Cavities VEX node

Produces a surface displacement that simulates small surface damage using anti-alia…

See also: Bump Noise, Concrete, Rest Position, Shiny Metal

This operator produces a surface displacement that simulates small surface damage using anti-aliased noise of various frequencies.

The Displacement Scale (scale) input determines the amount of overall displacement of each frequency set. A positive scale will produce dents, such as concrete holes and smallpox scars. A negative scale will generate bumps, such as skin rash or stucco.

As an example, the following values will generate a pitted look. To simulate pitted metal, for instance, pipe the Displaced Normal (dispN) output into the “N” input of the Shiny Metal operator, and the resulting metal color into the “Cf” input of the Output operator.

freq       amp chip  scale 
    -------------+----+-----+-----
     0.5,0.5,0.5   1   0.01   0.2

Typically, this operator will be used in a displacement shader, with both “disp” outputs piped into the matching inputs of the Output operator. Alternatively, it can be appear in a surface shader, in which case the displaced normal would be normalized and then connected to the “nN” input of the Lighting Model operator.

If the Position (P) input and the Normal (N) input are not connected, the global variables by the same names will be used instead. Typically you will use Rest Position or UV Space Change as inputs for “P”, and will not touch “N” unless you want to apply additional displacement to the surface using an operator such as Bump Noise. If you need to access the global variables directly, they are available from the Global Variables operator.