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Voronoi texture/shader for Arnold

Voronoi texture/shader for Arnold

am_wilkins
Collaborator Collaborator
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Message 1 of 17

Voronoi texture/shader for Arnold

am_wilkins
Collaborator
Collaborator

Hi,

 

I thought I'd make a new post regarding this, since the last I've seen are from 2011 and 2020.

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/maya-ideas/voronoi-noise-node-and-blender-like-shader-controls/idi-p/...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/maya-shading-lighting-and/voronoi-cellular-noise-patterns-in-maya/td-...

 

Is there a reason why Arnold doesn't have a Voronoi shader/texture node?

It's definitely one of the main noise required for many different setups.

 

Or is there a way to create one, custom plugin etc. ?

 

Something similar to the texture from Blender.

voronoi.png

 

all the best,

amwilkins

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3,914 Views
16 Replies
Replies (16)
Message 2 of 17

thiago.ize
Autodesk
Autodesk
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Message 3 of 17

am_wilkins
Collaborator
Collaborator

Hi Thiago,

 

Thank you...yeah I've seen that one.

But does it produce the same results when used for something like a normal map?

 

Just some quick testing doesn't appear to, but maybe I'm doing something wrong.

We just get black and white values?

arnold_cell_noise_01.pngarnold_cell_noise_02.png

 

Result I'm hoping to see. Better faceting.

voronoi_02.png

voronoi_01.png

 

 

Thank you!

amwilkins

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Message 4 of 17

thiago.ize
Autodesk
Autodesk

You need to invert the cell_noise. Once you do that it works:

cell_bump.jpg

cell_noise
{
 name mycell
 pattern noise1
 additive 0
 amplitude .5
 scale 5 5 5
 coord_space "object"
 lacunarity 5
}

subtract
{
 name invert
 input1 1 1 1
 input2 mycell
}

bump2d
{
 name bump2d1
 bump_map invert
 bump_height 0.05
}
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Message 5 of 17

am_wilkins
Collaborator
Collaborator

Thank you Thiago, that's interesting it's needs to be inverted and also have to use Noise1 or Noise2.
Surprised the Cell Noise doesn't appear to work with the same setup.

 

arnold_voronoi_01.png

Another question, again trying to match some behavior to Blender here and show there is some interest in more features on these nodes if required.

How would you smooth the sharp edges in Arnold?

smooth_voronoi.gif

 

 

Thanks!

amwilkins

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Message 6 of 17

martinkindl83
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

thats awesome to know,

years ago, when the new cell noise came out, i was told by developers, those two noise type wont work with normal/bump in general, something in code.

Glad i found its working, even though 4years later 🙂

Message 7 of 17

am_wilkins
Collaborator
Collaborator

Hi @thiago.ize

 

Just so we don't leave this thread hanging, is smoothing the voronoi / cell noise result possible with Arnold?

(like the "Smooth F1" mode in the Blender example above)

 

Would be great to get some confirmations and if not possible, to perhaps place a request for this feature.

 

 

All the best,

amwilkins

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Message 8 of 17

thiago.ize
Autodesk
Autodesk

Sorry, I have not tried creating a shader network to do this. I assume it should be possible maybe through clever use of ramps or clamps? Building all of this into a shader that ships with Arnold would of course be nice.

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Message 9 of 17

am_wilkins
Collaborator
Collaborator

Ok, thanks for the update!

Let me know if you get a chance, I've built some pretty cool looking stuff in Blender using this technique and would love to do the same in Arnold/port it over.

 

"Building all of this into a shader that ships with Arnold would of course be nice."

100% gets my vote, for what it's worth.

 

amwilkins

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Message 10 of 17

stella_ng24GWZ
Observer
Observer

Hi, 
I've been playing around and trying to do some testing with blender set up in maya and found that aiRange is a good node to use to control the fall off of aiCellNoise.

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Message 11 of 17

am_wilkins
Collaborator
Collaborator

Cool!

Unfortunately, still doesn't smooth the edges of the voronoi pattern.

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Message 12 of 17

dflood
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Very interesting thread! The noise being used here is not Voronoi noise but rather inverted Worley noise. So instead of creating bubbles, it creates dents. Voronoi noise would be the cel noise. The reason cel noise does not work as a height map is that it gives back flat cel values rather than ranges. However, for this cartoon look you kind of want that. The idea is to flatten the normals with the cels. An approach that I found worked for this:

 

 

1) celnoise "out" into "in" of randomColor this gives random colors in the cels.

2) The random colors are in the range ([0, 1]) for (R, G, B) channels. Normal directions range from ([-1, 1]), so the random values need to be remapped.
To do this multiply by 2 then subtract 1

3) Normals must be unit vectors (length = 1).

You can do this with a normalize vector.
4) You then combine this with the world space normals using a lerp. The world space normals you can get in Arnold with a state vector set to N. Then blend that  with an aiRange for Arnold  or in materialX you can use a mix. The mix value of 0.8 worked pretty good for me.
5) The final result goes into the geo normal input of the surface shader.


dflood_0-1744601748485.png

 

 

 

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Message 13 of 17

maxtarpini
Collaborator
Collaborator

We've an incredible amount of noises coming with rtoa 1.6 😋

Screenshot from 2025-04-17 23-55-38.png
Voronoi with edge smoothing for example.

🤘

Message 14 of 17

2689081964
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yes, maybe it can be used, but it is charged.
I mean, yes, you developed this, and your charge is understandable.
But we have already paid for arnold. Should they be provided to us for such general functions? Instead of asking us to buy other plug-ins to supplement arnold's ontology? This is very unreasonable.

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Message 15 of 17

maxtarpini
Collaborator
Collaborator

Those talking like you, never spent a dime on software in their whole life. 

Shut up, take the shader and get lost.

 

https://www.rombo.tools/downloads/romboNoiseCellularSmooth.zip

Message 16 of 17

2689081964
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

No, I don't think there is anything wrong with my statement.
I think I made it very clear that you have developed this plug-in, so it is not a problem for you to charge, which is completely reasonable.
I'm talking about the routine functions like this. We paid for arnold, but arnold didn't provide them, which is a bit unreasonable.
Let me give you an example. It's like you bought a car, and then they told you that the wheels and steering wheel need to be bought separately. Yes, if I really need to buy the wheels and steering wheel, it's reasonable for us to pay for it. However, it's reasonable to say that I bought a car, and the wheels and steering wheel should be attached to it.
For example, you buy a mobile phone, and then they tell you that the battery and charging cable need to be purchased separately. Battery and charging cable are the basic accessories for the normal use of this mobile phone, shouldn't they be included? As a result, they want you to buy them separately.
If your mobile phone is a modular mobile phone, and then you want to enhance your camera lens on the basis of the original function of the mobile phone, then a company has developed this extra lens, so it is reasonable for us to pay for it, and no one will say anything.

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Message 17 of 17

daniel
Contributor
Contributor

@2689081964 

 

are you dense? A simple thank you, very appreciated is all to reply here. Please stop cluttering this forum with your nonsense.