| SAMPLES |
| It is very difficult to create a sample MLB for this shader, as the results depend on what trueSpace lighting you use along with it. Most materials here have been designed using the various default light set ups in trueSpace. 1. Electron Microscope Note : This shader does not require any trueSpace lighting (any lighting that is present will not affect the results from this shader). An idea that came from IRC chat, where it was suggested that the look of a Scanning Electron Microscope image might be useful, and it just so happened that TG Virtual Light could create this effect! The shader is set to illuminate the faces of the object which are angled away from the camera, while leaving those that face the camera in darkness (achieved by reversing the Shadow Intensity and Lit Intensity, and the Shadow and Light Colours). In order to allow the effect to work in animation (whether it is the object or the camera that moves), the shader is set so that the lighting effects come from the camera. A bump map was added for a more dramatic effect. Feel free to experiment with different bump maps! You can adjust the Shadow and Lit Angles to change the sharpness of the lighting at the object’s edges. Also note that unlike an electron microscope, this shader will still pick up on any colour used in the object. 2. Rim Lighting This is the electron microscope effect layered with conventional Phong. This allows the trueSpace lighting to affect the object, but adds the effect of light picking out the edges of the object. You can vary the strength of the edge lighting by increasing the Intensity of TG Virtual Light, or modifying the transparency of the Phong shader in the Layered Shader settings. Again, you can adjust the sharpness of the lighting at the edges using the Shadow and Lit Angles, or vary the colour of the edge lighting (remember that the Shadow Colour is in this case the colour of the light at the edges!). 3. Fill In Camera Light Another light that follows the camera, but this time works in the “conventional” manner - that is, areas facing the camera are more brightly lit. You can use this as a light attached to the camera, or to simulate the effects of a diffuse fill-in flash. Raise the Shadow Angle to limit the range of the lighting from the flash. 4. Hemi1 This light simulates hemispherical lighting, with the brightest part being at the vertical. The light is stretched quite far around the object, to give a broad illumination. 5. Hemi2 This light simulates hemispherical lighting, with the brightest part being at the vertical. It is very similar to Hemi1, only the lighting does not stretch as far around the object. 6. Hemi1 + Bump This is the Hemi1 settings again, with a bump map added in, so that you don’t forget to try the results of adding a bump map! It is this sort of material which allows bump mapping to show up under radiosity. 7. Inside An Object Note : This shader does not require any trueSpace lighting (any lighting that is present will not affect the results from this shader). A very peculiar setting! It is a point light, centred at the world origin, (0,0,0). The angles are set so that only a very small range gets illuminated. The object painted with this shader will need to be placed at the world origin, or the position of the point light changed in the shader so that it is at the centre of the object. It works best on objects that change shape, rather than on simple primitives (although if you create a cylinder, centre it, and stretch it in the Z direction you can see the effect). The change in illumination is controlled entirely by the angle between the point light and the object surface (no fall-off is used). 8. UltraMetal A variation on the unusual setting from Inside An Object, by layering it with a trueSpace shader. This works quite well if you take an organic object, such as a mesh of a human head, and centre the object on the world origin (or move the point light position in the shader to the centre of the object). 9. Fall Off Only Note : This shader does not require any trueSpace lighting (any lighting that is present will not affect the results from this shader). This is a point light, which doesn’t fade with angle, but only with distance (by using the Fall Off settings). 10. Point Light Note : This shader does not require any trueSpace lighting (any lighting that is present will not affect the results from this shader). This is a point light, which fades with both angle and distance. 11. 2 Coloured Lights Note : This shader does not require any trueSpace lighting (any lighting that is present will not affect the results from this shader). This takes the settings from the Point Light material, but gives the Shadow areas some intensity and colour, creating the effect of 2 directly opposing light sources. 12. Camera Light This uses a point light attached to the camera, which has Fall Off settings (so the further the camera is from the object, the less brightly lit it will be). The colour shader was included simply to illustrate that the shader works as proper illumination. 13. Negative Brightness This shader has a negative value in the Shadow Brightness parameter, and a shadow colour of red. The red colour shows up slightly as the illumination from the virtual light fades out, and in the fully shadowed areas, the colour red is removed from the lighting provided by conventional trueSpace lights. 14. Coloured Shadow Note : This shader does not require any trueSpace lighting (any lighting that is present will not affect the results from this shader). A simple setting to illustrate adding colour to the shadowed areas. Where To Go From Here The samples above should help you get used to TG Virtual Light. Try adding bump maps to the various materials to see how the shader works with these. Also try adding colour shaders, to show that the effect really does work as illumination. Where layered shaders are used, try changing the other shader to see the results, or try taking the TG Virtual Light materials and layering them with other shaders. Also try varying the trueSpace lights that you use. Finally, don’t forget to try out the shader with radiosity! |
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