Incidence Shader (legacy)

 
 
 

DEPRECATED. This shader is unsupported, but it may still get installed with Softimage to provide compatibility with older scenes that use it. It is recommended that you replace unsupported shaders in your scenes with equivalent shaders from the current Softimage shader library.

| Render Tree Usage

Shader Type: Surface (Tool)

Output: Scalar value

Shades the edges of an object or define an arbitrary shading direction based not on light but on the angle of the surface relative to the camera.

When used with various surface shaders, the Incidence shader defines variable transparency, for example, on a glass object so the edges appear more opaque than the center. Other possible applications are an X-ray look, static blur, varnish, or glass transparency.

Equation:

output = newrange_min + (( newrange_max - newrange_min ) * (( input - oldrange_min ) / (oldrange_max - oldrange_min)))

Name

The shader's name. Enter any name you like, or leave the default.

Custom Vector

Defines the custom vector used in the orientation computation. Used when Mode is set to Use Custom Vector.

Mode

Camera Direction: Uses the camera direction vector to compute which color to look up.

X Up Axis: Use vector value (1, 0, 0)

X Down Axis: Use vector value (-1, 0, 0)

Y Up Axis: Use vector value (0, 1, 0)

Y Down Axis: Use vector value (0, -1, 0)

Z Up Axis: Use vector value (0, 0, 1)

Z Down Axis: Use vector value (0, 0, -1)

Use Custom Vector: Uses the above parameter to determine which color to look up.

Exponent

Controls the contrast factor. A value of 0 returns 1 in output. Default value is 1.

Render Tree Usage

Usually used at the end of a render tree (left side), this shader often needs to be used in conjunction with a few other shaders to obtain results. These shaders are:

  • Scalar2Color

  • Intensity

  • Color Correction

Connecting this shader to the Transparency input of a surface shader and setting the Mode to Camera Direction is the best way to achieve glass-like results.