This way, the leaf will use different textures when viewing it from to front or back. If you want to make a double sided leaf, duplicate your entire node setup, change the image files of your copy to the ‘_back’ files and mix them together using the Backfacing output of a Geometry node. Most leaf textures on come with the back side of the leaf as well. Translucency helps make the leaf look thinner. (A value between 0.010 and 0.200 usually works best for me.) By lowering the value of the Hue/Saturation node, you can lower the strength of the translucency. Add a Hue/Saturation node between the Base Color map and the Translucent BSDF. Combine it with the Principled BSDF using the Add Shader node, and connect the Base Color map to the color of the Translucent BSDF. In Blender, we can achieve this effect using the Translucent BSDF. It creates this glowing effect that you see when leaves are lit from behind: Translucency is when light passes through a leaf. Make sure the Principled BSDF is plugged into the bottom Shader input of the Mix Shader, and the Transparent BSDF into the top. Mix the Principled BSDF with a Transparent BSDF and use the Opacity map as the factor of the Mix Shader. Import the Base Color, Roughness and Normal map from the front of the leaf the way you learned it in the previous guide.

Make sure your object is UV unwrapped before following the instructions below. I’m just using a plane as the 3D model for the leaf, but you can also create a more complex one that follows the form of the leaf. If you want to use this map, it should be multiplied from the Base Color map using a MixRGB node, with the Ambient Occlusion map being the second color input, so you can easily control the strength of it with the slider of the MixRGB node. It isn’t really needed to create realistic materials in Blender (especially with Cycles), but you can still use it to darken the tiny shadows in the surface. The Ambient Occlusion (AO) map can be used to fake soft shadowing in the bumps of a surface. If a metallic material doesn’t have this map, change the metallic value in the Principled BSDF to 1. Only materials that are both metallic and non-metallic have this map available. Make sure the image file’s color space is set to Non-Color Data. It should be plugged into the Metallic input of the Principled BSDF. The Metallic map defines which parts of a material are metallic, and which are not. I recommend only using one of them, since in most cases, the effect they create is very similar. Theoretically, you can use a normal map in combination with a height map. You can do that by adding an RGB Curves node between the Image node and the Normal node and then changing the curve in the ‘G’ channel to match the curve in the screenshot below. However, all normal maps on are ‘DirectX’ normal maps, but Blender uses ‘OpenGL’, which means we have to invert the Green channel of the normal map. Normally, it should be plugged into the Color input of a Normal Map node, which then should be plugged into the Normal input of the Principled BSDF. The Normal map defines in which direction a part of a surface is faced, which is used to create detailed shadows and highlights. Using the Scale slider of the Bump node, you can control how much the geometry should be displaced.Īlso, make sure that the Displacement method in the Material Settings is set to either ‘Displacement’ only or to ‘Displacement and Bump’. Make sure the image file’s color space is set to Non-Color Data here as well. If you want to use it for actually displacing the geometry of your object, it should be plugged into the Height input of a Displacement node, which then should be plugged into the Displacement input of the Material Output node. Using the Strength slider of the Bump node, you can control the strength of the effect. If you want to use it for create detailed shadows and highlights, it should be plugged into the Height input of a Bump node, which then should be plugged into the Normal input of the Principled BSDF.

The Height map can be used to create detailed shadows and highlights on a material or to actually displace the geometry of an object. Lower gamma means rougher surface and vice versa. Optionally, you can add a Gamma Node to easily the roughness of the material. It should be plugged into the Roughness input of the Principled BSDF. The Roughness map defines how rough a surface is. Make sure the image file’s color space is set to Color. It should be plugged into the Base Color input of the Principled BSDF. The Base Color map defines the color of a surface. Apart from the Displacement section, this setup works for both Cycles and Eevee.

Usage of most materials using the Principled Shader.

Blender 2.8 quick node