Eric: “Shader Ops 2 gets a patch to fix a problem where child shaders of Camera Mapping would not animate.”
Shader Ops 2 is a collection of shader plug-ins for Carrara; Light Mangler, Multi Ops, Camera Mapping, and more. Remix your shaders after the lighting is done with Light Mangler. Multi Ops and a new in channel Layers List simplify the shading tree. Camera Mapping opens new avenues for mixing in real world footage or photos.
What if I told you there is a single effect that can deliver more visual impact from your renders, allowing you to redefine reflection, highlight, and shadow with the contours of your scene objects. Create photoreal fabric and glass shaders, and enhance skin with subtle, flattering effects that render in a fraction of the time of subsurface scattering. Well it’s all true. It’s called Falloff, and it’s not included with Carrara but probably should be.
What is Falloff
Falloff is a value based on viewing angle
Falloff is a value based on the viewing angle of the geometry to another point in 3D space, usually the camera. Polygons that face the camera receive a high value, while polygons that angle their surface away from the camera are given a lower value. You will often see the term fresnel (pronounced fra-nell). Generally, fresnel is used when discussing transparency and refraction while falloff refers to color or glow, but for our discussion the two words are more or less interchangeable.
As of Carrara8.5 there is no falloff shader included with Carrara. Fortunately we have several choices with plugins. Digital Carver’s Guild offers a simple Fake Fresnel shader with SHADER OPS. SHOESTRING SHADERS adds the more sophisticated Fresnel and Angle shaders. Sparrowhawke3D recently updated the Laboratory plugins for Carrara8.5, including a free Edge Falloff Shader.
Fake Fresnel in Shader Ops will always “point at” the rendering camera, but the Shoestring Shaders are more versatile allowing any scene object to be the “point at” object. All the examples in this article use the simpler Fake Fresnel shader. Links to the plugins are at the end of the article.
EDGE POP
Let’s start with a simple falloff in the glow channel. See how the cherries “pop” from the dark background? They almost seem to float in space in front of the screen. This is because the extra contrast separates the layer from the background. If we were seeing this in real life, there would need to be empty space behind the cherries to create this kind of “light wrap” effect. Our eyes perceive the fall off as depth, as well as adding a kind of glossy highlight all around the curved surfaces. Use this trick anytime you want to make an object jump out and grab attention.
Falloff edges “pop” from a dark background
METAL and ENAMEL REFLECTION
Instead of “popping out” of the screen, falloff in the Reflection Channel can help embed an object into your environment, especially when using an hdr background to wrap your scene. Hard surfaces made of metal or glossy enamel coatings start to reflect at oblique angles, even if they don’t have a highly mirrored surface. Airplane wings, automobile hoods, chrome bumpers, stainless steel tools, and ceramic-tile countertops are objects that will show more reflection when viewed edge-on. Adding falloff in the Reflection Channel also creates a better light wrap on hard surfaces when using hdr backgrounds and image-based lighting.
Glass can be one of the most challenging surfaces to render in 3D. Even with extra lights and heavy refraction the edges of glass objects can easily disappear. A thin, bright, edge falloff glow gives glass more “presence”. As above, falloff in the reflection channel can also be added for additional photorealism.
Full Suite for Carrara – includes Anything Goos, Anything Grooves, Anything Grows, Cognito, DCG Importer, Enhance:C, Ground Control, Noir, Parchment, Project Gemini, Shader Gel and Strobe, Shader Ops, Shader Ops 2, Shaders Plus, StarBright, Terrain Tools, Toon! Pro, Wireframe Pro All the DCG Carrara plug-ins at a super bundle price: $356.78 Power Pack for Carrara – includes Anything Grooves, Anything Grows, Shader Ops, StarBright Four classic plug-ins at a great price: $79.00 ShaderStyle for Carrara – includes Anything Goos, Shaders Plus, Toon! Pro, Wireframe Pro Step up your shading and rendering with the ShaderStyle bundle; cel shading, cartoon edges, dirt and aging, wireframes, bevel shading, GI shadow catching, and more: $99.00 Terrain Pack for Carrara – includes Ground Control, Terrain Tools If landscapes are your passion, the Ground Control and Terrain Tools bundle gets you two great plug-ins for one low price: $49.00
Thanks to booksbydavid for the tip.
Patrick Tuten uses Shader Ops, Terrain Tools.
Landscape in Carrara 5 Pro. Surface replicator, translucency, caustics, volumetric clouds, GeoControl Beta. Shader Ops & Terrain Tools from DCG. All plants are made in Carrara.
Digital Carvers Guild has released a new Carrara plugin called: DCG Importer: “The DCG Importer lets you render simulations and animations from your favorite 3D tools that export sequenced OBJs.”
A description from Eric Winemiller at Digital Carvers Guild: “It will import sequenced OBJ versions of anything the built in Wavefront OBJ importer will do. By only keeping one frame in memory at a time, it lets Carrara handle large or long running animations.”
One use case is exporting a fluid dynamic simulation from Blender (free) or RealFlow (expensive) into Carrara, the Youtube below shows the result.
Saving...