Get Ray Origin

Get Ray Origin

Provides the Ray Origin (or virtual viewer) of the current Render State. The Render State is affected by any shaders which were called before this function is called, among other things.

The Ray Origin depends on the situation which led to the current shaders to be called. For example, if a shader is being calculated to reflect on the surface of another object, the Ray Origin will be the point on the other object where the reflection appears.

For most shading applications, Get Ray Origin is the correct function to use when you want to know where the surface is being viewed from. When shading a directly-visible surface (a primary ray), Get Ray Origin usually gives the same result as Get Camera Position, but for realistic reflections and other shading effects Get Camera Position you should account for the actual ray between the point being shaded and the point at which the reflection occurs (the Ray Origin).

The Input connection is not used by this node.

A shader is a program or set of instructions used in 3D computer graphics to determine the final surface properties of an object or image. This can include arbitrarily complex descriptions of light absorption and diffusion, texture mapping, reflection and refraction, shadowing, surface displacement and post-processing effects. In Terragen 2 shaders are used to construct and modify almost every element of a scene.

A single object or device in the node network which generates or modifies data and may accept input data or create output data or both, depending on its function. Nodes usually have their own settings which control the data they create or how they modify data passing through them. Nodes are connected together in a network to perform work in a network-based user interface. In Terragen 2 nodes are connected together to describe a scene.