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sorry, that was my jaw dropping on my keyboard

Very nice material preview there. thumbs up.

I was looking at the rust texture and wondering if it's image based or function based?

Another thing, if Thea is a studio app then materials can be mapped or adjusted within Thea, what sort of mapping will be available? the standard spherical, conical, cubic, linear, parametric and tubular? and will the textures have the option of being object and/or global standard?

I think it is image based (but I am not say 100% sure, perhaps Patrick did use some procedurals there).

Apart from UV, you can expect the standard mappings; cubic, cylindrical, spherical. The (procedural) textures will be able to map in object and world coordinates.

best wishes
Ioannis Pantazopoulos

Wow I really do like the flat base on the Mental Ray simball! This is one thing I've found wrong with most balls they are all round nearly everywhere! Cool for product but suck for most flat and architectural materials (about 95% of a balls use)!

I've never quite understood why apps actually shy away from using more than one!

1. ball for plastics, glass, etc
2. cubic space for interior / exterior arch mats displacement etc!
3. plane for clips

Another feature I'd love to see in any app when using the standard scene/s is the option in the GUI to scale the materials on the ball (Simball test material scale) and just for the test.

I figure this to only be an available tool when testing but would make life so much more simple.

At present one has to scale up all maps in the meterial editor or projectors for the test then ensure they reset before saving the material to file or post! This simple feature could just assist when the map size gives a poor representation on the test object!

Actually I guess this is a feature that could extend to other maps in scene - hmm thinking about it map scaling isn't something really handled well in most situations!

I think if time permits we may come with 2 material "simulation" scenes. We will try to take all your remarks into consideration.

best wishes
Ioannis Pantazopoulos

Finally a better looking preview scene... for K i was working on my own Kerkyball.. but i gave it a rest now cause i first need to learn how to UVmapping works propper
These shots look great, i really want this app so BAD and indeed there must be a scene for a longer distance view

Very nice. Can't wait to try it out.

Looks impressive.

I like the look of the depth gradations under the base to calibrate translucent materials.

I also echo Richard's call for an emitter under material's surface for SSS evaluation somehow.