Snow

| Texture | Snow | Advanced | Render Tree Usage

Category: Texture

Shader Family: Texture

Output: Color

Creates an effect of fresh snow sticking to objects, such as trees or buildings. It examines the normal of the object's surface and uses this to decide whether snow will stick or not.

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

Texture

Texture Space

Selects the texture projection to use. See Specifying a Texture Projection [Texturing].

Bump Mapping

Enable	Switches bump mapping on or off.
Bump Map Factor	Defines how "bumpy" the bump map will be. A negative value inverts the bump inward; a positive bump map factor bumps outward.
Use Alpha	Uses the texture's alpha channel to achieve a bump map.

Snow

Type	The algorithm for the pattern: Legacy produces the same pattern as in versions prior to Softimage 2013. Default produces the same pattern as shown in High Quality display mode.

Colors

Snow	Defines the color of the snow. Unless you are simulating another planet or a layer of ash, this should be white.
Surface	Defines the color of the surface beneath the layer of snow.
Copy Alpha to RGB	Multiplies the RGB channels with the alpha channel by the factor defined in the Alpha Strength parameter.
Alpha Strength	Determines the factor by which the Alpha is multiplied with the RGB channels.

Threshold	Defines the maximum slope at which snow sticks to an object. High for snowdrifts; low for wet, heavy snow
Maximum Thickness	Defines the maximum overall thickness of the snow.
Depth Decay	Defines how much the snow thickness decreases with the increasing slope. The higher the value, the sharper the changes between the snow and the surface underneath.
Randomness	Controls the random variations in the snow's thickness. A value of 0 will probably result in unrealistic-looking snow. Remember that wind and terrain usually cause snow to fall unevenly, hence this parameter.
Random Frequency	Defines the frequency of the snow thickness variation. A high value will result in quick, jagged peaks and valleys of snow, whereas a lower value will smooth out the layer of snow.

Advanced

Bump Mapping

Step	Controls the U, V, and Z steps of a bump map. Use this parameter to "smooth" bumps or make them more jagged.

Alternate

U, V, Z

Specifies whether every other copy of the repetition should be reversed so that the successive copies of the texture are alternated.

Repeats

Texture Repeats

Contains the repetition factor in X,Y, and Z. A value of 2, for example, shrinks the texture so that it fits twice in a [0..1] interval.

UV Remap

Minimum, Maximum

Determines the remapping of the texture image. For a 2D image, only X and Y are used.

Render Tree Usage

Color parameters can be connected to other textures or image processing shaders. A texture's scalar parameters can be altered to create interesting effects by applying Texture Generator shaders to them. For example, the Bump factor can be controlled with the Gradient Texture Generator shader.

A texture shader has seemingly limitless capabilities in a render tree. It can texture an object, be used as a camera or light projection, define bump or displacement maps, or be blended with any number of other textures to create any effect.