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The Solid Fractal texture represents a three-dimensional random function with a particular frequency distribution (a fractal) and can be used to create many different types of effects. In fact, many of the other procedural textures are based on fractal mathematics.

Aside from the attributes listed here, Solid Fractal inherits many other attributes from its parent, Texture3d.

In the table below, important attributes have their names shown in bold in the Description column.

This node is MP safe

Node nameParentsClassificationMFn typeCompatible function sets
solidFractaltexture3dtexture/3d:drawdb/shader/texture/3d/solidFractalkSolidFractalkBase
kNamedObject
kDependencyNode
kTexture3d
kSolidFractal

Related nodes

layeredTexture, envCube, envSphere, envSky, envBall, envChrome, bump3d, uvChooser, bump2d, texture2d, ramp, file, cloth, water, stencil, checker, fractal, bulge, grid, mountain, texture3d, projection, cloud, granite, crater, leather, stucco, brownian, marble, wood, rock, snow, defaultTextureList, place2dTexture, place3dTexture

Attributes (25)

amplitude, animated, bias, depth, depthMax, depthMin, frequencyRatio, inflection, ratio, refPointCamera, refPointCameraX, refPointCameraY, refPointCameraZ, refPointObj, refPointObjX, refPointObjY, refPointObjZ, ripples, ripplesX, ripplesY, ripplesZ, threshold, time, timeRatio, xPixelAngle

Long name (short name)TypeDefaultFlags
xPixelAngle (xpa) float0.002053inputconnectablestorablehidden
The pixel angle
refPointObj (rpo) float30.0, 0.0, 0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The current reference sample point that has to be shaded
refPointObjX (rox) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The x component of the current reference sample position
refPointObjY (roy) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The y component of the current reference sample position
refPointObjZ (roz) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The z component of the current reference sample position
refPointCamera (rpc) float30.0, 0.0, 0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The current reference sample point that has to be shaded
refPointCameraX (rcx) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The x component of the current sample position
refPointCameraY (rcy) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The y component of the current sample position
refPointCameraZ (rcz) float0.0outputinputconnectablehidden
The z component of the current sample position
amplitude (a) float1.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Amplitude is a scaling factor applied to all the values in the texture, centered around the texture's average value. This means that when you increase Amplitude, the light areas get lighter and the dark areas get darker.

If the Solid Fractal is being used as a bump map, then increasing Amplitude will make the bumps higher and the valleys deeper.

If you set Amplitude to a value greater than 1.0, then those parts of the texture that scale out of range will be clipped. On a bump map, this will show up as plateau regions.

ratio (ra) float0.707outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Ratio controls the frequency of the fractal noise. Increase this value to increase the fineness of detail in the fractal,
threshold (th) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Threshold is a number that is added to the whole fractal, making it uniformly brighter. If some parts of the fractal are pushed up out of range (greater than 1.0), then they will be clipped to 1.0. If the Solid Fractal is being used as a bump map, this will show up as plateau regions.
ripples (r) float31.0, 1.0, 1.0outputinputconnectablestorable
Ripples determines how wavy the image will be when projected, but controlling the scale of the fundamental frequency of any fractal used in the texture.

If you increase Ripples in any particular direction, the fractal detail will seem to smear out in that direction.

ripplesX (rx) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Ripples X value
ripplesY (ry) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Ripples Y value
ripplesZ (rz) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Ripples Z value
depth (d) float20.0, 8.0outputinputconnectablestorable
Depth controls how much calculation is done by the Solid Fractal texture. Fractal textures are created by an iterative mathematical process; as the process goes over more levels, it produces a more detailed fractal, but takes longer to do so. Normally, the texture will choose a level it thinks is appropriate for the volume being rendered. You can use Depth Min and Depth Max to control the minimum and maximum amount of calculation that the texure will do.
depthMin (dmn) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The minimum value for recursion depth
depthMax (dmx) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The maximum value for recursion depth
frequencyRatio (fr) float2.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Frequency Ratio This determines the relative spacial scale of the noise frequencies. If this ratio is not a whole integer then the fractal will not repeat at the integer uv boundaries. A cylinder with default placement would then display a seam.
bias (bs) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Bias This biases the -1 to 1 noise towards either 1 or 0. Values greater than 0 make the fractal more contrasting while values less than zero make it more flat with spikes.
inflection (in) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Inflection This applies a kink in the noise function This is useful for creating puffy or bumpy effects. It is equivalent to abs(noise) * 2 - 1.
animated (an) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Animated. Turn this attribute on if you want your fractal texture to be animatable; that is, to shift and change over different frames of your animation. This is useful for creating effects such as static on a tv screen, or irregular bubbling on a liquid surface.

After you turn on this attribute, you must also keyframe the Time attribute of the Fractal node at different frames to get the effect of motion.

timeRatio (tr) float2.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Time Ratio This determines the relative time scale of the noise frequencies. If this ratio is not a whole integer then the animation will not repeat when time = 1. The default is equal to the frequency ratio, which means that higher frequency noises move faster in direct proportion to the frequency. Many natural effects, such as water waves, move instead relative to the sqrt of the frequency, thus it may create better motion to make the timeRatio = sqrt( frequencyRatio ). Thus if the frequencyRatio is 2, make the timeRatio = 1.4.
time (ti) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Time is used to animate a Fractal texture. (See the Animated attribute, above.) Once you have turned on Animated, you can keyframe the Time attribute to control the rate and amount of change of the fractal texture in your scene. Set keyframes on this value to make the texture start or stop moving, or speed up, etc.