Distance / Proximity based reveal in material

[starion83 0]

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping this is a simple one, but can't seen to find the right answer.

Basically I'm trying to reveal the surface of an object, as another passes through it. The tricky part is I can't use geo attribs to drive this (Geo topography is inconsistent and can't be altered) and instead need to handle it all in the material.

I'm using Redshift to render, and have tried using AO to achieve this, but I really need more control with a pure distance based shading that I can direct a bit more using a ramp to control the reveal over the surface.

Is there any way to achieve this? 

Many thanks in advance

 

[guache 0]

You need to be specific what you mean by "reveal". Do you mean the surface is black / not seen, but as another object passes by, it becomes visible? Then use a light attached to the moving object, with a tight attenuation. I don't understand why geo attribs can't be used. Will your employer fire you if you subdivide the surface for more geo detail? Subdivide, use a point wrangle to compute the distance to the passing object and save it as attribute.

[starion83 0]

2 hours ago, guache said:

You need to be specific what you mean by "reveal". Do you mean the surface is black / not seen, but as another object passes by, it becomes visible? Then use a light attached to the moving object, with a tight attenuation. I don't understand why geo attribs can't be used. Will your employer fire you if you subdivide the surface for more geo detail? Subdivide, use a point wrangle to compute the distance to the passing object and save it as attribute.

Thanks Joseph.

Sorry I could have been a bit more specific - I'd like the object to drive the opacity of another object. I really need a distance based solution as the object causing the reveal is complex, so the light approach wont work.

I was hoping there is some way do to this purely in the material, as the geo of the object being revealed is a product, and can't be altered.