Node Editor - Side Node

[Ferdinand13]

Hey guys,

Anyone got any idea, what the Side Node in the Node Editor does? I'd be glad to find out.

Just to explain, I'm trying to create a shader, that's applying colour based on the direction a polygon is facing, e.g. when it is facing upwards it would get coloured white (like as if snow fell on it), though the sides would get coloured differently. Not sure how to pull this off in Octane for C4D, but maybe you guys do?

I was kind of hoping the Side Node would do that.


Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

[aoktar]

Side node is a generator. It gives 0 or 1 by face orientation. It can be used for giving different materials or textures to back/front sides.

[Ferdinand13]

Hey, thanks for the quick reply. So if I get this correctly, the side node refers to which side a polygon is facing (outwards or inwards). Cool, good to know.

Any idea how to achieve the effect I'm looking for? Having a shader that can colourise geometry based on the direction the polygons are facing. Thanks for letting me know.

[aoktar]

like this

[Ferdinand13]

Hey aoktar,

Thanks for explaining. I tried it and it works like a charm. This is definitely a good technique to know.

However, I was more looking for something that would enable me to create a snow topped mountain for example, where every polygon that is facing upwards is getting the full opacity of a snow layer, whereas the opacity decreases the more the world space angle increases, e.g. at 90 degrees the layer is completely transparent. I know Lightwave 3D could do something like that, using a "Slope Node".

Was just wondering, whether there was a workaround for that in Octane? Also the Quixel Suite allows to target textures based on the angle of the geometry, which might be the basic problem I'm describing.

Would be great to hear your thoughts on this.

[aoktar]

I think falloff node will help for that. It has several options. I'm on phone so answers is short.

[Ferdinand13]

Hey aoktar,

Thanks a bunch! That did the job! Here are two images that explain what I did, just in case somebody else runs into the same problem.

I had to add a Color Correct node and ramp up the Gamma a little, to make the colour borders as defined as I needed them. This will go a long way!