Inputs

 Gradient

Here you can define the color that should be used in accordance with the Mode setting. Detailed information about how to use gradients can be found here.

Mode

This menu is used to define the direction and evaluation of the previously defined Gradient. The object’s surface Normals and a freely definable Direction in the Mode menu will be used:

• Front: The Gradient will be applied on surfaces visible to the viewer and positioned so the colors from the right end of the Gradient are used for surfaces that are viewed perpendicularly. The flatter the angle of view, the more color that will be drawn from the left end of the Gradient.
• Front Transparency: Calculates the Gradient only for the front side of the object and sets the back side to white, if it’s visible. This is very useful, for example, for controlling transparent properties.
• Back: This mode works like Front, only that the Gradient will be applied to the back side of the object from the viewer’s angle of view. All visible surfaces on the sides of the object that are viewed directly will be assigned a color from the left end of the Gradient. The greater the angle of view on the polygon back side, the more color that will be drawn from the right end of the Gradient.
• Back Transparency: Calculates the Gradient only for the back side of the object and sets the front side to white, if it’s visible.
• Front and Back: The modes Front and Back will be combined. The Front mode will be applied to surfaces visible to the viewer and the Back mode will be applied to surfaces not visible to the viewer. The Gradient will be used twice and will appear mirrored on the line between the front and back sides of the object.
• Direction: In other modes, surface Normals are weighted relative to the angle of view. Now a custom direction can be defined that is evaluated by the global axis system. This direction will be factored relative to the orientation of the surfaces defined by the Dir Mode. If Dir Mode is set to Forward, the angle between the Normals of the frontally viewed surfaces and the Direction will be calculated. A smaller angle will result in an output color from the right end of the Gradient. A larger angle will result in an output color from the left end of the Gradient. If Dir Mode is set to Backward, the angle calculation of the surface’s Normal direction will be inverted.
If Dir Mode is set to Both, a mirroring of the Gradient will take place as in the Front and Back setting for Mode. The front sides of the polygons will be colored using the Gradient in accordance with their Normal angle to the defined Direction. Polygons whose Normals have an angle greater than 90° relative to the defined Direction will be colored.

Direction [XYZ ]

If Mode is set to Direction, a global direction can be defined to which the surface’s Normal direction should be set in relation to the setting.

Dir Mode

If Mode is set to Direction, this setting can be used to define if only angles between the surface Normals and the Direction vector between 0° and 90° should be evaluated (Dir Mode set to Forward) or if angles between 90° and 180° (Dir Mode set to Backward), or even Both, i.e., both angle regions separate from one another, should be colored using the Gradient.