Tutorial: realistic gold material with VRay

by Hammer Chen

Here I briefly explain how to create a realistic gold material with VRayOSLTex. I assume you have basic knowledge of V-Ray and material setup. Please read my previous "Tutorial: VRay gold material" before we continue.

Complex Fresnel gives material subtle reflection variances and details

OK, now you have a basic idea how the gold material should setup. Let's bring it to the next level. In the real physical world, a reflection of gold depends on the angle. This angle - reflection relation curve is not a simple Fresnel curve. It very with different light wavelengths. It would be great if we can apply accurate physical information to our existing gold material. In fact, you can do it through VRayOSLTex texture. You could found the gold shader file here.

To add micro details on the surface, a unique normal map texture was used.

You can also use this "Flakes normal map" to create similiar effect.

(Edit)
People been asking me for a shader tree, here is it. Notice I use VRayTriplanar for the normal map, but that step is optional. Simple as that:

You could even add another flake layer of VRayStochasticFlakesMtl, though the results might not looks like gold.

Video demo

more info

Complex Fresnel Texmap plugin for 3ds Max

Vray Materials – Part 3 – Metals

Complex fresnel using VRayOSLtex