IFW Lightwave/Inspire Procedural Textures

IFW Quilt Texture
IFW Miscellaneous Series

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What are IFW Textures IFW Textures are a set of procedural textures (shaders) for use with Lightwave or Inspire3D for Windows on the PC. They are a set of color and bump textures that share a common set of user definable parameters. This allows realistic textures to be generated and then animated without then need for large memory intensive image maps. They also allow for many special effects to be generated under direct control of the user.

IFW Quilt Examples Here's just few textures IFW Quilt can generate....


Standard Quilt	TV Interference	ZXSpectrum	70s WallPaper

IFW Quilt The Quilt texture applies a repeating pattern of colored squares to an object. There is a random seed value that can be used to change the pattern.

Texture Specific Parameters

Specific Parameters
Quilt Color 1 Quilt Color 2 Quilt Color 3	24bit Color	These three colors set the square color used to create the quilt pattern.
Random Seed	0 to 65535	The parameter sets the seed used to create the quilt pattern. By changing this value is variety different patterns can be generated.
Pattern Size	0 to 65535	The parameter controls the size of the squares used to make up the quilt pattern. The larger this value the smaller the squares, and therefore the quilt pattern, will be.

Common Texture Parameters

Axes
Size	Meters	These three parameters control the size of the texture in the X, Y and Z direction respectively. The textures are applied to an object based on a texture axis where the size of the axis controls the size of the texture. These parameters therefore control the size of the texture axis.
Center	Meters	These three parameters control the center of the texture with respect to an object's pivot point in local co-ordinates mode of the world center (0,0,0) in world co-ordinates mode. The textures are applied to an object based on a texture axis the center of the texture axis is by default at the pivot point (or world center) for the object. The center texture axis can be moved away from the pivot point (or world center) by adjusting these parameters. The three parameters control the translation of the center of the texture in the X, Y and Z axis respectively.
Rotate	0 to 360 Degrees	These three parameters control the orientation of the texture with respect to the object or world depending on the co-ordinate system being used. The textures are applied to an object based on a texture axis that is by default lined up to the X, Y and Z axis of the object (or world). The texture can then be rotated with respect to the object (or world) about the texture center. The three parameters control the heading, pitch and banking respectively.
Ref. Object	LW Object	This drop down list allows an object to be selected as a reference for the size, orientation and position of the textures. The affect of the reference object is accumulative. So if the texture has a rotation of 30 degrees and a reference object has a rotation of 30 degrees the overall texture rotation will be 60 degrees. The same applies for the scale and position of the texture.
World Coords	True/False	This check box controls whether the texture uses the world co-ordinate system or the object's co-ordinates system. With the check box unchecked local co-ordinates will be used. This means that the texture will move with the object as it moves as the texture is referenced to the pivot point of the object. Conversely if the check box is unchecked the world co-ordinate system will be used and the texture will change as the object moves through the world, as though the object is moved through the texture. This is because the texture is reference to the center of the world (0,0,0).
Falloff	% per meter	These parameters control the fall off of the texture in the X, Y and Z axes. The texture can be set up to fade linearly from the texture center along any of the axis. The rate of the fade, or falloff, is controlled by the values for each axis as a percentage per meter. So, setting the X falloff to 100% means that the texture will have completed faded 1 meter from the texture center in both directions along the X axis. The falloff will fade all of the texture parameters including bumps.
Velocity	Meters Per Frame	These parameters allow the texture to be moved in the X, Y and Z axis over time (i.e. referenced to the current frame number). Each parameter defines a linear translation in meters per frame. This means that setting the X velocity to 01 causes the texture to shift 01 meters in the positive X axis on each frame (-01 shifts it in the negative direction).

Affect
Layer	0% to 100%	The value of this parameter controls the maximum opacity for the color part on the texture as applied to the object. So, setting the layer to 0% means the object's color will not be affected by the texture. As this value is increased the texture color will be applied with increasing opacity. At 100% the color will be applied "full-on". An envelope can be applied to this parameter so that the intensity can be controlled over time.
Specularity	0% to 100%	The value of this parameter controls the maximum specularity where the object is affected by the texture. The function of the texture will control the specularity between 0% and this setting. A check box is provided to control whether the texture affects the object's specularity. When this check box is unchecked an the control is ghosted the object's specularity will not be affected. An envelope can be applied to this parameter so that the maximum specularity can be controlled over time.
Transparency	0% to 100%	The value of this parameter controls the maximum transparency where the object is affected by the texture. The function of the texture will control the transparency between 0% and this setting. A check box is provided to control whether the texture affects the object's transparency. When this check box is unchecked an the control is ghosted the object's transparency will not be affected. An envelope can be applied to this parameter so that the maximum transparency can be controlled over time.
Luminosity	0% to 100%	The value of this parameter controls the maximum luminosity where the object is affected by the texture. The function of the texture will control the luminosity between 0% and this setting. A check box is provided to control whether the texture affects the object's luminosity. When this check box is unchecked an the control is ghosted the object's luminosity will not be affected. An envelope can be applied to this parameter so that the maximum luminosity can be controlled over time.
Reflectivity	0% to 100%	The value of this parameter controls the maximum reflectivity where the object is affected by the texture. The function of the texture will control the reflectivity between 0% and this setting. A check box is provided to control whether the texture affects the object's reflectivity. When this check box is unchecked an the control is ghosted the object's reflectivity will not be affected. An envelope can be applied to this parameter so that the maximum reflectivity can be controlled over time.
Diffuse	0% to 100%	The value of this parameter controls the maximum diffuse where the object is affected by the texture. The function of the texture will control the diffuse between 0% and this setting. A check box is provided to control whether the texture affects the object's diffuse. When this check box is unchecked an the control is ghosted the object's diffuse will not be affected. An envelope can be applied to this parameter so that the maximum diffuse can be controlled over time.

Noise
Scale	Proportional	This parameter controls the period of the noise applied to the basic texture. A low value will give small highly detailed noise, that is noise with a small periodic rate. As the value is increased the noise will become smoother and more sweeping. The value of the noise scale will depend on the overall size of the texture. An envelope can be applied to the noise scale so that it can be varied over time.
Magnitude	Proportional	This parameter controls the magnitude, or amplitude, of the noise applied to the basic texture. At low values the amplitude will be small giving a small noise displacement of the basic texture. As the value is increased the displacement of the basic texture is increased. NOTE Setting this value to zero completely switches off any modification of the texture by the noise. The value of the noise magnitude will depend in the overall size of the texture. An envelope can be applied to the noise scale so that it can be varied over time.
Octaves	1 to 16	This parameter controls the number of octaves over which the turbulence is summed. Turbulence is generated by summing noise with each summed noise being half the magnitude of the previous summed noise. The number of times the noise is summed is determined by octaves. So, at low values the turbulence will be smoother and will increase in detail (due to the fact that the summed noise is getting smaller) as the number of octaves is increased. All this basically means is the turbulence becomes more "crinkled" as the number of octaves is increased.
Noise	0 to 30	The noise parameter controls the granularity of the turbulence. As was detailed in the octaves section the turbulence is generated by summing successive scales of noise with each scale being half the magnitude of the previous one. The noise parameter actually controls the scaling of successive noise scales. With a noise of 20 each scale will be half that of the previous one, with a noise of 30 each scale will be a third of the previous one and with a noise of 10 each scale will be the same as the previous one. This effectively means that the turbulence will have a finer grain with higher values of noise.
Time	0% to 100%	A function is provided that allows the noise to be animated over time. The time parameter controls the cycle time of this animated noise. The noise animated cycle starts at 0% and completes at 100%. After one complete cycle the noise will return to its original position allowing the animation to be looped. The animated noise function can be enabled and disabled using the Enable Time check box.
Velocity	Proportional	This parameter works in conjunction with the animated noise function. It controls the number of gyrations that the noise will go through during one animated cycle. The higher the value the more mobile the animated noise will be.