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enter image description hereenter image description hereI have accomplished rendering the same animated 3D object with a shiny black surface (with transparent background). But when I switch the surface to chrome, it renders as patches of grey - black - white. The material preview shows the chrome, but the rendered view shows the patches.

To create the chrome effect, I did not use the nodes (don't know how, yet). I changed the effect in the Material Properties section under "Surface."

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

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  • $\begingroup$ Hello, some screenshots of your object would help, or even share your file: blend-exchange.com $\endgroup$
    – moonboots
    Commented Dec 15, 2022 at 18:38
  • $\begingroup$ Okay, picture is uploaded. You can see the rendered view on the left, and the material preview on the right. $\endgroup$
    – Ellen
    Commented Dec 15, 2022 at 18:54
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    $\begingroup$ The render preview is using a built in hdri that provides an environment to reflect on the surface. The F12 render doesn't use this, instead using the world shader which is gray by default. - blender.stackexchange.com/questions/128499/… $\endgroup$
    – Allen Simpson
    Commented Dec 15, 2022 at 19:03
  • $\begingroup$ Activate the Node Wrangler addon, witch the Shader Editor window from Object to World, select the Background node, press Ctrl T to create the Environment node, in this node select an HDRI $\endgroup$
    – moonboots
    Commented Dec 15, 2022 at 19:19
  • $\begingroup$ Thank you. Followed you directions (as far as I can tell!). The results are posted above: Turned my object to hot pink. $\endgroup$
    – Ellen
    Commented Dec 15, 2022 at 20:31

1 Answer 1

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To further clarify the above comments - an HDRI World Environment image (present in Material preview, but hidden from view) is necessary to reflect anything other than "grey patches" (or whatever your background color is). Shiny, reflective surfaces basically need an HDRI to look realistic.

Blender comes with some HDRI backgrounds, and they can be found in the Blender folder at .../3.4/datafiles/studiolights/world. The one being used in Material preview mode is Forest.exr.

Go to your World Shader, add an Environment Texture, click the folder icon on the node, then browse your pc to find the HDRI.

HDRI1

If you want the reflections, but not the background, use this setup which uses a Light Path node to separate the reflections from the background image:

HDRI2

Works just as well with Transparent enabled:

HDRI3

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  • $\begingroup$ If you did a default install, the full path should be: C:\Program Files\Blender Foundation\Blender 3.4\3.4\datafiles\studiolights\world (assuming program version 3.4 on Windows). $\endgroup$
    – Christopher Bennett
    Commented Dec 16, 2022 at 20:24
  • $\begingroup$ I just checked my install files, and they are all empty. I am on a Mac --(macOS Monterey; version 12.6). Should I uninstall, then reinstall? $\endgroup$
    – Ellen
    Commented Dec 18, 2022 at 19:57
  • $\begingroup$ Honestly, I'm not familiar enough with how blender stores things on mac to properly guide you there. Though, empty folders does seem like a bad thing...? $\endgroup$
    – Christopher Bennett
    Commented Dec 18, 2022 at 20:06
  • $\begingroup$ Agree. Thank you Christopher. Really appreciate your help. $\endgroup$
    – Ellen
    Commented Dec 18, 2022 at 20:22

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