Arnold - C++ Shaders: Color By Height

Arnold - C++ Shaders
Color By Height

return to main index

Links:
RenderMan OSL - Color By Height

Overview

This page provides an example of a RenderMan OSL shader ported to Arnold's C++ shader development environment.

Figure 1

The Arnold shader is based on the OSL code, colorByP.osl, but with the following principle differences.

1 In OSL the coordinates of the shading point, P, are measured from the origin of the camera - it is in "camera" space. In Arnold we have direct access the coordinates of the shading point measured from the origin of the world space as well as measured from the origin of object being shaded - no need to explicitly transform P from "camera" space to "world" or "object" space.

    sg->P   // world space coordinates
    sg->Po  // object space coordinates

2 However, because Arnold does not implement a transform() function if the xyz values of the shading point need to be measured from the origin of another coordinate system, the shader must "receive" the coordinate system as a "matrix". The following code performs the transformation.

    AtMatrix m = *AiShaderEvalParamMtx(k_matrix);
    AtMatrix mm = AiM4Invert(m);
    AtVector transformedP = AiM4PointByMatrixMult(mm, sg->P);

The source of such a matrix is typically a Maya place3dTexture node.

Figure 2

Listing 1 (mkColorByHeight.cpp)

/*
Malcolm Kesson
Sept 7 2019
*/
#include <ai.h>
#include <cstring>
  
// The sdk does not appear to implement the standart RenderMan style "mix" function.
// Consequently, we implement here!
AtRGB mix(AtRGB c1, AtRGB c2, float alpha) {
    return c1 * (1.0 - alpha) + c2 * alpha;
    }
    
AI_SHADER_NODE_EXPORT_METHODS(SampleMethods);
 
namespace {
    enum paramIndex { k_minHeight, k_maxHeight, k_min_color, k_max_color, k_mode, k_matrix };
    };
    
static const char* space_mode[] = { "Object", "World", "User", NULL };
  
node_parameters {
    AiParameterFlt("minHeight", 1.0f);
    AiParameterFlt("maxHeight", 3.0f);
    AiParameterRGB("minColor", 0.7f, 0.7f, 0);
    AiParameterRGB("maxColor", 0.7f, 0, 0);
    AiParameterEnum("spaceName", 0, space_mode);
    AiParameterMtx("matrixInput", AI_M4_IDENTITY);
    }
  
shader_evaluate {
    float minH = AiShaderEvalParamFlt(k_minHeight);
    float maxH = AiShaderEvalParamFlt(k_maxHeight);
    AtRGB minC = AiShaderEvalParamRGB(k_min_color);
    AtRGB maxC = AiShaderEvalParamRGB(k_max_color);
    int      mode = AiShaderEvalParamEnum(k_mode); 
    float blend, height;
    
    switch(mode) {
        case 0:     height = sg->Po.y; // object space
                    break;
        case 1:     height = sg->P.y;  // world space
                    break;
        default:    AtMatrix m = *AiShaderEvalParamMtx(k_matrix); // user space
                    AtMatrix mm = AiM4Invert(m);
                    AtVector transformedP = AiM4PointByMatrixMult(mm, sg->P);
                    height = transformedP.y; 
                    break;
        }
    blend = AiSmoothStep(minH, maxH, height); 
    sg->out.RGB() =  mix(minC, maxC, blend);
    }
 
node_loader {
    if (i > 0)
        return false; 
    node->methods        = SampleMethods;
    node->output_type    = AI_TYPE_RGB;
    node->name           = "mkColorByHeight";
    node->node_type      = AI_NODE_SHADER;
    strcpy(node->version, AI_VERSION);
    return true;
    }
    
// The remaining macros can be left "empty"
node_initialize { }
node_update { }
node_finish { }

Arnold - C++ Shaders Color By Height

Overview

Arnold - C++ Shaders
Color By Height