For this tool we'll be using NewContentFromTypeId to create the render content we want. The GUIDs for the contents we need are provided by the ContentUuids class in the Rhino.Render namespace.

We want to create a bitmap texture and a physically based material. We'll take the GUIDs for these in several variables.

<<used guids>>=

bitmap_texture_type_guid = rr.ContentUuids.BitmapTextureType
pbr_material_type_guid = rr.ContentUuids.PhysicallyBasedMaterialType

Creation of the texture is done with NewContentFromTypeId, giving it bitmap_texture_type_guid. And since we are creating a bitmap texture in bmtex we'll set its Filename property to the path of a file we have on disk.

<<create bitmap texture>>=

bmtex = rr.RenderContentType.NewContentFromTypeId(bitmap_texture_type_guid)
bmtex.Filename = "C:\\Users\\Nathan\\Pictures\\uvtester.png"

simtex = bmtex.SimulatedTexture(rr.RenderTexture.TextureGeneration.Allow)

You see from <<create bitmap texture>> that we also retrieved the simulated texture simtex for our bitmap texture bmtex. We will need this later when we get to assign the texture to the base color slot of the PBR material.

Now that we have our texture set up we can create our PBR material pbr_rm. Again we use NewContentFromTypeId, this time passing it pbr_material_type_guid.

It is important to pay attention here, since using a PBR material is not as straightforward as it could be. The actual PBR API is found through the type Rhino.DocObjects.PhysicallyBasedMaterial. We can get to this from our original pbr_rm, but it requires two hoops to jump through: create the simulated material sim, and from that query the PhysicallyBasedMaterial through the PhysicallyBased property of the simulated material.

This gives us the Rhino.DocObjects.PhysicallyBasedMaterial that has the API for accessing the PBR properties and setting the textures.

<<create pbr material and jump through hoops>>=


pbr_rm = rr.RenderContentType.NewContentFromTypeId(pbr_material_type_guid)



sim = pbr_rm.SimulatedMaterial(rr.RenderTexture.TextureGeneration.Allow)


pbr = sim.PhysicallyBased

We have now in pbr an instance of Rhino.DocObjects.PhysicallyBasedMaterial through which we can set the properties we want to set. In this example we'll make the material a glass-like material. Opacity we set to 0.0 and OpacityIOR will be 1.52. The BaseColor we set now to white, but that doesn't matter much, because we also set the texture.

Note that the texture we pass on is a Rhino.DocObjects.Texture, not a Rhino.Render.SimulatedTexture. Luckily we can get the correct type by using the Texture() method on the SimulatedTexture simtex. The Texture we set to the PBR_BaseColor slot, which we find through Rhino.DocObjects.TextureType.

<<set PBR properties and texture>>=




pbr.Opacity = 0.0
pbr.OpacityIOR = 1.52
pbr.BaseColor = rh.Display.Color4f.White

pbr.SetTexture(simtex.Texture(), rd.TextureType.PBR_BaseColor)

There is one more step left: add the render content to the document. We want to use the RenderMaterials table on the RhinoDoc, because this ensures we can add a material without having to directly assign it to an object. Yet it shows up in the Materials panel of Rhino.

We have now pbr that is a Rhino.DocObjects.PhysicallyBasedMaterial, yet we need an instance of Rhino.Render.RenderMaterial. There is the FromMaterial function on Rhino.Render.RenderMaterial, but that takes a Rhino.DocObjects.Material. We are in luck, since the PhysicallyBasedMaterial we have provides us with a Material property that gives us that Rhino.DocObjects.Material instance we're looking for. We passed that into the FromMaterial function, along with the document we're working with.

Now we can also set a name, and finally add it to the document RenderMaterials table.

<<convert into render material>>=


new_pbr = rr.RenderMaterial.FromMaterial(pbr.Material, sc.doc)

new_pbr.Name = "My Own PBR Glass"


sc.doc.RenderMaterials.Add(new_pbr)

In the end we have the entire script that creates us a PBR material with a texture in the base color slot.

<<create pbr with textures.*>>= ./create_pbr_material_with_textures.py $

import Rhino as rh
import Rhino.Render as rr
import Rhino.DocObjects as rd
import scriptcontext as sc

<<used guids>>

<<create bitmap texture>>

<<create pbr material and jump through hoops>>

<<set PBR properties and texture>>

<<convert into render material>>

Creating a physically based material with textures