Procedural Raytracer
Updated: 16 Jul 2025
Renders a procedural system as a raytraced surface.
Procedural Raytracer
Method #
This node renders a procedural system as a raytraced surface using ray marching, allowing for significantly more detail and complexity to be rendered.
Ray Marching is a technique for rendering signed distance fields (SDFs) by drawing a ray from the camera and stepping through the SDF using the step size. If the distance to the closest surface (which easily calculable using an SDF) is lower than the step distance, then we know the surface has be hit and the system can be calculated. If the step size is too high, the ray can pass through surfaces it should hit, or hit surfaces it should miss. Lowering the step size can improve this, but can heavily impact perfomance. Complexity of the procedural system can also impact the surface detail, so simplifying the procedural where possible can also improve both accuracy and performance.
The Volumetric mode is a great way to generate clouds, and supports field materials.
Parameters
These properties control the 3D transforms of the node. Transforms will generally be inherited by child nodes, although they can be ignored through the Inherit Transform Channels attributes.
Parameter Details Position X The objects position along the local x-axis.
Position Y The objects position along the local y-axis.
Position Z The objects position along the local z-axis.
Rotation Heading The objects rotation around the local y-axis.
Rotation Pitch The objects rotation around the local x-axis.
Rotation Bank The objects rotation around the local z-axis.
Scale X The objects scale along the local x-axis.
Scale Y The objects scale along the local y-axis.
Scale Z The objects scale along the local z-axis.
Control the inheritance of the transforms from the parent.
Parameter Details Position Toggle inheritance of the Position from the parent.
Rotation Toggle inheritance of the Rotation from the parent.
Scale Toggle inheritance of the Scale from the parent.
World Position Only Inherit the world position from the parent only, rotation and scale will be ignored. Overrides above properties.
Inherit Time Toggle inheritance of time from the parent.
These properties control the core behaviours of the node.
Parameter Details Render Mode Control how the procedural is rendered after being traced.
- Solid : The surface is treated as a solid surface.
- Volumetric : The surface is treated as the boundary to a volume, such as a cloud or steam. Inside the volume, the further from the surface the ray travels the density increases. Useful for cloud and atmospheric effects.
Step Size How far the raytracer steps each iteration while finding the surface of the procedural.
Bounds Size Sets an outer bound for the volumetrics. Lower values can improve performance and limit the expansion of the procedural, while higher values may lose quality and impact performance - but allows for massive procedural systems to be rendered.
Visible Control whether the node is visible or not to the scene.
Inputs
These properties control the 3D transforms of the node. Transforms will generally be inherited by child nodes, although they can be ignored through the Inherit Transform Channels attributes.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Position X | The objects position along the local x-axis. |
| Position Y | The objects position along the local y-axis. |
| Position Z | The objects position along the local z-axis. |
| Rotation Heading | The objects rotation around the local y-axis. |
| Rotation Pitch | The objects rotation around the local x-axis. |
| Rotation Bank | The objects rotation around the local z-axis. |
| Scale X | The objects scale along the local x-axis. |
| Scale Y | The objects scale along the local y-axis. |
| Scale Z | The objects scale along the local z-axis. |
Control the inheritance of the transforms from the parent.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Position | Toggle inheritance of the Position from the parent. |
| Rotation | Toggle inheritance of the Rotation from the parent. |
| Scale | Toggle inheritance of the Scale from the parent. |
| World Position Only | Inherit the world position from the parent only, rotation and scale will be ignored. Overrides above properties. |
| Inherit Time | Toggle inheritance of time from the parent. |
These properties control the core behaviours of the node.
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Render Mode | Control how the procedural is rendered after being traced.
|
| Step Size | How far the raytracer steps each iteration while finding the surface of the procedural. |
| Bounds Size | Sets an outer bound for the volumetrics. Lower values can improve performance and limit the expansion of the procedural, while higher values may lose quality and impact performance - but allows for massive procedural systems to be rendered. |
| Visible | Control whether the node is visible or not to the scene. |
| Name | Description | Typical Input |
|---|---|---|
| Material | TBC | TBC |
| Affecting Lights | TBC | TBC |
| Excluded Lights | TBC | TBC |
| Colour Texture | TBC | TBC |
| Diffuse Texture | TBC | TBC |
| Specular Map | TBC | TBC |
| Emissiveness Map | TBC | TBC |
| Metallicness Map | TBC | TBC |
| Roughness Map | TBC | TBC |
| Normal Map | TBC | TBC |
| Displacement Map | TBC | TBC |
| Alpha Map | TBC | TBC |
| Ambient Occlusion Map | TBC | TBC |
| Composite Nodes | TBC | TBC |
| Mapping | TBC | TBC |
| Bounding Box | TBC | TBC |
| Transform Modifiers | TBC | TBC |
| Target Node | TBC | TBC |
| Local Transform Override | TBC | TBC |
| Position X | TBC | TBC |
| Position Y | TBC | TBC |
| Position Z | TBC | TBC |
| Rotation Heading | TBC | TBC |
| Rotation Pitch | TBC | TBC |
| Rotation Bank | TBC | TBC |
| Scale X | TBC | TBC |
| Scale Y | TBC | TBC |
| Scale Z | TBC | TBC |
| Get World Position X | TBC | TBC |
| Get World Position Y | TBC | TBC |
| Get World Position Z | TBC | TBC |
| Visible | TBC | TBC |
| Hardness | TBC | TBC |
| Error Offset | TBC | TBC |
| Bounds Size | TBC | TBC |
| Colour R | TBC | TBC |
| Colour G | TBC | TBC |
| Colour B | TBC | TBC |
| Colour A | TBC | TBC |
| Colour | TBC | TBC |
| Specular Colour R | TBC | TBC |
| Specular Colour G | TBC | TBC |
| Specular Colour B | TBC | TBC |
| Specular Colour A | TBC | TBC |
| Specular Colour | TBC | TBC |
| Rim Lighting Colour R | TBC | TBC |
| Rim Lighting Colour G | TBC | TBC |
| Rim Lighting Colour B | TBC | TBC |
| Rim Lighting Colour A | TBC | TBC |
| Rim Lighting Colour | TBC | TBC |
| Absorption Colour R | TBC | TBC |
| Absorption Colour G | TBC | TBC |
| Absorption Colour B | TBC | TBC |
| Absorption Colour A | TBC | TBC |
| Absorption Colour | TBC | TBC |
| Shadow Catcher Colour R | TBC | TBC |
| Shadow Catcher Colour G | TBC | TBC |
| Shadow Catcher Colour B | TBC | TBC |
| Shadow Catcher Colour A | TBC | TBC |
| Shadow Catcher Colour | TBC | TBC |
| Diffuse Coat R | TBC | TBC |
| Diffuse Coat G | TBC | TBC |
| Diffuse Coat B | TBC | TBC |
| Diffuse Coat A | TBC | TBC |
| Diffuse Coat | TBC | TBC |
| Brightness | TBC | TBC |
| Specular Intensity | TBC | TBC |
| Alpha | TBC | TBC |
| Metallicness | TBC | TBC |
| Roughness | TBC | TBC |
| Specular Falloff | TBC | TBC |
| Specular Anisotropy | TBC | TBC |
| Diffuse Fresnel | TBC | TBC |
| Emissiveness | TBC | TBC |
| Density | TBC | TBC |
| Glow | TBC | TBC |
| Baked Diffuse Intensity | TBC | TBC |
| Alpha Sort Bias | TBC | TBC |
| Normal Map Intensity | TBC | TBC |
| Normal Smoothness | TBC | TBC |
| Smoothing Angle | TBC | TBC |
| Motion Blur Velocity Scale | TBC | TBC |
| Displacement | TBC | TBC |
| Displacement Offset | TBC | TBC |
| Rim Lighting Intensity | TBC | TBC |
| Rim Lighting Falloff | TBC | TBC |
| Subsurface Scatter Radius | TBC | TBC |
| Subsurface Weight | TBC | TBC |
| Parallax Amount | TBC | TBC |
| UV Scale X | TBC | TBC |
| UV Scale Y | TBC | TBC |
| UV Offset X | TBC | TBC |
| UV Offset Y | TBC | TBC |
| Diffuse UV Scale X | TBC | TBC |
| Diffuse UV Scale Y | TBC | TBC |
| Diffuse UV Offset X | TBC | TBC |
| Diffuse UV Offset Y | TBC | TBC |
| Texture Mip Bias | TBC | TBC |
| Refraction IOR | TBC | TBC |
| Aberration | TBC | TBC |
| Transparent Diffuse | TBC | TBC |
| Absorption | TBC | TBC |