Mastering Curvature For Shaders in Arnold

Creating maps, masks and elements procedurally not only can keep your work flexible for changes, but it can also comes with the opportunity to simplify some things in rendering. Texture shaders and utility nodes are a perfect example.

Curvature is a shader that can measure the local curve forms of a surface. The output is something that can be used to drive shaders when rendering. When rendering with Solid Angle’s Arnold, you can use the alShaders alCurvature-node to drive attributes in a shader, rather than using image maps.

Here, Arvid Schneider provides a foundation for using and working with alCurvature in Arnold, showing off some tips with some practical examples along the way.