Ripple shader

With Cinema 4D 8.5 maxon brought us some very neat things, things like ripple shader. It can make surface look like something would drop in water and cause ripples etc.

So, how DO I get damn bugger work you ask?

Using Cinema 4D:s 8.5 ripple shader is quite simple actually.

1. Set up some object and particle emitter

First of all, create some object you want to use ripple shader INTO. After that, set particle emitter so particles will hit that object.

Here I have created just simple PLANE as object, and positioned particle emitter above it and changed amount of emitted particles little bit to get more ripples.

Set up object and particle emitter in Cinema 4D v8.5

After setting up object and emitter for ripple shader, convert object to EDITABLE (select object and press C, or use icon or menu for that).

2. Set Ripple Shader to bump channel

Ok, it's time to create NEW material. After creating new material, set ripple shade to it's BUMP channel.

Set ripple shader to bump channel in Cinema 4D v8.5 material editor

Ahh, So simple. And now we need to EDIT ripple shader values.

3. Set Ripple Shader values

Now Drag & Drop EMITTER to Particles, and Plane to Object. So very simple huh?

Setting up ripple shader values.
  • Wave lenght controls how "wide" ripples are.
  • Speed controls speed of ripple.
  • Amplitude is HEIGHT of ripple, use small values for more realistic effects.
  • Falloff is about how fast ripple "fades" away.
  • Minimal Strenght controls how small ripple is before it dissapears.
  • Periods is amoung of waves in ripple
  • Particle Dependent defines if size of ripple is depending from particles.
  • Object. Well, YES. It is object you want ripples to happen to.
  • particles defines what particles cause ripples.

    • Just tweak some values to wave lenght. Speed, Amplitude etc.

    Now ripple shader material is done. All that is needed to do is to Drag & Drop that material from material editor to your object, in this case plane for this ripple shader.

    Next you might want to make something "visible" so particles are visible also. Just create box size of 2 x 2 x 2 units or so, make it EDITABLE (with C, or menu, or make editable icon) and drag & drop that INSIDE particle emitter so you see those boxes as particles in renderer.

    Results

    Now all there is to do, is to RENDER your ripples to see what they look like.

    But if you try render just to (active) view you do NOT see ripple shader in action! You need to do rendering to the PICTURE VIEWER to see results of ripple shader.

    Ah. Sweet ripples of mine.

    That's all for the ripple shader tutorial.

    DOWNLOAD the ripple shader example.