Shader Tree Item Layers

A Folder item acts solely as an organizational device for the Shader Tree.

A Material Group item can be thought of as a container that holds any of the various Shader Tree items, such as Shaders, Materials, Textures, and even Render Outputs.

The Cel Edges material attempts to mimic the hand-drawn look of the outlines of Cel cartoons, creating colored strokes that follow surface contours and edges.

The Cel Material attempts to mimic the flat, posterized shading of Cel cartoons, creating flat, colored bands that follow surface contours and edges.

The Hair Material is designed to replace the default BRDF shading calculations of the standard material item, when applied to fur or hair, to simulate the anisotropic quality of hair.

The Halftone Material stylizes the target surface, replacing the smooth shading with a black user-defined pattern overlaid on the diffuse color, simulating the look of a low-fidelity image printed in a newspaper or magazine.

The Iridescent Material is a general term for colors which change, based on the viewing angle, and this effect simulates that seen in nature, such as in pearls, butterfly wings, and peacock feathers.

The Skin Material is designed to completely replace the default BRDF shading calculations of the standard material item, when applied to a surface, to simulate skin (made up of multiple layers and materials, each absorbing, scattering, and reflecting light differently), creating a very subtle but distinct look.

The Image Map item could be considered the most important texture layer, as it allows bitmap images to be applied to surfaces in Modo.

The Constant texture simply generates a constant value or color layer.

The Gradient texture layer provides a method for creating parametric materials. Put simply, gradients remap colors or value-based input parameters to produce an output based on the values in the gradient itself.

The Gradient Fill Image layer is a hybrid texture, as it is procedurally-generated gradient but it is based on a dynamically created bitmap image.

The Occlusion texture calculates the shading of surfaces, based on how occluded it is, and any receding or recessed areas are shaded darker (or lighter).

The Process layer offer some basic image adjustment options that affect any texture layer directly below it in the Shader Tree, including image map, procedural and gradient texture layers.

The Variations Texture layer is a means to apply color or value variations to multiple particle objects, surfaces, or items.

The Fur Material texture layer covers surfaces with a range of fur-related textures (fuzzy, frazzled, fluffy, fibrous - all manner of fur options).

The MatCap Shader texture creates a surface material and lighting environment simply by painting an object, so that it looks like how you want the surface to appear.

The Shader texture is a "base shader" item that reads the information from the entire Shader Tree and computes the effects of the illumination on all the surfaces in the scene, making the Shader the most important layer in the tree.

The Cellular texture is a procedural texture that is mathematically created at render-time to create a cellular pattern.

The Checker texture is a procedural texture that is mathematically created at render-time to create a checkerboard pattern with two colors or values.

The Dots texture creates a grid-like pattern of dots across the surface of the mesh.

The Gabor Noise texture is a procedural texture that is mathematically created at render-time to generate patterns that can easily be stretched and rotated, like brush strokes.

The Grid texture is a procedural texture that is mathematically created at render-time to create a grid pattern between two value or color settings: the Line Value/Color and the Filler Value/Color.

The Noise texture is a procedural texture that is mathematically created at render-time to modulate between the two colors/values, based on the particular algorithm and user settings.

The Poisson Cellular texture is a procedural texture that is mathematically created at render-time to modulate between the Cell and Filler colors/values, based on the type and user settings.

The Ripple texture is a procedural texture that is mathematically created at render-time to simulate raindrops on a puddle, creating a series of concentric circles that originate within a given area, and continue outward toward infinity.

The RPC Texture is a texture where RPC stands for "Rich Photoreal Content" and is useful in realistically adding photographic elements to a scene.

The RT Curvature shader is a method of shading surface discontinuity. This type of shading is most useful in enhancing surfacing details, both modeled and that which is added by displacement. The shading can be enhanced further when used to modulate other types of shading effects.

The Weave texture is a procedural texture that is mathematically created at render-time to simulate woven yarn in a basic basket-weave pattern. (A series of parallel rows, combined with columns that thread over-and-under in alternating rows to form the basic pattern.)