Simple Ramp material

Simple but effective ramp surface shader which may be used as either an x-ray or toon material.

See also: Materials , Ramp parameters

This is a new feature in Houdini 10. To learn about more new features, see what’s new in Houdini 10.

Because this material can evaluate Normal Fall-Off, Direction from Surface to Light, and Light Intensity it makes a suitable material for both x-ray type materials and toon type materials.

Note

By default there is no Diffuse or Specular contribution though there are options to toggle either of these on.

Parameters

Color

Contribute Diffuse Lighting	A Lambertian style shading may be contributed to the material by toggling this option. By default this option is turned off.
Lambert Intensity	A ramp parameter which defaults to 1. A value of 0 would indicate no Lambertian intensity (no shading) while a value of 1 would indicate that shading will contribute to the overall look of the final render. This parameter has no effect when the Contribute Diffuse Lighting parameter is inactive. Since this is a ramp parameter, it will look at the information provided from the below Evaluate parameter.
Evaluate	This parameter describes to the above ramp what information it should use to us as a look-up value. Normal Fall-Off relates to the direction from the eye to the surface. U relates to the U direction of the surface UVs. V relates to the V direction of the surface UVs.
Base Color	A ramp parameter which defaults to values similar to that of an x-ray image. Since this is a ramp parameter, it will look at the information provided from the below Evaluate parameter.
Evaluate	This parameter describes to the above ramp what information it should use to us as a look-up value. Normal Fall-Off relates to the direction from the eye to the surface. Direction from surface to light relates to the angle that lights hit the surface. Luminocity relates to the intensity of the light. U relates to the U direction of the surface UVs. V relates to the V direction of the surface UVs.
Normalize Brightness	This parameter works in conjunction with the Evaluate option to look at the Luminocity. It is designed to work so that the overall lighting is normalized to values between 0 and 1. By default this option is turned off.
Tint with Cd Attribute	Tints the output color with the surface’s Cd attributes if they exist. By default this option is on.
Opacity	A ramp parameter which defaults to values so that when looking directly at a surface it is transparent but glancing angles are opaque. Since this is a ramp parameter, it will look at the information provided from the below Evaluate parameter.
Evaluate	This parameter describes to the above ramp what information it should use to us as a look-up value. Normal Fall-Off relates to the direction from the eye to the surface. U relates to the U direction of the surface UVs. V relates to the V direction of the surface UVs.
Enable Opacity	Defaults to on. When enabled, this parameter factors the Opacity ramp into the shader’s Of. When disabled, the Opacity ramp will have no effect on the shader.
Tint with Alpha Attribute	Tints the output opacity with the surface’s Alpha attribute if it exists. By default this option is turned off.

Specular

Contribute Specular Lighting	Simple Specular highlights may be contributed to the material by toggling this option. By default this option is turned off.
Specular Intensity	A ramp parameter which defaults to 1. A value of 0 would indicate no specular intensity (no shading) while a value of 1 would indicate that shading will contribute to the overall look of the final render. This parameter has no effect when the Contribute Specular Lighting parameter is inactive. Since this is a ramp parameter, it will look at the information provided from the below Evaluate parameter.
Evaluate	This parameter describes to the above ramp what information it should use to us as a look-up value. Normal Fall-Off relates to the direction from the eye to the surface. U relates to the U direction of the surface UVs. V relates to the V direction of the surface UVs.
Specular Color	A ramp parameter which defaults to white. Since this is a ramp parameter, it will look at the information provided from the below Evaluate parameter.
Evaluate	This parameter describes to the above ramp what information it should use to us as a look-up value. Normal Fall-Off relates to the direction from the eye to the surface. U relates to the U direction of the surface UVs. V relates to the V direction of the surface UVs.

Specular Type

Specular Type	A selector for the specular function. Glossy is typically used for reflective materials to get the sharp highlight common to highly polished surfaces.
U Roughness	This value controls the specular highlight, but only in the U direction when Anisotropic is selected.
V Roughness	When Anisotropic is selected, this value controls the specular highlight in only the V direction. It is ignored with any other specular function.
Sharpness	When Glossy specular is selected, this controls the sharpness of the edge of the specular highlight.

Specular Map

Use Specular Map	When checked, the specular color is multiplied by the texture in Specular Map. By default this option is turned off.
Specular Map	This the name of the texture file. The icon to the right opens a file browser.
Spec Map Wrap	Determines what the texture looks like when the texture coordinates are larger or less than 0 to 1. The options are: Repeat means the texture will repeat (tile). Streak means the texture color at the edges is clamped and streaks outside the map. Decal sets the color outside the texture map to the Border Color.
Spec Map Filter	Type of anti-aliasing filter used.
Spec Map Width	This is the width in pixels used by the filter in both u and v directions.
Spec Map Border	The color used when Decal wrapping is selected.