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Cloud textures are used to create effects such as clouds, smoke, and steam. It can be applied as a transparency map to another shader to make it cloud-like, or can be used as a color map to make a cloudy surface on an object.

Tips for creating a good cloud effect: Aside from the attributes listed here, Cloud textures inherit many other attributes from the parent class Texture3d. In the table below, important attributes have their names shown in bold in the Description column.

This node is MP safe

Node name Parents Classification MFn type Compatible function sets
cloud texture3d texture/3d:drawdb/shader/texture/3d/cloud kCloud kBase
kNamedObject
kDependencyNode
kTexture3d
kCloud

Related nodes

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

Attributes (36)

amplitude, centerThresh, color1, color1B, color1G, color1R, color2, color2B, color2G, color2R, contrast, depth, depthMax, depthMin, edgeThresh, eyeToTextureMatrix, normalCamera, normalCameraX, normalCameraY, normalCameraZ, ratio, refPointCamera, refPointCameraX, refPointCameraY, refPointCameraZ, refPointObj, refPointObjX, refPointObjY, refPointObjZ, ripples, ripplesX, ripplesY, ripplesZ, softEdges, transpRange, xPixelAngle

Long name (short name) Type Default Flags
normalCamera (n) float3 0.0, 0.0, 1.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
The input normal to perturbate
normalCameraX (nx) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
The X component of the input normal
normalCameraY (ny) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
The Y component of the input normal
normalCameraZ (nz) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
The Z component of the input normal
refPointObj (rpo) float3 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
The current reference sample point that has to be shaded
refPointObjX (rox) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
The x component of the current reference sample position
refPointObjY (roy) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
The y component of the current reference sample position
refPointObjZ (roz) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
The z component of the current reference sample position
refPointCamera (rpc) float3 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
The current reference sample point that has to be shaded
refPointCameraX (rcx) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
The x component of the current sample position
refPointCameraY (rcy) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
The y component of the current sample position
refPointCameraZ (rcz) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablehidden
The z component of the current sample position
xPixelAngle (xpa) float 0.002053 inputconnectablestorablehidden
The pixel angle
eyeToTextureMatrix (e2t) fltMatrix identity outputinputconnectablestorablehidden
The transform to go from eye to texture space (pTx = pEye * matrix). It must come from the 3D placement node.
color1 (c1) float3 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 outputinputconnectablestorable
Color 1 is one of the two colors that comprise the cloud.
color1R (c1r) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The red value of Color 1
color1G (c1g) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The green value of Color 1
color1B (c1b) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The blue value of Color 1
color2 (c2) float3 1.0, 1.0, 1.0 outputinputconnectablestorable
Color 2 is one of the two colors that comprise the cloud.
color2R (c2r) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The red value of Color 2
color2G (c2g) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The green of the Color 2
color2B (c2b) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The blue of the Color 2
contrast (c) float 0.5 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Contrast controls how much the two colors that comprise the cloud mix together. If Contrast is set to 0, the two colors are averaged across the entire texture. If contrast is set to 1.0, the colors do not affect each other at all. If the Cloud texture is being used as a transparency map, this attribute will not have an appreciable effect.
softEdges (se) bool true outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Soft Edges creates a roll-off effect so that the clouds look more transparent at the edges than in the center. When Soft Edges is turned off, there is no such effect. See also Center Thresh and Edge Thresh.
transpRange (tr) float 0.5 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Transparency Range controls the range over which the cloud texture goes from being opaque to being transparent. If you increase this value, the transition between opaque and transparent areas becomes more gentle and diffuse.
centerThresh (ct) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Center Thresh, along with Edge Thresh, determines how diffuse or concentrated the Edge Rolloff is. For a dense cotton-ball effect, use a low Center Thresh with a high Edge Thresh. For a wispy, broken-up cloud effect use a high Center Thresh and a low Edge Thresh.
edgeThresh (et) float 1.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Edge Thresh. See the description for Center Thresh, above.
ripples (r) float3 1.0, 1.0, 1.0 outputinputconnectablestorable
Ripples determines how wavy the texture will be by controlling the scale of the fundamental frequence of the fractals.
ripplesX (rx) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Ripple X value
ripplesY (ry) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Ripple Y value
ripplesZ (rz) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Ripple Z value
depth (d) float2 0.0, 8.0 outputinputconnectablestorable
Depth controls how much calculation is done by the Cloud texture. Fractal textures (such as Cloud) 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) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The minimum value for recursion depth
depthMax (dmx) float 0.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The maximum value for recursion depth
amplitude (a) float 1.0 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Amplitude scales the effect of the fractal noise. Increase Amplitude to make the texture more contrasty, with the light areas lighter and the dark areas darker.
ratio (ra) float 0.707 outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Ratio controls the ratio for the fractal noise. Increase Ratio to make the detail in the texture smaller and more fine-grained. Decrease Ratio to make the detail larger, giving the cloud a more homogeneous appearance.