Cineware Surface Channels

Surfaces for the Cineware engine consist of a set of channels, listed on the left side of the dialog box. Each channel represents one surface property (e.g. Luminance, Fog, Environment, Normal, Alpha, Glow, Transparency, Specular, Displacement).

SurfaceSettingsCinema.png 

Many surfaces can be simulated using just a few channels. So don’t be intimidated by the numerous channels and their wide range of parameters. Generally speaking, all everyday surfaces can be created using just a handful of these channels.

For any selected channel in the list, its settings and a preview window are seen on the right.

TexturePreview.png 

Navigation in Surface Channels

Surface Channels and their associated textures/shaders often include several levels of parameters.

Click the green down-arrow icon to open the list of associated parameters.

Use the blue “Step Out” button to return to your previous view.

TextureSettingsNavigate.png 

Color (Cineware Surface Channel)

Diffusion (Cineware Surface Channel)

Irregularities in surface color (works by brightening and darkening the color channel)

Luminance (Cineware Surface Channel)

Transparency (Cineware Surface Channel)

Transparency (including refraction index)

Reflectance (Cineware Surface Channel)

Ability to reflect other objects. Also controls Specular and Color effects.

Environment (Cineware Surface Channel)

Environment reflection (simulates reflection)

Fog (Cineware Surface Channel)

Fog effect

Bump (Cineware Surface Channel)

Virtual bumps on a surface

Normal (Cineware Surface Channel)

Virtual surface irregularity that is lit realistically

Alpha (Cineware Surface Channel)

Localized texture invisibility

Glow (Cineware Surface Channel)

Glow Halo around an object

Displacement (Cineware Surface Channel)

Realistic bumps on a surface

Grass (Cineware Surface Channel)

Create realistic-looking grass as a surface

Illumination (Cineware Surface Channel)

Use the Illumination channel in Surfaces to enable or disable the generation and reception of Global Illumination (GI) to and from this surface, and to control the strength of the caustics effects.