Tired of perfectly sharp, unrealistic wall corners in your architectural visualizations? This material offers a powerful, real-time solution to soften hard edges, adding a touch of realism to your projects. Designed specifically for ArchViz workflows, it eliminates the need for time-consuming modeling adjustments and delivers a visually compelling edge rounding effect directly within Unreal Engine.
Overview:
Achieve a stunning, real-time edge rounding effect on your walls with this high-performance material. No modeling adjustments are necessary, as this material operates solely on surface normals and does not utilize world offset or modify the mesh's geometry. Designed for optimal efficiency, it eliminates the need for expensive ddx/ddy operations, making it ideal for Nanite meshes and ray tracing environments. Achieve smooth, rounded edges in real-time without sacrificing performance or visual fidelity.
Capabilities:
Real-Time Edge Rounding: Generates a smooth, rounded edge effect on your 3D models in real-time.
View-Dependent Outlining: Creates a dynamic outline effect that strengthens at grazing angles, enhancing visual depth.
Curvature-Based Control: Leverages an efficient dot product-based curvature approximation to accurately detect and round edges.
Adjustable Edge Softness: Provides a scalar parameter to control the softness of the rounded edges.
Lighting Independence: The edge rounding effect is independent of lighting calculations, ensuring consistent results in any lighting environment.
Performance Optimized: Eliminates ddx/ddy operations for significant performance gains, crucial for high-polygon meshes and real-time applications.
Nanite Compatibility: Designed to work seamlessly with Nanite meshes, preserving visual quality without performance bottlenecks.
Ray Tracing Friendly: Avoids screen-space derivatives, ensuring compatibility with ray tracing features.
Silhouette-Based Detection: Dynamically adjusts the edge effect based on the silhouette of the object, adding visual interest.
SDF Approximation: Approximates a Signed Distance Field allowing for robust edge detection.
Adjust Edge Softness for smooth result:
Adjust the "Edge Softness" parameter in the material instance to control the smoothness of the rounded edges. This parameter accepts values from 0 to 10, where:
0 results in sharp, well-defined edges.
1 creates the softest, most blended edge effect.
To fine-tune the effect, start by gradually adjusting its intensity—begin with a value like 0.3, then move to 0.4, and continue incrementally up to 1.
One key factor that often affects visibility is the angle of your directional light (i.e., the sun). Try setting it to a low angle, simulating evening light. You can also place some meshes—like trees or other objects—in front of the light to enhance shadow contrast and edge visibility.
Most importantly, the normal map plays a critical role. To make the shader effect noticeable, ensure the normal intensity is above 1. Try values like 2, 3, or even 4 to make the effect more prominent. If the value is set to 0, the effect will not appear.
Compatibility:
Unreal Engine Versions: Compatible with Unreal Engine 5.0-5.7
Unreal Engine Features:
Nanite
Lumen
Ray Tracing
Virtual Shadow Maps
Material Instances
Shader Model 6 (SM6)
Required Plugins:
Color Grading C++ Classes
Content Browser - Asset Data Source C++ Classes
Content Browser - Class Data Source C++ Classes
Engine Asset Definitions C++ Classes
Light Mixer C++ Classes
Light Mixer Content
Object Mixer C++ Classes
Object Mixer Content
Important Notes:
Optical Illusion: This material creates a visual effect of rounded edges using shader techniques. It does not modify the underlying mesh geometry.
Nanite Compatibility: This material is fully compatible with Nanite meshes. Nanite displacement can be used on top.
Path Tracer Limitations: Due to its reliance on screen-space calculations, this material's effect is not visible in the Path Tracer renderer.
Ambient Lighting: The edge rounding effect is most pronounced under ambient lighting conditions.
Directional Light Behavior: The effect may appear subtle when directly facing a strong directional light source. For best results, utilize directional light at low angles, such as in evening or dawn scenes.
Daylight Scene Recommendations: In daylight scenes with strong directional lighting, consider using multiple meshes to create self-shadowing, which enhances the edge rounding effect.
Normal Map Considerations: For optimal results, use normal maps with low intensity values. The "Edge Softness" parameter can amplify the effect of your normal maps.