Corona Layered Material - C4D
The Corona Layered Material offers stacking of multiple materials on top of each other in order to mix them. The resulting material depends on the blending amount or the masking shader used for each material layer. You can use a shader or a texture map to mask out the material layers in order to control what parts will appear in the render - for example: rusted spots on a metal surface, exposed bricks below a cracked concrete surface, or a glossy pattern on a matte painted surface.
The Corona Layered Material UI in the Node Material editor.
Creating the Corona Layered Material:
We can create a Corona Layered Material in the Corona Node material editor as follows:
- Open the Corona Node material editor, click on the menu "Create", then in the "New material" section, and then choose "Layered material":
- Alternatively, you can Right-click > New material > Layered Material
- Or you can simply go to the menu Corona in the material editor and choose the Layered Material from there.
Corona Layered Material Parameters:
The Corona Layered Material uses four important parameters to work, the Base Material, the Displacement mode, the Layer Materials, and the Masks for each material layer.
Please note that the different displacement blending modes are only available starting from Corona 8.
The above parameters are highlighted here:
Base Material: This parameter defines the base material of the surface. All the layers will be applied on top of it.
Layer Material: You can use these slots to place new layers on top of the base layer. The layer numbering corresponds to the layer order (layer 1 is below layer 2, and so on).
Mask (Layer Mask): This parameter defines the coverage of each layer over the base material. Black means no coverage, white means full coverage, any values in-between result in a blend with the underlying layer. You can use any texture map or a procedural shader.
Displacement (Mode): This will define how the displacement(s) will be calculated when it is used in multiple layers. This option is only available starting from Corona 8.
Displacement mode: Only from base material
In this mode, the displacement only from the base material is applied to the object.
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| The resulting image of using the "Only from base material" mode | Setting the displacement mode to "Only from base material" |
Displacement mode: Blend all layers
This is the default mode for displacement. This is like stacking displacement maps from the base material and layered materials like layers on top of each other without any special blending mode; then they can be mixed by changing their opacity.
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| The resulting image of using the "Blend all layers" mode | Setting the displacement mode to "Blend all layers" |
Displacement mode: Add all layers on top
This is like stacking displacement maps like layers on top of each other and using “Add” blending mode to mix them (then their strengths can be affected by the "Amount" value).
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| The resulting image of using the "Add all layers on top" mode | Setting the displacement mode to "Add all layers on top" |
Note: Base material is required for the layered material to work properly. If the “Base Material” slot is empty, a default material will be used with the object's color as the diffuse color.
Using Corona Layered Material:
1. First, create a Corona Layered Material and assign it to the objects you want.
2. Then create a Corona Material (Physical or Legacy) and set it to be the Base material.
3. Create another Corona Material and assign it to any Layer slot. This will show on top of the base material.
4. Now load a texture map or use a procedural map to mask the material layer, and plug it into the Mask slot right next to it.
5. By repeating steps 2 - 4 we can create multiple material layers that will be shown on top of the base material.
Examples of using the Corona Layered Material:
Example A: Here we used Corona Layered Material to add a custom shape fabric over another fabric in the pillow cover:
Example A - Render Result:
Example A - Material Setup:
We created:
- Blue fabric material and used it as the Base Material of the Corona Layered Material
- White fabric material and used it in the Layer 1 material slot
- A texture map with a smiley shape as the Layer 1 Mask
Example B: In this example, we used Corona Layered Material to create a rough iron material with a rusted coat on top of it:
Example B - Render Result:
Example B - Material Setup:
We created:
- A generic rough iron material and used it as the Base Material of the Corona Layered Material
- Rusted metal material and used it in the Layer 1 material slot
- A Corona AO shader with a grunge texture map to define the spread of the occlusion effect which was then used in the Layer 1 Mask slot
Example C: In this example, we used Corona Layered Material to create a concrete material with damaged areas:
Example C - Render Result:
Example C - Material Setup:
We created:
- A concrete material for the base material
- Multiple broken concrete materials, to be applied as layers over the base material
- Different texture maps to mask the material layers
We used the Blend all layers mode to blend the different displacement maps from the base material and the layered materials:
Stacking materials
Another way to achieve the material layering effect in Corona for Cinema 4D is by stacking them on the object. Cinema 4D can natively stack different materials on the same object; to do this, simply drag the new material and drop it over the same object:
The resulting image of an object using a single Material Tag.
In this example, the teapot has a single Material Tag.
If the new material does not use the Opacity channel or any Selection tag, it will entirely replace the first material applied to the object:
The resulting image of an object using two Material Tags (material stacking) but not using any opacity texture.
C4D will layer the materials from the left to the right (the top layer will be the last material tag on the right). If there is no opacity texture map present, then the last material tag on the right will override the other ones.
It will be better to enable the Opacity channel and use a texture map. This way, the material will be shown over the previous material accordingly to the Opacity texture map instead of entirely overriding the previous material:
The resulting image after stacking materials and using opacity texture maps.
Materials will be shown according to their opacity texture map from the left (base layer) to the right (top layer)
It is always better to use a texture map for the Opacity channel to avoid material overrides.
To change the arrangement of materials, simply move the appropriate material tag to the left or to the right depending on if you want to bring it to the front or to the back.
Troubleshooting
Notes
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Using a lot of layers in the Corona layered Material can affect the rendering speed of the scene.
Solution: if this is possible possible, it makes more sense to create a single material instead of a complex network of materials stacked in a Layered Material.
- You can also use the Corona Decal object in Corona 8 to achieve similar displacement effects. The decals can turn out to be a very robust and flexible solution, instead of dealing with a complex Corona Layered Material.