Keyshot 7 Metal "Measured" Materials

[HaroldL]

I've noticed that in KS7 the metal materials apply as "Measured" instead of Color. Why is that? In the KS7 Manual it states "The Measured material type supports the import of the X-Rite Appearance exchange Format (AxF) and Radiance BSDF format." What is the prescribed work flow for Measured material without any X-Rite info?

[HaroldL]

Is anyone from Keyshot following these forums?  It seems that after 40 views at least one of the Keyshot gurus may have read this.

[MWo]

Hello Harold
Could it be that you quote the help text from the measured material type, but mean the metal colour option?
As I understand, you can choose between a custom metal colour or use a pre defined (measured) metal colour.

Hope that helps.
Cheers
Marco (no guru)

[DriesV]

Hi Harold,

The 'Measured' option for the Metal material and the Measured material type are not the same. They use different kinds of measured data.
That being said, creating any material with a custom measured property (either Measured Metal or Measured material) requires loading external data as input.

The Measured metal presets in KeyShot 7 describe a more accurate reflection behavior than a single color could. I.e. The reflection color is dependent on the viewing angle, just like in reality.
Because the presets are more accurate, most Metal materials in the Library have been updated to utilize the presets.
Besides the presets, you can also load a custom profile as either a .ior, .nk or .csv file (Sopra NK format). These files are not easy to come by though, which is why we included the most commonly used metals as presets.

I hope this helps.

Dries

[DriesV]

I tried to quickly match a photo reference of a copper object.
You can see that the Measured preset for Copper is a much closer match than a simple color.

Dries

[MWo]

I tried to quickly match a photo reference of a copper object.
You can see that the Measured preset for Copper is a much closer match than a simple color.

Dries

Thank you Dries for this detailed description. And your example is very helpful, too.

Cheers
Marco

[HaroldL]

Hi Harold,

The 'Measured' option for the Metal material and the Measured material type are not the same. They use different kinds of measured data.
That being said, creating any material with a custom measured property (either Measured Metal or Measured material) requires loading external data as input.

The Measured metal presets in KeyShot 7 describe a more accurate reflection behavior than a single color could. I.e. The reflection color is dependent on the viewing angle, just like in reality.
Because the presets are more accurate, most Metal materials in the Library have been updated to utilize the presets.
Besides the presets, you can also load a custom profile as either a .ior, .nk or .csv file (Sopra NK format). These files are not easy to come by though, which is why we included the most commonly used metals as presets.

I hope this helps.

Dries

Dries, Thanks for your explanation and the illustration.
So, then it is best to leave the Metals as Measured for best results. I just wanted to be sure because I have been working on making a Zinc plated material with the nicks and scratches that a physical part would get from being tumble deburred and didn't want to mess up the base material.

In reference to your Copper example; how would you show the various stages of the natural tarnish that copper developes? Since that process kind of deviates from the "natural" color of copper I assume then that Color and various textures would be used to get the desired effect .

Harold