NOTE: I am not at liberty to redistribute the documentation used to build this model.
F-22 "Raptor" Project (2013)
December 2014 - Material updates:
December 2014 - Material updates:
Emulating he Raptors materials in a 3D application is "tricky", to say the least. But, I seem to be zeroing in on it, one step at a time. Here are a few new renders, showing the adjustments I've made. I'll eventually add some more seam lines, rivets, etc., but for now, am concentrating on the material properties, and trying to get them to work in various lighting situations.
Material adjustments:
One interesting way to bring these materials closer to the actual aircraft's is to move the settings more toward the traditional "metal" settings, (less Diffuse and more Specular/Reflection) but to raise the roughness way up to about 90%. All of these renders are unclamped, by the way, and I always use "Conserve Energy" and "Match Specular", for realism. The single light in these scenes is a Direction Light (brightness of "4" and not a "physical sun" or "physical sky" model.
The camouflage pattern on my MODO model is slightly different from the actual F-22's, so to test for a better match, that will need to be updated. In the meantime, this next render is much better. (MODO model at the top of the frame.)
Below: Using the same settings as above, re-composited into the same airshow photo. Note that although the reflective (sky) environment is the same, the glancing angle to the "sun" is not, and this makes the results quite a bit different.
As I continue to refine this, I'll post my findings here, in case you're working on similar projects, and might find the settings useful.
A major decision...
I don't build very many war machines. One reason is that among modelers, they're quite popular, and I don't see the point in recreating something that has been done many times. But... My 2014 Psubs model of the Piaggio "Avanti" P180 showed me some modeling techniques, as well as some results, that I think are worth pursuing. So, I've made the decision to rebuild this aircraft, with much more detail than this version, including interior structures, and also to build it entirely in Psubs mode, utilizing edge-weighting. This article is therefore ending here, and to see the new 2015 version, click here.