Renderer Translation

27rows
ConceptArnoldstandard_surfaceRedshiftStandard MaterialV-RayVRayMtlCyclesPrincipled BSDF (4.x)Karma / MaterialXstandard_surfaceOctaneUniversal Material
Base color
× base weight
× base_color_weight
× base weight
Diffuse roughness
Oren-Nayar style; 0 = Lambert everywhere
diffuse section
4.3+
Metalness
VRayMtl 5+
Specular weight
Reflection weight
color — white = full; Fresnel on
0.5 = F0 of the IOR (0.04 @ 1.5); 1 = doubled
dielectric strength; IOR still drives Fresnel
Specular color / tint
same color as weight
color in 4.x
color
Specular roughness
V-Ray defaults to glossiness = 1 − roughness
1 − roughness, unless option_use_roughness
IOR
locked to refract_ior unless unlocked
Anisotropy
ranges differ: 0–1 vs −1–1
0–1, 0 = isotropic
−1 – 1
−1 – 1
0–1
0–1
−1 – 1
Anisotropy rotation
0–1 = 0–360°
0–1
0–1
0–1
0–1
Coat weight
VRayMtl 5+
Coat roughness
1 − roughness
Coat IOR
Coat color / tint
Sheen weight
amount via color; black = off
color
Sheen roughness
1 − roughness
Transmission weight
color — white = full
color
Transmission color / depth
absorption per distance — scene-unit dependent
+ transmission_depth (units)
+ refr_transmittance, refr_absorption_scale
+ fog_mult (fog_bias)
+ transmission_depth
Absorption medium node
Transmission roughness
added to specular roughness
1 − roughness
shared with specular
shared
Subsurface weight
translucency mode ≠ none (VRayMtl 5+)
Scattering medium node
Subsurface radius / scale
+ subsurface_scale
+ ss_scale
depth via fog_mult
+ Subsurface Scale
+ subsurface_scale
on the medium
Subsurface color
random walk uses base color
+ Scattering on the medium
Emission
× emission
× emission_weight
color × multiplier; GI toggle
× Emission Strength
× emission
Blackbody / Texture emission node, Power
Opacity / cutout
color; shape opaque flag off
+ opacity_mode (normal / clip / stochastic)
Normal / bump input
via normal_map / bump2d
Bump Map / Normal Map node
+ bump_type (bump / tangent normal)
Normal Map / Bump node
ND_normalmap
or Bump
Displacement
shading group; disp_height / disp_zero_value
node → material output
or material displacement slot
Material Output; Displacement node Height / Midlevel / Scale
ND_displacement
Displacement / Vertex displacement node
Thin film
+ thin_film_IOR (nm)
+ thinfilm_ior
+ thin_film_ior (VRayMtl 5+)
+ Thin Film IOR (4.2+)
+ thin_film_IOR
+ Film IOR
Thin-walled
transmission section
  • Glossiness ↔ roughness: V-Ray’s glossiness is 1 − roughness (set “Use roughness” in BRDF options to type roughness directly). Everything else takes roughness.
  • Specular weight ≠ IOR: Blender’s Specular IOR Level scales the Fresnel of the IOR (0.5 = unchanged, F0 0.04 at IOR 1.5); Arnold / MaterialX “specular” and Redshift “refl_weight” multiply the whole specular lobe. Prefer setting IOR and leaving the weight at 1.
  • Anisotropy ranges: Arnold, Cycles and MaterialX use 0–1 (0 isotropic); Redshift, V-Ray and Octane use −1–1 (sign flips the axis). Rotation is 0–1 = 0–360° in all of them.
  • Transmission depth: Arnold / MaterialX express absorption as color at a depth in scene units; V-Ray as fog color + multiplier; Redshift via absorption scale; Cycles has no per-material absorption — use a Volume Absorption node on the Volume output.
  • Colors are linear in every renderer’s API; UI swatches are display-transformed. When pasting values from the PBR Materials page, use the linear triplet.
reviewed 2026-09 · names follow each renderer's current docs (Arnold 7, Redshift 3.6, V-Ray 6, Blender 4.x, MaterialX 1.38, Octane 2023) — parameters drift between versions, the linked docs win
6 renderers