Looks

The Idea behind the Looks Design

“Looks” is a sidebar widget designed to enable users to customize the appearance and shading of their 3D models. This UI component enhances the default shading of imported geometry by offering a selection of both beautiful and functional MatCaps*. These MatCaps serve not just an aesthetic purpose; they are also practical tools for 3D artists. They facilitate various tasks such as examining the object in Point Cloud view, overlaying polygon wireframes, displaying UV seams, assessing UV stretching, and checking the tiling of a UV checkerboard. This helps in identifying well-mapped or poorly-mapped polygons, thereby streamlining the 3D modeling process.

MatCaps Theory

“MatCap”, short for “Material Capture”, is a technique used in computer graphics, particularly in 3D modeling and rendering, for simulating complex surface details and lighting effects. It’s a way to quickly and effectively apply a precomputed texture that represents both the material properties and the lighting information of a surface.

MatCap uses a texture (usually a sphere) that encapsulates the material properties and lighting information. This texture is then mapped onto a 3D object. The texture itself is often created by photographing a real object under specific lighting conditions or by digitally painting desired effects.

One of the key advantages of MatCap is its efficiency. Since the lighting and material are precomputed and stored in the texture, it requires less computational power during rendering. This makes MatCap particularly popular in real-time applications like video games or interactive 3D applications where performance is crucial.

While MatCap can produce visually appealing results with minimal computational cost, it has limitations. Since the lighting information is baked into the texture, it doesn’t react dynamically to changes in the scene’s lighting. This means it’s not suitable for scenes where accurate or dynamic lighting is required.

MatCap is often used in the early stages of 3D modeling and sculpting (like in ZBrush or Blender) to quickly give artists a good sense of the object’s form and dimensions under various lighting conditions. It’s also used in stylized graphics where realism isn’t the primary goal.

In summary, MatCap is a useful technique in 3D graphics for applying quick and efficient material and lighting effects, particularly in situations where performance is a priority and dynamic lighting is not required.