PM - Shader (Displacement)

For grid meshes “Displacement” is surely the most interesting, because you can directly display the displacement generated from a cached grid fluid simulation. With this fluid type you have the option to activate the calculation of a displacement map and use it with any mesh. Other forms of displacement are valid, too, of course, and the shader can be used as a preview if you are planning to add some custom displacement later inside your 3D software, for example. The image format must follow the 2ⁿ rule: you can use any bitmap with a colour range of 2, 4, 8 or 16 bit. RealFlow uses colour images instead of grey scale bitmaps to achieve displacement along all three axes to create effects, like choppy waves.

Shader Type

RealFlow offers a total of four different methods with additional options: “None”, “Transparent”, “Displacement” and “Custom”. It is also important to know that a mesh’s colour selection from the "Node" panel can influence the final appearance of some shaders. Each entry unlocks a set of completely different parameters. The default mode is "None" and does not provide any options or functions.

Image

That is just the path to the image you want to load.

Scale

You can scale the projected displacement map to your needs by simply adding values different from 1.0. Please note that this option only changes the way how the map is displayed. It does not affect the real scale of the mesh’s UV grid.

Repeat

The number of repetitions is controlled with this setting. Low numbers lead to stretched views, while higher settings produce patterns. This option only changes the way how the map is displayed. It does not affect the real scale of the mesh’s UV grid. Tiling is only performed along the horizontal axis and any height information will be ignored.