Shader Properties

Objects

Drag the names of the object or objects that will be used to calculate Proximal from the Object Manager into this box. In the case of particles, drag the Emitter

• (Cinema 4D particles) or Particle Geometry object

• (Thinking Particles) into the Objects box.

Exclude Parent

If Include Child objects is enabled and Exclude Parent is checked then the parent object is disregarded in the Proximal calculations.

Include Subobjects

If enabled, the children of the found object will be included in the proximal calculations.

Use Vertices

Allows the user to specify that the sampling points for the Proximal shader to use are defined by the vertices of the named polygon object. This allows for effects such as one object passing through another object. The object must be a polygon object.

Use Edges

Use Edges enabled (left) and disabled (right).

Enable this option to include edges for luminance effects.

Polygon Radius

Similar to Use Vertices except it uses the center of each polygon and makes the maximum distance (End Distance at 100%) the radius of the polygon. This helps with the problem of vertices being spread unevenly and gaps happening when an object passes through another.

Function

Falloff function to be used to calculate the Proximal intensity.

Linear

Intensity is 100% of the Intensity value at Start Distance, 0% at End Distance and falls off linearly in between.

Square

Intensity is 100% of the Intensity value at Start Distance, 0% at End Distance and falls off by the square of the distance in between.

Cubic

Intensity is 100% of the Intensity value at Start Distance, 0% at End Distance and falls off distance cubed in between.

Step

Intensity is 100% of the Intensity value between Start Distance and End Distance and 0% everywhere else.

Inverse

Intensity is 100% of the Intensity value at Start Distance and falls off as the inverse of distance and is clamped to 0% at End Distance.

Inverse Square

Intensity is 100% of the Intensity value at Start Distance and falls off as the inverse of distance squared and is clamped to 0% at End Distance.

Inverse Cubic

Intensity is 100% of the Intensity value at Start Distance and falls off as the inverse of distance cubed and is clamped to 0% at End Distance.

Smooth

This gives a smoother falloff when using Proximal for bump mapping or displacement.

Blend Mode

Allows for different possibilities when blending each sampled point together. For instance, the Add type of blend makes very blown out values, necessitating the user to tweak the values to achieve a good result. The modes Lighten, Screen, Difference and Exclusion increase the ease of achieving the desired effect. The Screen blend type is in most cases the best choice, as it yields aesthetically pleasing results.

Start Distance [0..+∞%]

The distance at which the object causes 100% luminance.

End Distance [0..+∞%]

The distance at which the object no longer affects the surface luminance. A value of 100% means 100 m. However, when using Polygon Radius, the percentage value is the same as the polygon radius, which of course can be different for each polygon.

Intensity [0..+∞%]

Maximum intensity that each object / particle adds.