Houdini 20.5 Galleries Materials gallery

Basic Liquid

A reflective refractive material for liquids using ray tracing.

This material must have an Opacity (Of) of 1 for refractions to work correctly. The Alpha (Af) maybe be changed to suit compositing needs.

Parameters

Specular

Specular Intensity

A multiplier for the specular contribution to the material.

Specular Color

The specular highlight color.

U Roughness

This value controls the size or spread of the specular highlight. If Anisotropic is selected, this value controls the specular

highlight in only the U direction.

V Roughness

If Anisotropic is selected, this value controls the specular highlight

in only the V direction. It is ignored with any other specular function.

Sharpness

This value controls the sharpness of the edge of the specular highlight. It is used only if Glossy specular is selected.

Specular Type

A selector for the specular function. Glossy is typically used to get the sharp highlight common to glassy surfaces. See specular for more information.

Ray Trace

Reflection Intensity

A multiplier to dim or brighten the reflections.

Reflection Color

This is a tint color for reflections.

Refraction Intensity

This is a multiplier to dim or brighten the refractions.

Refraction Color

This is a tint color for the refractions.

This is color is also known as the transmission color. Use this to color the glass or water. A little color goes a long way, so something very pale (desaturated) might be be best to start.

Index of Refraction

This value is the ratio of the speed of light in one medium, such as air, to that of another medium. This determines how much the ray bends as it

passes from one material into another. Higher values tend to “push” the reflections towards the edges. The refractions are in the center.

Environment Map

If there is the path to a texture here and ray trace is turned off, then this map is used to calculate the reflection contribution. If ray trace is on and there is a texture, then the texture color is returned, when the ray does not hit anything. Without a texture here,

the Background Color is returned when the ray misses.

Transform Space

The reflection ray used to do the look up in the map is transformed into this space. See envmap for more information.

Background Color

This color is returned when the ray does not hit anything and there is no environment map specified.

Blur, Density, Shadow

Ray Bias

This is typically a small number used to help

solve self-intersection issues.

Jitter Amount

This is a value between 0, no jitter and 1, maximum jitter. It controls how randomly the samples are distributed.

Attenuation Density

This is the density of the material. A uniform density is assumed. If this value is greater than 0, the opacity falloff is calculated based on this density and the square of the distance the ray travels inside a refractive material. The larger this value, the higher the density of the material and the more opaque it will appear. Attenuation is only applied when the surface normal and the refracted ray point in opposing directions.

Attenuation Color

This color tints the attenuated opacity.

Cone Angle

This parameter is used by the PBR renderer.

This is size of the cone (in degrees) over which samples are distributed. Any number greater than zero, will blur the refractions.

Samples

The number samples to calculate. The more samples, the better the quality, the slower the render.

Shadow Color

The color to use when computing shadow rays.

White Water

The amount of white water to mix in to the liquid. This is an isotropic shader so adds all lights regardless of direction. A point attribute called whitewater can be used to control this on per point basis.

White Water Color

The color of the white water. Since all lights contribute equally, this might need to be reduced from white to 50% grey to avoid blowing out.

Properties

Reflect Limit

This limits the number of bounces for a reflection ray. Larger numbers equal longer rendering time and may not improve the images. See render properties for more information.

Refract Limit

This limits the number of bounces for a reflection ray. Larger numbers equal longer rendering time and may not improve the images. See render properties for more information.

See also

Materials gallery

  • UV Map

    This is basic diffuse material, no specular, with a map of colored and numbered squares.

  • Background Plate

    Implements an example shader for background matte object in Karma.

  • Basic Flame

    A constant material where the density value of the volume drives the color ramp.

  • Basic Liquid

    A reflective refractive material for liquids using ray tracing.

  • Basic Smoke

    A diffuse material designed specifically for volume objects.

  • Billowy Smoke

    A billowy diffuse material designed specifically for volume objects.

  • Checkerboard

    This is a basic material with checked color map.

  • Clay

    This is basic diffuse material without specular.

  • Constant

    This is a constant material with optional maps for color and opacity.

  • Constant Smoke

    A diffuse unlit material designed specifically for volume objects.

  • Decal

    This material applies a texture an object.

  • Dust Puff

    A material suitable for using particles to render smoke or fog.

  • Fluid Fire

    A constant material where the density value of the volume drives the color ramp.

  • Glow

    This is a constant material, which represents the angle between the camera and the surface normal.

  • Liquid Smoke

    A diffuse material designed specifically for interior of volume liquids.

  • Ocean Surface

    This material gives the appearance of an ocean surface.

  • Shadow Matte

    Implements a shadowmatte shader that occludes geometry behind the surface being rendered.

  • Show Normal

    This is a constant material showing the value of the surface normal’s x y z directions in a red, green, blue color.

  • Show Shading Point

    This is a constant material showing the value of the shading point’s x y z values in a red, green, blue color.

  • Show Tangent

    This is a constant material showing the value of the surface tangent’s x y z directions in a red, green, blue color.

  • Show UV

    This is a constant material used to verify an objects texture coordinates.

  • Sprite Fog

    A material suitable for using particles to render smoke or fog.

  • Uniform Volume

    Renders a closed surface as a volume consisting of a uniform fog.

  • Wispy Smoke

    A wispy diffuse material designed specifically for volume objects.