Tips for Working with Sand, Gravel, and Gem Materials
Get the most out of your new materials with these quick rendering tips.
You’ve got the materials. Now let’s make them sing.
Working with detailed surfaces like sand, gravel, and gemstones takes a little more intention. These aren’t “one-click and done” if you want the realism to hold up under scrutiny. Get your scale wrong or skip tessellation, and it falls apart fast.
Here are a few tips the team uses when dialing in these materials for client work, tests, and everyday renders. Nothing fancy. Just the things that make a big difference.
Sand and Gravel Materials
Check Scale
Double-click any asset in Studio to confirm size:
- Sand = 40cm
- Gravel = 180cm
Ensure the objects / textures in your scene are relative
Topology + Tessellation
Use clean topology and add detailed tessellation so displacement works and looks correct.
Displacement Scale
Match displacement to real-world size. Small adjustments go a long way. (Note: Fine sand materials do not include displacement maps.)
⚡ Pro Tip (Redshift Users):
You can scale displacement in the material node, but using a Redshift Render Tag is more efficient and flexible. It lets you adjust tessellation and displacement strength per object, even if you’re using the same shader across multiple meshes.
Gemstone Materials
Transmission Depth
Match transmission depth to your object’s scale for accurate color density.
Caustic Lighting
Use a dedicated light for caustics and limit its influence to selected objects to keep renders efficient.
Photons + Blur Radius
- More photons = sharper caustics
- Adjust blur radius for detail vs. speed
Trace Depths
Increase transparency, refraction, and reflection depths to let more light detail through.
⚡ Pro Tip:
Get the scale, tessellation, and trace depths right. The detail will shine.
Tiny tweaks. Big difference.
Whether it’s tuning tessellation for rocky displacement or dialing in trace depth for glassy brilliance, these details matter. Don’t let default settings flatten your render.
Want to see what these materials can really do?
👉 Check out the full Sand, Gravel, and Gem release
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