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The Water texture is a parametric texture used to produce water effects. If used as a bump or displacement map, the result resembles water waves or ripples. Water waves consist of linear sine waves , whereas water ripples consist of concentric rings originating from a drop. You can control the number, size, and speed of both the linear waves and the concentric ripples.

Aside from the attributes listed here, Water inherits many other attributes from its parent node, Texture2d.

In the table below, important attributes have their names listed in bold in the description column. /

Node nameParentsClassificationMFn typeCompatible function sets
watertexture2dtexture/2dkWaterkBase
kNamedObject
kDependencyNode
kTexture2d
kWater

Related nodes

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

Attributes (29)

boxMax, boxMaxU, boxMaxV, boxMin, boxMinU, boxMinV, dropSize, fast, groupVelocity, numberOfWaves, phaseVelocity, reflectionBox, rippleAmplitude, rippleFrequency, rippleOrigin, rippleOriginU, rippleOriginV, rippleTime, smoothness, spreadRate, spreadStart, subWaveFrequency, waveAmplitude, waveFrequency, waveTime, waveVelocity, windU, windUV, windV

Long name (short name)TypeDefaultFlags
numberOfWaves (nw) short8outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Number of Waves controls how many linear waves are generated, when this texture is animated. (See the Wave Time attribute below).

If you want this texture to show only concentric ripples, set Number of Waves to 0. If you want to combine linear waves and ripples, try values between 1 and 3.

waveTime (wt) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Wave Time controls the motion of the waves. Set keyframes on this attribute in order to animate the motion of the linear waves. The faster this changes, the faster the waves will go.
waveVelocity (wv) float1.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Wave Velocity controls the speed of the linear waves, if you have animated them using the Wave Time attribute above.

This attribute is effectively just a multiplier on Wave Time.

waveAmplitude (wa) float0.05outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Wave Amplitude controls the height of the waves. Increase this to make the waves higher.
waveFrequency (wf) float4.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Wave Frequency controls the frequency of the waves, and therefore their width. As you increase Wave Frequency, the waves get narrower and closer together. Their height does not change.
subWaveFrequency (swf) float0.125outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Sub Wave Frequency controls the frequency (and therefore the width) of any secondary waves that ride on top of the primary waves (white caps, for example).
smoothness (s) float2.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Smoothness controls the intensity of any secondary waves present. Increase smoothness to make the secondary waves less pronounced.
windUV (wi) float21.0, 0.0outputinputconnectablestorable
Wind UV controls the (average) direction that the linear waves will travel, simulating the effect of wind. This is expressed as U and V values, in the UV texture space.
windU (wiu) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The U component of the wind direction
windV (wiv) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The V component of the wind direction
rippleTime (rt) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Ripple Time controls the motion of the ripples. Set keyframes on this attribute in order to animate the motion of the ripples. The faster this changes, the faster the waves will go.

If you do not want to see any ripples, set Ripple Time to 0 and do not animate it.

When Ripple Time is 0, there are no ripples; the droplet has not yet touched the surface of the water. As Ripple Time increases, the ripples begin at a point and spread outwards.

rippleFrequency (rf) float25.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Ripple Frequency controls the frequency at which ripples are created, and therefore their width. As the frequency increases, the ripples become narrower and closer together. Their height is not affected
rippleAmplitude (ra) float0.05outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Ripple Amplitude controls the height of the ripples. Increase this to make the ripples bigger, as though a heavier object had created them.
dropSize (ds) float0.3outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Drop Size controls the size of the drop that starts the ripple wave effect
rippleOrigin (rc) float20.5, 0.5outputinputconnectablestorable
Ripple Origin controls the location where the the ripples start. This is in UV Texture space.
rippleOriginU (rcu) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The U component of the ripple origin position
rippleOriginV (rcv) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The V component of the ripple origin position
groupVelocity (gv) float1.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Group Velocity controls the size and speed of the primary ripple. Increase this to make the ripple move faster.
phaseVelocity (pv) float2.5outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Phase Velocity controls the size and speed of the sub-wavelets. Increase this to make them move faster.
spreadStart (ss) float0.005outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Spread Start controls the size of the initial impact of the drop at time zero. Increase Spread Start to make the size of the initial disturbance increase.
spreadRate (sr) float0.3outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Spread Rate controls the speed at which an outward-expanding ripple breaks up into sub-wavelets. Increase this to make the ripples break up more quickly.
reflectionBox (rb) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Reflection Box. Turn on this attribute to create the effect of ripples hitting the edges of a box and being reflected back. This can create some wonderful natural-looking interference patterns in the ripples. The box is defined as upper and lower limits in UV texture space.

Note: When Reflection Box is turned on, calculating the water shader slows down significantly.

boxMin (bmn) float20.0, 0.0outputinputconnectablestorable
Box Min is UV position of the lower left corner of the reflection bounding box.

This attribute is only used if Reflection Box is turned on.

boxMinU (bu1) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The lower U value
boxMinV (bv1) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The lower V value
boxMax (bmx) float21.0, 1.0outputinputconnectablestorable
Box Max is the UV position of the upper right corner of the reflection bounding box.

This attribute is only used if Reflection Box is turned on.

boxMaxU (bu2) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The upper U value
boxMaxV (bv2) float0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The upper V value
fast (fa) booltrueoutputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
Fast is an optimization in the Water texture. When it is turned on, the color tables are computed once per frame. When it is off, the color tables are computed for every sample.

The only time you might turn this off is if the water will be seen very close up in the final scene.