Every material of a model must be assigned to one shader. Shaders have different purposes and therefore need different setups.
First, open the material browser in ZModeler 3. The material browser allows you to view all materials, copy or modify existing materials or create new ones.
For GTA V, all materials contain multiple textures. Depending on the material shader, not all of them can be used at the same time. They have the following purposes:
- Diffuse/Detail (Diff): The basic detail texture. More info can be found in our Diffuse, Specular and Normal Maps guide.
- Specular (Spec): Affects the shine and reflectiveness of materials. More info can be found in our Diffuse, Specular and Normal Maps guide.
- Normal Map (Bump): Allows adapting normals of a model for small details without the need to modify the model itself. More info can be found in our Diffuse, Specular and Normal Maps guide.
- Environment Map (Env): Used to immitate rendered reflections, will not be visible in-game.
- Dirt Map (Mask): Applies dirt effects when the car gets dirty in-game. More info can be found in our Dirt Maps guide.
- Burnt Map (Mask): Applies a burnt effect after a car exploded in-game.
- Snow (Mask): Applies a snow overlay for cars with snow shader variants. Used for North Yankton cars in the default game.
By default, materials will be named after the first texture assigned. While working on a model it can be easier to differentiate between materials with the same default name by temporarily changing the name. When exporting the model, all names will automatically be reset to the correct default name.
In the material browser, you can select shaders from a predefined list. For vehicles, select shaders from the Vehicle paint and the Vehicle generic categories.
After a shader has been selected, ZModeler will automatically add all necessary channels with default settings and default textures. Usually, it will only be necessary to select the textures you want to use without having to change any settings.
For more information regarding the selection of shaders, see the table below.
To use in-game colors, the material name must end with [PAINT:X] , X being a number to select which color set to use, usually 1 and 2 for the primary and secondary paint color. The color sets are set for each car in the carvariations file.
Materials need to be assigned to the corresponding model parts. Every polygon must be assigned to one material. By default, models will be assigned to the Default Material. It does not contain any textures and can't be used for GTA V.
To assign materials, select an object while in object mode or specific polygons in polygon mode. In the properties tab under Mesh > Polygons > Materials, you can select a material.
Shader Name
|
Purpose |
Required Textures |
| vehicle_mesh |
Opaque materials such as metal or plastic. Used only for exterior parts in the default game, however also commonly used for interior parts by some modders.
|
Diffuse*, Normal, Dirt (UV 2), Specular, Environment** |
| vehicle_vehglass |
Transparent materials, used for any type of glass. Windows have two layers of glass, one facing the interior, one the exterior, this shader is used only for glass facing the exterior. Supports transparency.
|
Diffuse, Dirt (UV 2), Specular, Environment
|
| vehicle_vehglass_inner |
See vehicle_vehglass, however only used for glass facing the interior.
|
Diffuse, Dirt (UV 2), Specular, Environment |
| vehicle_lightsemissive |
Transparent or opaque material used for emissive parts such as head or tail lights.
|
Diffuse, Dirt (UV 2), Specular, Environment
|
| vehicle_tire |
Opaque material used for wheels. The complete wheel mesh must be assigned to materials using the vehicle_tire shader.
|
Diffuse, Normal, Dirt, Specular, Environment
|
| vehicle_licenseplate |
Opaque material used for license plates, supports to switch between different textures and text in-game. The diffuse texture is always the default plate01 texture, the normal map plate01_n. |
Diffuse, Normal, Dirt, Environment
|
| vehicle_badges |
Transparent or opaque material used for badges. Sometimes used as overlay on top of materials that don't support normal maps, such as vehglass.
|
Diffuse, Normal, Burnt, Specular, Environment |
| vehicle_interior |
Opaque material used for interior parts by the default game, however many modders prefer using vehicle_mesh for interiors.
|
Diffuse, Normal, Burnt, Specular |
| vehicle_interior2 |
Opaque material used for interior parts by the default game, however many modders prefer using vehicle_mesh for interiors. |
Diffuse, Burnt, Specular |
| vehicle_paint1 *** |
Opaque material used for vehicle paint, allows the use of colors set by the game. Diffuse maps with a transparent backgrounds can be used to apply an overlaying texture.
|
Diffuse, Dirt (UV 2), Specular, Environment
|
vehicle_paint3 ***
|
Opaque material used for vehicle paint, allows the use of colors set by the game. Diffuse maps with a transparent backgrounds can be used to apply overlaying textures. The first diffuse texture is always the default, completely white vehicle_generic_smallspecmap texture, the second the actual diffuse texture. Allows multiple liveries that will spawn randomly in-game, the diffuse map's name must end with sign_1, further textures can be added in the vehicle's texture archive, their name must end with sign_2, sign_3 and so on up to 25. |
Diffuse 1, Diffuse 2 (UV 2), Dirt, Specular, Environment |
vehicle_shuts ***
|
Opaque material used for vehicle paint on top of an opaque texture for interior body parts.
|
Diffuse, Normal, Burnt, Specular
|
* If not stated otherwise, textures use the channel UV 1.
** Environment Maps are always assigned to "Auto Sphere Environment" and don't use a specific UV map.
*** Should always be used with paint.
Cj24Administrator Accurate Studio