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We have seen that one or more layers define a material: the uniform level zero layer and a superposition of upper level layers (composed of textures or mappings).
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You can define interactions between components of upper level layers and one or several of the attributes of the uniform level zero layer.
q Displaying the list of layers and selecting a current layer
You can browse through the arranged list of existing layers. Click on the one you want to designate as the current layer so you can edit it.
q Activating or deactivating a layer
Select the layer and check the layer state box to activate/deactivate the layer.
q Deleting the current layer
Designate the layer to be deleted as the current layer and click on the “Suppress the layer” button.
q Adding a new layer
Click on one of the following buttons to add a new layer:
¨ 3D Texture
¨ 2D Texture
¨ Image Mapping
A new layer will be added to the list of existing layers and will become the current layer. It will have the highest rank in the list of layers. Amapi 3D automatically opens a dialog box corresponding to the type of the layer created.
If you selected “Image Mapping”, Amapi opens a dialog box used to specify the image file.
q Interactions between the level zero layer and upper level layers
You can define an interaction between the components of the current upper level layer and the characteristics of the uniform level zero layer (“Operand”). The “Operator” option defines how the components of the two layers will be combined.
¨ Operand
Color (default option)
Ambient color
Diffuse coefficient
Specular coefficient
Bumps
Reflection
Transparency
¨ Operation
Replace: This is the default setting. The components of the current layer replace the destination’s ones.
Mix: Components of the current texture are combined with the destination ones.
Add: Add the values of the two components.
Subtract: Subtract the values of the components of the current layer from the destination’s.
Lighter: The texture is applied only if it is lighter than the color.
Darker: The texture is applied only if it is darker than the color.
Multiply: Multiplies the values of the two components.
¨ Balance
Controls the proportion of the components of the uniform zero level layer (operand) compared to the components of the current upper level layer.
The higher this value is, the greater the influence of the current layer.
Of course, the “Replace” operand will not be affected by the “Balance” setting.
