# Curvature shader **URL:** \ **Category:** Requests\ **Created:** [March 8, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/curvature-shader/23367 "2010-03-08T13:49:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![paulDryzen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@paulDryzen](https://forums.chaos.com/u/paulDryzen)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/curvature-shader/23367/1 "2010-03-08T13:49:57Z")
Hi, I am looking for a VRay shader or node which can render the same effect like this shader for Mental Ray. [http://www.tomcowland.com/mentalray/tc\_curvature/index.html](http://www.tomcowland.com/mentalray/tc%5C_curvature/index.html) Is there any node inside VRay for these kind of shading effect? Greetings Paul ---
**Author:** ![vlado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/779978/32.png) [@vlado](https://forums.chaos.com/u/vlado)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/curvature-shader/23367/2 "2010-03-08T16:07:31Z")
There is currently no ready solution for this; you can get a similar effect using the VRayDirt texture with “invert normals” enabled. Otherwise, which of all the possible options for this shader would be most useful for you? Best regards, Vlado ---
**Author:** ![paulDryzen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@paulDryzen](https://forums.chaos.com/u/paulDryzen)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 9:08am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/curvature-shader/23367/3 "2010-03-09T09:08:41Z")
The invert normals trick is working. From the 1000 different attributes of the curvature shader I would choose 🙂 Calculate from: Normal sampling Method: Gaussian Convex only (+ve) Thats it, but I think that I can do it with the occlusion node. Is it possible to bake this information into the vertex color directly with VRay? As far as I know it is only possible to bake into texture files?!? Paul ---
**Author:** ![rs3d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8491ac/32.png) [@rs3d](https://forums.chaos.com/u/rs3d)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 9:19am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/curvature-shader/23367/4 "2010-03-09T09:19:21Z")
Maybe helpful, but not exactly the same concept: > **[Tension](http://www.rpmanager.com/plugins/TensionMod.htm)** ---
**Author:** ![vlado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/779978/32.png) [@vlado](https://forums.chaos.com/u/vlado)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 12:29pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/curvature-shader/23367/5 "2010-03-09T12:29:33Z")
Currently you can only bake to textures, yes. Other people have requested vertex baking though, so we’ll get there at some point. Best regards, Vlado ---
**Author:** ![duke2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58f4c7/32.png) [@duke2](https://forums.chaos.com/u/duke2)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2010, 8:36am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/curvature-shader/23367/6 "2010-06-29T08:36:35Z")
FR has a curvature shader that I was messing with that’s absolutely perfect. It doesn’t bake to vertex, and it’s really fast and great for certain effects (in this case, areas exposed vs. areas recessed on a rock face). Having to bake to vertex’s is a downside if you ask me.. Here’s the obligatory paper with tests to our favourite bunny: [http://www.cs.wustl.edu/MediaAndMachines/publications/papers/smi05tdg.pdf](http://www.cs.wustl.edu/MediaAndMachines/publications/papers/smi05tdg.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![anchovy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@anchovy](https://forums.chaos.com/u/anchovy)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/curvature-shader/23367/7 "2011-05-17T23:41:13Z")
I second the curvature shader request. Its one of the last really missing base shading functions. I know there isn’t such a thing as smoothly varying derivative for polygons but I have seen some cheats to get around that. And with smoothed subds you get close to how renderman approaches it. Any thoughts Vlado? im sure youve seen this… [http://www.tomcowland.com/mentalray/tc\_curvature/index.html](http://www.tomcowland.com/mentalray/tc%5C_curvature/index.html) > **[Tension](http://www.rpmanager.com/plugins/TensionMod.htm)** [http://studentpages.scad.edu/~mparro21/curvature/curvature.htm](http://studentpages.scad.edu/~mparro21/curvature/curvature.htm) ---
**Author:** ![duke2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58f4c7/32.png) [@duke2](https://forums.chaos.com/u/duke2)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/curvature-shader/23367/8 "2011-08-03T04:03:54Z")
So uh, how’s about that vertex baking? ---
**Author:** ![paulDryzen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@paulDryzen](https://forums.chaos.com/u/paulDryzen)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/curvature-shader/23367/9 "2011-11-03T15:21:38Z")
Heya, to bring this topic up again: I´ve found a new texture node which is called: BerconGradTex Is this maybe the curvature function I was asking for a while ago? If yes, it crashes Maya instantly ^^ not possible to render it. Error msg is: Error: Exception : Rendering region (256,256)-(320,320) I´m using Maya 2011 and VRay [2011/Nov/3|16:16:45] V-Ray: V-Ray for Maya version 2.15.01, revision 17264 from Oct 28 2011, 07:32:07 [2011/Nov/3|16:16:45] V-Ray: V-Ray core version is 2.00.01 Thanks in advance Paul ---
**Author:** ![AHA\_Migration](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AHA\_Migration](https://forums.chaos.com/u/AHA_Migration)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 4:11pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/curvature-shader/23367/10 "2026-09-09T16:11:21Z")
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**Author:** ![AHA\_Migration](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AHA\_Migration](https://forums.chaos.com/u/AHA_Migration)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 4:11pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/curvature-shader/23367/11 "2026-09-09T16:11:22Z")