Combi Contour Shader

Command entry:mental ray material

Advanced Shaders rollout

Click Contour button.

Choose Combi (contour).

Command entry:Other material

mental Ray Connection rollout

Advanced Shaders group

Unlock Contour if necessary.

Click Contour button.

Choose Combi (contour).

The Combi contour shader is a combination of the Depth Fade, Layer Thinner, and Width from Light shaders.

TipUse a Tape helper object to determine the Z depth of your view.

The following illustration shows a blue line crossing the glass pane held by the character. This blue line is the reflection of the edge of the floor, behind the camera.

The line is blue (Near Color), because the distance considered is not the distance of the eye ray bouncing in the glass; rather, it is the distance between the camera and the edge itself.

Interface

Near Z: The minimum distance.
Near Color: The color of the contour at and below the minimum distance.
Near Width (%): The width at and below the minimum distance.
Far Z: The maximum distance.
Far Color: The color of the contour at and beyond the maximum distance.
Far Width (%): The width at and beyond the maximum distance.
Depth Factor: The factor for thinning the contour at each layer.

For example, to get contours that are 2 percent wide when the material is on top, 1 percent wide when the material is behind one other (semitransparent) material, 0.5 percent wide when the material is behind two materials, and so on, set Width (%) to 2.0 and Depth Factor to 0.5.
Light: To specify a scene light source for use in determining contour thickness, click this button and then select a light. After you specify a light, its name appears on the button.

To remove the specified light source from the shader’s influence, click the Clear button.
Light Min Width Factor: The minimum factor by which the light-dependency decreases the contour width.

For example, for contours that are interpolated between 2 percent wide at the Near Z distance and 1 percent wide at the Far Z distance, and get half as wide for each layer of material beyond Far Z, and where the width also depends on the direction to the specified light source, setLight Min Width Factor to 0.5.