Ice
Build a frozen world by coloring layered ice detail with a three-color ramp.
Visual example
Section titled “Visual example”
Where to find it
Section titled “Where to find it”Shader menu: FORGE3D/Planets HD/Ice. Start with Assets/FORGE3D/Planets/Ice/Planet_Ice_01.prefab.
Material: Assets/FORGE3D/Planets/Ice/Materials/Planet_Ice_01.mat. Select the relevant Mesh Renderer > Materials slot, duplicate that material into your own folder, and assign the copy before editing. See material ownership.
Main settings
Section titled “Main settings”Ice Factor A/B, Ice Detail and Ice Factor C work together to distribute the color ramp. Keep Ice Factor C nonzero and avoid a zero remap span: (Ice Detail + Ice Factor B) - (Ice Factor A - Ice Detail) must not be zero. Start from a supplied material rather than setting every factor to zero.
Surface and effect shape
Section titled “Surface and effect shape”| Inspector setting | Property ID | Use and visual effect |
|---|---|---|
| Color Boost | _ColorBoost | Brightness multiplier for the ice color. Increase carefully to keep the pale layers distinguishable. |
| Color Map | _ColorMap | Texture tint over the ice color ramp. Change it when the ice needs a different spatial color pattern. |
| Detail Map | _DetailMap | Fine surface pattern and masks. Its channel use depends on the shader; retain the supplied map while tuning the material. |
| Height Map | _HeightMap | Texture that distributes surface layers and detail. Its channels shape the material; it is not a terrain mesh generator. |
| Color Tiling | _ColorTiling | Texture repetition for color. Increase for finer repeated detail; tune its paired motion control separately. |
| Detail Tiling | _DetailTiling | Texture repetition for detail. Increase for finer repeated detail; tune its paired motion control separately. |
| Height Tiling | _HeightTiling | Texture repetition for height. Increase for finer repeated detail; tune its paired motion control separately. |
Lighting and rim
Section titled “Lighting and rim”| Inspector setting | Property ID | Use and visual effect |
|---|---|---|
| Frensel Mult | _FrenselMult | Strength of the rim contribution. At zero, changing its color or power can have no visible effect. |
| Fresnel Power | _FresnelPower | Concentrates the view-dependent rim. Increase to narrow its response toward grazing views; compare with Frensel Mult enabled. |
| Fresnel Color | _FresnelColor | Color of the view-dependent rim contribution. Its strength also depends on Frensel Mult and Fresnel Power. |
| Specular | _Specular | Strength of the surface highlight, shaped by the shader’s texture masks. Adjust under the intended scene light. |
| Smoothness | _Smoothness | Surface highlight smoothness. Higher values generally concentrate reflections; texture and cloud masks can reduce the effect. |
Detail and mapping
Section titled “Detail and mapping”| Inspector setting | Property ID | Use and visual effect |
|---|---|---|
| Normal Map | _NormalMap | Small surface relief through lighting. Keep a compatible normal texture and tune Normal Scale before replacing the map. |
| Normal Tiling | _NormalTiling | Texture repetition for normal. Increase for finer repeated detail; tune its paired motion control separately. |
| Normal Scale | _NormalScale | Strength of normal-map relief. Increase for stronger small shadows and highlights; it does not raise terrain geometry. |
| Triplanar Falloff | _TriplanarFalloff | Sharpness of the blend between projected texture directions. Use a positive value and inspect transitions around the globe. |
Ice depth and palette
Section titled “Ice depth and palette”| Inspector setting | Property ID | Use and visual effect |
|---|---|---|
| Ice Factor A | _IceFactorA | Lower boundary of the ice depth remap, combined with Ice Detail. Change gradually to redistribute the ramp colors. |
| Ice Factor B | _IceFactorB | Upper boundary contribution to the ice depth remap. Keep a nonzero span relative to Ice Factor A and Ice Detail. |
| Ice Factor C | _IceFactorC | Scales the remapped depth before color-ramp selection. Keep nonzero; tune after Ice Factor A/B. |
| Ice Detail | _IceDetail | Fine-detail contribution to the ice depth remap. It also changes the remap boundaries, so revisit A/B after larger changes. |
| RampHigh | _RampHigh | Color at the high end of the ice ramp. Use with the low and middle colors to keep readable ice layering. |
| RampMid | _RampMid | Middle color of the ice ramp. Change it to separate the depth bands without changing their mask. |
| RampLow | _RampLow | Color at the low end of the ice ramp. Color Map and Color Boost also tint the result. |
Advanced settings
Section titled “Advanced settings”Tune Ice Factor A/B and Ice Detail as a set before adjusting Ice Factor C. The depth remap also influences highlights and smoothness, so a palette redistribution can change the apparent surface response. Keep the original preset nearby when changing this group. For mapping and rendering details, see Technical reference.
Practical example
Section titled “Practical example”Duplicate Planet_Ice_01.mat. Compare Color Boost = 2 and 4. Choose RampLow, RampMid and RampHigh for the new ice palette, then revisit brightness so the three layers remain distinct.
Setting comparisons
Section titled “Setting comparisons”These examples keep the camera, light and other material settings fixed within each pair. Before appears first and After second. Values describe these examples, rather than a required range.
Color Boost comparison
Section titled “Color Boost comparison”Before: 2; After: 4
Look at the brighter ice palette and the separation of pale surface details.
Before — Color Boost = 2
After — Color Boost = 4
Related topics
Section titled “Related topics”Shader guide · Materials and customization · Lighting and effects · Practical workflows · Troubleshooting