In this recipe, we will create a generic plastic shader and add slight granularity (optional) to the surface, as shown in the following screenshot:
The generic plastic material as it appears in the final rendering
Start Blender and load the 9931OS_Suzanne_start.blend file. This is a prepared scene, with Suzanne (the monkey head primitive that is Blender's mascot) leaning on a white Plane, a Camera, a mesh-light emitting slightly yellowish light, and a low-intensity gray World.
Now we will go straight to creation of the material, so follow these steps:
- Select Suzanne and click on New in the Material window under the Properties panel or in the Node Editor toolbar. Rename the material
Plastic_Green_Soft. - Set the Viewport Shading mode of the Camera view to Rendered by moving the mouse into the 3D view and pressing Shift + Z.
- In the Material window under the Properties panel, switch the Diffuse BSDF shader with a Mix Shader node, and in the first Shader slot, select a Diffuse BSDF shader. In the second Shader slot, select a Glossy BSDF node.
- Change the Diffuse BSDF color to bright green (change the values of R to
0.040, G to0.800, and B to0.190) and the Glossy BSDF shader's Roughness value to0.300. - Press Shift + D to duplicate the Mix Shader node, and paste it between the first Mix Shader node and the Material Output node. Set the Fac value to
0.100. - Duplicate the Glossy BSDF node and connect its output to the second input socket of the second Mix Shader node. Set its Roughness value to
0.500, as shown in the following screenshot:
A screenshot of the entire Blender interface with the basic shader nodes in the Node Editor window at the top
- Add a Noise Texture node (press Shift + A and navigate to Texture | Noise Texture), a Texture Coordinate node (press Shift + A and navigate to Input | Texture Coordinate), and a Mapping node (press Shift + A and navigate to Vector | Mapping).
- Connect the Object output of the Texture Coordinate node to the Vector input of the Mapping node, and the output of this node to the input of the Noise Texture node.
- Set the Noise Texture node's Scale value to
50.000. Add a Math node (press Shift + A and navigate to Converter | Math). Connect the Noise Texture node's Fac output to the first Value input of the Math node. Set the Math node's Operation to Multiply and second Value to0.050. Connect its Value output to the Displacement input socket of the Material Output node, as shown in the following screenshot:
The very simple bump effect added to the shader nodes by connecting the output of the Noise Texture node to the Displacement input socket of the Material Output node
- Save the file as
Plastic_soft.blend.
This is one of the simplest materials you can build in Cycles. It consists of a colored Diffuse BSDF component mixed at 50 percent with a white Glossy BSDF shader and another low Glossy BSDF shader to make the specular effect more diffused. A tiny Noise Texture node, connected directly to the Displacement input of the Material Output node, adds a slightly dotted bump effect to the whole material, as if it is some kind of industrial plastic used for toys.