Review: Ralf Stumpf’s MatCap Materials at Gnomonology

3 weeks ago (yes, I’m a bit behind the curve here) Ralf Stumpf put 2 sets of 12 MatCap materials up at Gnomonology.

Ralf introduces his collection by saying, “I worked for over an year on this collection and these two sets contains the best shaders I have made. Some are very good for modeling but all are great for presentation.”

The first set contains the following materials:

1. RS_GreyResin.ZMT
2. RS_Gost.ZMT
3. RS_MetalDust.ZMT
4. RS_ModelingClay.ZMT
5. RS_OilClayRed.ZMT
6. RS_RedMetallic.ZMT
7. RS_ResinBlueEdge.ZMT
8. RS_SculpyYellow.ZMT
9. RS_Silicon.ZMT
10. RS_SkyMetal.ZMT
11. RS_WesternClay.ZMT
12. RS_WetClay.ZMT

The second set contains:

1. RS_BasicClay.ZMT
2. RS_BigRed.ZMT
3. RS_BlueChrom.ZMT
4. RS_BronzeAntique.ZMT
5. RS_CooperLight.ZMT
6. RS_GreyClayExtreme.ZMT
7. RS_GreyClayLight.ZMT
8. RS_Lava.ZMT
9. RS_RedChavant.ZMT
10. RS_SculpyLight.ZMT
11. RS_SkinBase.ZMT
12. RS_WinstonClay.ZMT

Metal Dust is by far my favorite material from the first set. It is an excellent presentation material and works perfectly for my recent Siren project. The turntable below gives a hint of how this could be used to help an artist pre-visualize what his or her sculpture will look like and even to present it to a client.

Ralf’s clay materials are fantastic to model in and each one gives you something different to focus on.

For example, RS_WetClay has good contrast between the lights and darks and really focus your attention on the connections between muscles and forms.

RS_Modeling Clay, on the other hand, is very good at focusing your attention on the overall form.

It is more atmospheric and has less contrast than WetClay.

The star of Ralf’s second set, for me, is RS_RedChavant.

This is an incredibly beautiful material. I can almost feel the smooth, creamy Chavant under my fingers as I work with this material.

Other highlights are BasicClay and BronzeAntique. BasicClay is a great foundational sculpting material. The specularity really shows off the form!

BronzeAntique is another fabulous presentation material and is very sophisticated. By using MatCap’s cavity feature Ralf was able to get a very realistic bronze patina.

Overall, the quality of all 24 materials puts them at the top of the heap and are a must-have for digital artists who put together turntables and character sheets for critique. Each set costs $20 and will definitely make your sculpts look great.

Thanks Ralf for putting these together and making them available to the community!

Click here for MatCap Set 1

Click here for MatCap Set 2

Happy ZBrushing