How to Render Brushed Stainless Steel in KeyShot

by Will Gibbons | Last Updated:   September 3, 2019

Having trouble rendering stainless steel?

Perhaps you like KeyShot for its drag-and-drop simplicity. However, if you’ve ever tried using a metal material to create a brushed stainless finish, you probably got stuck. The secret is that there’s a special material, and if you don’t know how to use it, you’ll probably end up with lackluster results.

Here’s why and what to do about it

The secret to beautiful and convincing stainless steel finishes is something called anisotropy. Anisotropy describes a specific kind of reflection that you see on things like the bottom of a CD or vinyl record, or on the bottom of stainless steel cookware. You know the pizza-slice-shaped reflections? That’s an anisotropic reflection. Because KeyShot has a special anisotropic material type, creating these finishes in KeyShot is actually quite simple once you know how. After watching this short tutorial, you’ll be an anisotropic champion!

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to:

• Import a model
• Change the lighting environment
• Change the material type
• Customize the anisotropic material
• Apply a radial roughness
• Add a procedural brushed texture
• Use the material graph to add some imperfections

Free project files include

• 3D cannister model (STP)
• Material reference spreadsheet (JPG)
• KeyShot project file (BIP)

Cut to the chase and become a KeyShot master!

It’s honestly the best online KeyShot training available. With 15 hours of 100+ video lessons, follow-along project lessons, feature-based lessons, 14 chapters, project files and quizzes, it’s pretty epic. If you need more convincing, check out the product page with testimonials, course previews and more by clicking here!

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Will Gibbons is an industrial designer-turned rendering specialist. He's trained and worked with some of today's most recognizable brands and now is focused on creating the best product visualization content on the internet.