How to create and upload custom materials for 3D models? (Advanced Guide)

Advanced Guide to add and create custom materials.

Create Custom Materials (Advanced Guide)

In this post you'll learn how to create custom and complex materials and add them onto your 3D models. In general you can use our material library to create the perfect replica of your product as 3D model. Learn how to do this here. However, if your product consists of materials that are not in our library, you can create a custom material from scratch. Search for the material with the name "Create your Own" in the material library and apply it on the respective parts of your model. From there on you can create your own material.


Create a new material from scratch

In this case you already need to have a 3D model with the respective material maps ready at your disposal. We will go through the process with this example of a sport shoe.

Example: "Puma Shoe Purple 3D Scan"  by grafi is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution

1. Upload the base 3D model in zerolens

Learn how to upload your 3D model in a different article.

3D model before applying materials

2. Prepare your material maps in a folder

The next step is to prepare all the material maps and parameters that you want to upload to the 3D model. In general there are 8 different parameters you can change on a material. Some parameters are in the form of values and some in the form of image maps. These maps and values will determine how the material will work.

Take a look at this post here for more information about the parameters and how materials in 3D work or talk to the 3D artist that created your 3D model if you need help in this regard.

Example Folder of material maps:

  • Base color (diffuse map)
  • Normal map
  • Roughness map

Different maps

3. Choose an empty material and connect the material maps

Now we are uploading all the material maps and add them to the respective slot in the material. So the normal map in the normal map slot, and so forth. If you are completely new to zerolens, feel free to first take a look at the beginner tutorial on
how to edit materials here. Here the process in our example:

4. The final image from the shoe we have created in zerolens

Final result

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