Shader
Controls the size of the flakes. Higher values result in larger flakes and lower values result in smaller flakes.
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| Scale: 0.02 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
Controls the distribution of flakes across the surface. Higher values result in more densely packed flakes while lower values result in less dense flakes. This parameter accepts an input value between the range of 0 and 1, where 0 leads to no flakes being generated and 1 results in the entire surface being covered with flakes.
Density can also be driven by a texture, consider using something like a change range or scalar ramp node to more finely control the density of the flakes.
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| Density: 0 | 0.25 | 0.5 | 1 | Textured |
Controls how far the flakes are tilted away from the original surface normal. Higher randomization values result in flakes that are tilted farther away from the original surface normal, this results in more pronounced flakes because light is able to catch them from more extreme angles. When the randomization value is low the flakes will appear less prominent while a value of 0 results in no visible flakes since each flake perfectly matches the original surface normals.
Randomization can also be driven by a texture, consider using something like a change range or scalar ramp node to more finely control the flake randomization values.
The coloration of the flakes in the 2D portion of the example images illustrates the intensity of the randomization of each flake. The larger the difference in color between flakes the higher the difference in randomization compared to the original surface normal. Bright purple and green flakes represent flake randomization at its highest while flakes that are closer to grey represent little to no randomization.
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| Randomize: 0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1 | Textured |
Controls the seed value used to drive the random position and orientation of the flakes.
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| Seed: 0 | 1 | 2 |
Controls the shape of the flakes.
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| Pattern: Voronoi | Dots |
Only relevant when the dots pattern is used.
Controls the size of the dots.
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Flakes Size: 0.25 |
0.5 | 0.75 | 1 |
Only relevant when the dots pattern and UV coordinate space are used.
Controls how much the dots vary in size. Higher values result in more varied flake size while lower values result in less variance, if the value is set to 0 all dots will have the same size.
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Flakes Size Variance: 0 |
1 |
The coordinate space used to calculate the position and size of the flakes.
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Object: The position and size of the flakes are relative to each object they are applied to.
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World: The position and size of the flakes are relative to the world space. This will result in a consistent flake size across all objects however the flakes will swim if the objects are moved through the scene.
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UV: An object's UVs are used to determine the position and size of the flakes, the scale and orientation of the UVs has a direct impact on the size and position of the flakes which can result in incongruous flakes across the surface.
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| Coord Space: Object | World | UV |
Only relevant when the UV coordinate space is used.
This parameter defines which UV channel is used.
The flakes shader can be used to create a 3D effect that gives the impression that the flakes are layered on top of themselves complete with parallax. 3D flakes are calculated using ray marching and the look can be controlled by the parameters covered below. Please see the 3D Flakes in Glass example to see how to set up this effect.
| 3D Flakes | 2D Flakes |
Controls the maximum ray marching depth in scene units that is used to calculate the position of 3D flakes.
Higher values allow 3D flakes to appear deeper beneath the surface of an object while lower values will limit the flakes closer to the surface. When depth is 0, no 3D flakes are rendered. The sphere used in the example images has a 10 unit radius so a depth value of 20 allows the rays to travel all the way through it.
| Depth: 0 | 1 | 5 | 20 |
Step Size[0.00..2147483648.00]
Controls the distance of each step in scene units that is used for the ray marching calculation of 3D flakes, this has a large impact on how many 3D flakes are visible and overall performance. The number of flake layers is determined by dividing the depth value by the step size. For example, if depth is 6 and the step size is 1 (6 / 1 = 6) then there will be more flakes than when the step size is 3 (6 / 3 = 2).
In general lower values will result in more flakes while higher values result in fewer flakes. If the step size is 0 or larger than the depth value itself then no 3D flakes are rendered. Using a very low step size can have a negative impact on render times.
| Step Size: 0 | 0.5 | 1 | 3 |
Controls the distance of each step in scene units that is used for the ray marching calculation of 3D flakes, this has a large impact on how many 3D flakes are visible and overall performance. The number of flake layers is determined by dividing the depth value by the step size. For example, if depth is 6 and the step size is 1 (6 / 1 = 6) then there will be more flakes than when the step size is 3 (6 / 3 = 2).
In general lower values will result in more flakes while higher values result in fewer flakes. If the step size is 0 or larger than the depth value itself then no 3D flakes are rendered. Using a very low step size can have a negative impact on render times.
| Step Size: 0 | 0.5 | 1 | 3 |
The following parameters control how the flakes appear at a distance, this is helpful because flakes can flicker and look like aliasing when they are smaller than individual pixels. For example, an object with flakes may look aliased when far away because the number of flakes per-pixel is naturally higher than an object that is closer to the camera. To limit this side effect the randomization of flakes can be faded out based on an estimated number of flakes per-pixel, the points where the flakes fade in and out are controlled by the Blend Minimum and Blend Maximum values covered below. The larger the range between the blend minimum and blend maximum the smoother and more gradual the flakes blend in and out, this can be seen in the example images below where a heat map is used to illustrate the blend between the minimum (red) and the maximum (blue) ranges.
Anything that could alter the estimated number of flakes per-pixel can have an impact on how the flakes appear. For example, making flakes smaller with the flake scale parameter or rendering at a lower resolution will increase the flakes per-pixel estimation which pushes the number of flakes per-pixel closer to the Blend Maximum in which flakes will no longer be visible. Even changing the camera angle or rotation of an object can change the estimated number of flakes per-pixel.
Blend Minimum[0.00..2147483648.00]
Controls the start point of the flake fade out.
If the estimated number of flakes per-pixel is below this value then flakes are rendered normally.
If the number of flakes is above this value then the flakes begin to fade out until they reach the Blend Maximum value where they will no longer be visible.
| Blend Minimum: 0.1 Blend Maximum: 5 |
2 | 4 |
Blend Maximum[0.00..2147483648.00]
Controls the end point of the flake fade out.
If the number of flakes per-pixel is below this value they will fade in until they reach the Blend Minimum value where they will be rendered normally.
If the estimated number of flakes per-pixel is above this value they will no longer be visible because the flake randomization value will be reduced to 0.
| Blend Maximum: 2.1 Blend Minimum: 2 |
5 | 20 |