Arched Window Tutorial Part 3 Materials and Shading Domains

Author: Samanthie

Tools Needed

* Hexagon 2

* Poser 4 or above

* A background image for your outside view

You will need to have completed Parts 1 and 2 of the Arched Window tutorials in order to complete Part 3.

Launch Hexagon and let's begin.

Locate and open the arched window frame files saved previously.

Select Lead from the scene tree tab and hide Frame and Glass.

Click on the Select faces tool, rectangle mode

Right click and drag to select all of the faces of the Lead object.

Click on the word New in the Shading domains panel and a new domain will appear in the list. Right click on the little arrow and from the fly-out menu choose Rename. Name it Lead and validate.

A new material will appear in the Material panel. Click on it and name the material to Lead Mat. Click on the top color square and choose the color for your Lead. I wanted to do something different so I chose a gold color for my leading. You can choose whatever color you like. Also click on the bottom specular color square and choose a color for it. Think of the specular color as the highlight or subtle reflective color you may want to see on the main color. Leave the transparency slider at 0.

Click on Alt and then click on Window in the Scene tree panel to apply the colors.

Depending on the colors you choose you should have something like this.

The leading is finished!

Hide Lead in the Scene tree and unhide Glass.

Select the faces as shown in the image.

Click on the word new in the Shading domains panel and Rename from the fly-out. This time name it Glass and validate.

The new material will automatically appear in the material panel at the bottom of the list. Rename the new material to Glass Mat.

Hold down the Alt key and click on Glass in the Scene tree to apply the color.

Select the faces as in the image.

Click again on the word New in the Shading domain. Rename the domain to Glass1. Click on the new material in the Material panel. Change the name to Glass1 Mat and choose your colors. Transparency slider is set as before at 0.500. To apply the color remember to hold down Alt and then click on Glass in the Scene tree.

The result should be something like this.

Switch from rectangle mode to lasso mode and zoom in very close to the lower curved area of the glass. Use the lasso tool and draw around the shape as in the image.

When you have the area selected repeat the steps as before and rename the domain to Glass2. Name the new material to Glass2 Mat. Choose your colors and Alt/click on Glass in the Scene tree to apply.

Here is the result.

Select the edges as shown. Repeat the steps to apply the color. Name the domain to Glass3 and the material to Glass3 Mat.

The glass is finished! Hide Glass in the Scene tree and unhide Frame.

The easiest way to color the frame of course is just to color the entire frame but then maybe a gold trim would be nice.

Select the faces on the frame as shown in the image.

Go to Edit/Cut and Edit/Paste. The faces will paste as a new form in the Scene tree. You can name it to Trim if you like but it will be welded back into the frame in a few minutes. Select all of the faces.

Click on New in the Shading domain panel and rename the domain to trim. Click on the new material in the material panel and name it Trim Mat. Choose a couple of gold tones for the main and specular colors. Hold down the Alt key and then click on the new Form in the scene tree tab to apply the materials.

When finished hide the trim form and unhide Frame in the Scene tree.

Click on the Select faces tool. Selection mode is on rectangle. Right click and drag the red rectangle around the frame to select all of the faces.

Follow the now very familiar steps above and give the frame a nice wood color. Choose a specular color of maybe a yellow or orange. Name the domain frame. Name the new material Frame Mat. Alt and click Frame in the Scene tree to apply the material.

Unhide the trim. Hold down the Shift key and select both Frame and Trim in the Scene tree panel.

Click on the Vertex modeling tab and the Weld tool to weld the Frame and the Trim back together.

Rename Form to Frame.

Unhide Window in the Scene tree to see what the frame and window look like together.:o)

You can adjust the colors as needed by clicking on the list in the Material panel . Click on one of them and then click on the color squares to choose different colors. Your changes will show on the object. Just experiment and have fun!

Save in hexagon file format.

To export as a wavefront object use these settings.

I am using Poser 4 for this part. In Poser import the wavefront object with these settings.

Drop object to floor. The glass will appear invisible in Poser until you render it.

Click on render/materials.

Since we have already named our materials in Hexagon it will make finding them a snap. From the Material drop down list choose Glass1_Mat.

We want to be able to see through the glass but also we want to see the colors we applied in Hexagon. Use these settings.

Now click on Glass Mat from the list and apply the same settings shown above. Do the same thing with Glass Mats 2 and 3. Do a test render to see how everything looks so far.

The color of the leading is just too orange. Let's see what it looks like in black. Click on Render/Materials again and this time choose Lead Mat from the list. Here are the settings I used.

The render option settings I use are these. It's fast and I can get a pretty good idea of how my finished object will look. Eventually I would use render to a new Window and at least a size of 1500 x 1500.

Do another test render. Here is mine and I like the leading better this render.

You can save your window as a prop by clicking on Props in the Library. Give your window a name.

It will appear in the Props library.

How about one more step to see if the window is transparent enough? Use the image you downloaded at the beginning of this tutorial. Camera is set to main.

Set your display resolution at 350 x 350.

Click on File/Import/Background Picture and load the image to use for the background.

Render to see the result. You can see the bg picture through the glass! Experiment with the materials to see what other effects you can come up with. Also change the lights within Poser for different atmospheric effects. That's it! I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.:o)