Particle Shaper Compound

Category: Particle

The Particle Shaper compound defines each particle shape with fractals so that the point cloud doesn't look like a single volumetric mass. It is composed of two Fractal Scalar shaders (each one giving a different level of detail), a Cell Scalar shader, and several math and conversion shaders.

For general information about ICE particle shaders, see ICE Particle Shading.

Irregular Shape

Intensity

Controls the intensity of the large fractal that modifies the rough shape of the particle.

Cell Shape

These parameters come from the Cell Scalar shader.

Intensity	Controls the intensity of the cell fractal, which sets a billowing cell shape for the particle.
Texture Scale	The scale of the cell scalar shape.

Fractal Shape

These parameters come from the Fractal Scalar shader.

Intensity	Controls the intensity of the small fractal to create detail in the shape of the particle.
Texture Scale	The scale of the fractal scalar shape.
Fractal Color Switch	Inverts the fractal color values (switches Color 1 with Color 2) that define the fractal color contrast.

Contrast

Furrow Width

Sets the width of the small furrows (valleys) in the shape.

Furrow Softness

Adjusts the falloff of the furrows.

Click the buttons on the Presets tab to quickly set this value to either Billowing or Fluffy.

Animation

Fractal Time Constant

Speed of the fractal animation.

AO Fake

If you set either of these options, make sure to plug the compound's Particle Color + AO Fake output into a Color port on a particle volume shader, such as the Particle Renderer Compound or the Particle Volume Cloud shader.

Color

The color of the particles using the input shader's color. If there is no shader connected to this port, you can set the color with the sliders.

Ambient Occlusion Color

The color of the ambient occlusion for the particles using the input shader's color. Ambient occlusion simulates indirect illumination which gives good detail in the shadows, as well as fractal noise patterns such as those created by the Fractal Shape settings.

If there is no shader connected to this port, you can set the color with the sliders.

For more information on ambient occlusion, see Ambient Occlusion.

Presets

Click either of these buttons to quickly create either a more Billowing or Fluffy effect on the particle density. The Furrow Softness value is set with these presets.

Render Tree Usage

Plug the Particle Shaper output into any scalar port of a shader, but you mostly want to use it to shape the density of particles. For example, you could plug it into the Density Shape port of the Particle Renderer compound or the Particle Density shader to define the particle shape.