, if you press the "F" Key, a wire frame cage will appear on Bobo, giving you a nice visual reference point for painting. Your Paint Tools are located in the Edit buttons window.

A Quick Painting Primer

You can paint directly on the model and/or in the UV/Image Window

(I like to paint on the model itself, it seems a little easier.)

Black will show color 1 (in our case orange)

White will show color 2 (blue)

Grays will be a blend of the two colors

This is where you get to really have fun 

Start painting on Bobo wherever you would like your blue color to show. To soften transitions between colors, you can lower the Opacity of your paint brush or switch to the Soften tool and drag at the edges where the colors meet. The Smear tool is a bit like finger painting and can be used to create great effects, such as blending between the colors.

Take your time and have fun playing with the Texture Paint tools, I personally spent several hours trying out different things until I found a look I liked.

Once you have finished painting Bobo, remember to save your image.

* Image>Save (or press Alt + S while your cursor is in the UV Editor window.)

Setting up the Nodes 

We will be using a rather simple Node setup to blend our materials.

We need to open a Node Editor Window (1)

Select Bobo (In object mode is fine), then press the "Use Nodes" button (2)

 

A Material and Output node panels will appear.


    Select Base color (1)
    Delete the wire connection between the Material and Output nodes by left mouse button dragging on it.

Add a 2nd Material node panel

    Select the 1st Material Node then Shift + D to duplicate it.
    Set the material to "2nd color" (2)

Next we need a few Nodes to do the mixing.

Go ahead and add them all now. Then we will discuss the settings and connections.

 

Let's deal with the Texture node first. Adding the Mix Map image may seem a little counter-intuitive. In order for the Mix Map image to be available to the Node system it has to be attached to a material, but you don't want it visible on the material itself.

So let's get it into the Node system.


    Choose one of your materials (doesn't really matter which one)
    In the Texture panel, clickAdd>New (1)

    Switch to the Texture Buttons (press F6)
    Change the name of the Texture to Mix Map (2) and Texture Type to "Image" (3)
    In the Image panel, press the Load key and choose your Mix Map image. (4)

    Go back to the Material buttons (press F5)
    In the map Input panel (6) select "UV" as the Input type.

    Very important, in the Texture panel uncheck the box next to your texture (7)

Now we get to connect all the Nodes together 

In the Texture Node, select "Mix Map" (1)

Base Color (Orange)>Color connect to Mix>Color 1 (2)

2nd Color (Blue)>Color connect to Mix>Color 2 (3)

Geometry>UV connect to Mix Map>Vector (4)

Mix Map>Color connect to Mix>Fac (5)

Mix>Color connect to Output>Color (6)

And just look at the result. 

Bobo now has unique and interesting markings. There are no hard lines between the color transitions. All in all, he looks pretty good.

The best part about this setup, is that you can go back to your Mix Map image and make any changes you want or need rather easily. Just remember to save any changes you make to the image (Alt + S in the UV Editor window.)

In the next lesson we will cover various types of eyeballs for Bobo.

Are you interested in learning more about this great program? 

... explore more Blender Related Lenses

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You can find lenses on the following Blender topics:
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It's probably a little soon to create a lens list. But I have a minor malfunction when it comes to how things are organized. I like nice, neat groupings of things. Something that has already caused me to re-vamp several of my lenses and even split on...

I hope you enjoyed Adding Materials to Bobo the Blenderbug 

...feel free to leave comments or suggestions

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by dreamsgate

I am the Managing Editor of Blenderart Magazine and a long time user of Blender. all about me (more)

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