How to Change Material Metallic Value in Blender

Changing the metallic value of a material in Blender allows you to define whether an object behaves like a non-metal (dielectric) or a conductive metal, drastically altering its reflection and light response. This setting is controlled through the default Principled BSDF shader and can be adjusted quickly via the Material Properties panel or more dynamically inside the Shader Editor. This guide covers the step-by-step methods to adjust this property for your 3D models.

Method 1: Using the Material Properties Panel

  1. Select your object in the 3D Viewport.
  2. Navigate to the Properties Editor on the right side of the screen and click the Material Properties tab (represented by a sphere icon).
  3. If the object does not have a material, click New to create one. Ensure the Surface type is set to Principled BSDF.
  4. Scroll down to the Metallic slider.
  5. Click and drag the slider to change the value, or click the box to type a specific number manually:
    • 0.0: Completely non-metallic (e.g., plastic, wood, concrete, stone).
    • 1.0: Fully metallic (e.g., iron, gold, chrome, aluminum).

Method 2: Using the Shader Editor

  1. Switch to the Shading Workspace using the top menu bar, or change any window area to the Shader Editor.
  2. Select your object to display its material nodes.
  3. Locate the Principled BSDF node in the editor.
  4. Find the Metallic input slot on the node:
    • Manual Value: Adjust the numerical slider directly on the node.
    • Texture Map: Drag an Image Texture node into the workspace, load a grayscale metallic map, and connect its Color output to the Metallic input of the Principled BSDF. Set the Image Texture's color space to Non-Color.

Key PBR Rules for Metallic Values

  • Use Binary Values: In Physically Based Rendering (PBR), real-world materials are almost always either completely non-metallic (0.0) or completely metallic (1.0). Avoid mid-range values like 0.5 unless blending transitions like rust, dirt, or heavy dust over a metal surface.
  • Base Color Connection: For non-metals (0.0), the Base Color controls the diffuse color. For metals (1.0), the Base Color dictates the color of the metal's reflections (e.g., yellow/orange for gold, white/grey for steel).