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Flakes - Arnold for Maya

Further Reading
See Flakes in the Arnold User Guide for the full shader documentation.

This shader creates a procedural flake normal map that can be used for materials such as car paint.

Note:

A tutorial that uses the flakes shader can be found here and here.

Flakes to Normal Camera

A typical workflow would be to connect flakes to the standard_surface.normal_camera.

flakes -> normal_camera and metalness of _standard_surface _(via a range shader)

Flakes to Mix Shader (Mix Weight)

You can also connect the mask (alpha channel) of the flakes shader to a mix_shader to drive different colors for the flakes. For example, you could make the flakes metallic and the other parts glass by mixing them together using a mix_shader.

Mix_shader connected to alpha mask of flakes shader

You can use the mix _shader to mix multiple flakes shaders together with different density and normal_randomize values. In the car_paint example below, a second flakes shader has been used to create brighter flakes that are visible around the highlight.

Two different flakes shaders combined together with a mix_shader. Download the shader here

Flakes shader using step/depth attributes

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