IBM Visualization Data Explorer User's Reference

Shade

Category

Rendering

Function

Specifies the shading attributes of an object.

Syntax

output = Shade(input, shade, how, specular, shininess, diffuse,
               ambient);

Inputs

Name	Type	Default	Description
input	object	none	object to be shaded
shade	flag	1	0: object not shaded 1: object shaded
how	string	none	("smooth" or "faceted")
specular	scalar	none	specular coefficient (standard = 0.5)
shininess	integer	none	shininess exponent (standard = 10)
diffuse	scalar	none	diffuse coefficient (standard = 0.7)
ambient	scalar	none	ambient coefficient (standard = 1.0)

Outputs

Name	Type	Description
output	field	shaded object

Functional Details

This module is applicable only to surface objects (i.e., objects with connections of type "triangle" or "quad").

input	specifies the object whose shading attributes are to be modified.
shade	turns shading on or off. By default, the module turns shading on.
how	specifies whether the shading is to be smooth or faceted. If this parameter is not set, and: if the input object is already shaded, the shading method is not changed. if the object is not shaded, the choice between smooth and faceted shading is determined by the dependency of the "data" component, if it has a data dependency: smooth shading is used for position-dependent data. faceted shading is used for connection-dependent data. if no data are present, smooth shading is used. An explicit specification of "smooth" or "faceted" shading will apply to all objects. However, if a "normals" component of the requested type ("dep" "positions" or "dep" "connections") is already present, the normals are not recomputed.

The next four parameters specify the particular shading attributes of the object. If any of these parameters are not explicitly set, the corresponding attributes remain unchanged.

specular	specifies the amount of light reflected by the object (as from a very smooth, highly reflective surface). The specified value must be between 0 and 1. The default is 0.5.
shininess	specifies how sharp the specular highlight is. The specified value must be an integer. Larger numbers result in a smaller, sharper, specular highlight. The default is 10.
diffuse	specifies how much light is diffused by the object (as from a rough non-reflective surface). The specified value must be between 0 and 1. The default is 1 (one).
ambient	specifies how much light is reflected equally in all directions. The specified value must be between 0 and 1.

Notes:

1. The Shade module will also check whether the orientation of the "connections" component is consistent with the directions of the "normals". If they are not consistent, it will modify the directions of the normals.

2. Smooth shading is not supported for faces, loops, and edges data. However, faces, loops, and edges can be converted to triangles using Refine, and can then be smooth-shaded.

Components

May add or modify the "normals" component. All other components are unchanged.

Example Visual Programs

AlternateVisualizations.net
Imide_potential.net
UsingShade.net

See Also

 Render,  Display,  Image

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