Documentation / Node reference / mat nodes
mat/MeshNormal
Colours a mesh by its surface normal.
Mesh
Each fragment takes the world-space normal at that point and uses its absolute value as red, green and blue. A face pointing along X reads red, along Y green, along Z blue, and anything between reads as a mix. The sign is dropped, so a face and the face opposite it come out the same colour. Nothing here reacts to light and there is no colour to set: this is a material for looking at your normals, to check they point the way you expect after a deform, an extrude, a merge or an import.
Parameters
| Name | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| sides | UInt8 FRONT · BACK · BOTH | Which side of each triangle is drawn. FRONT draws the outward-facing side only, which is what a closed mesh wants: its inner surface is hidden anyway, so drawing it is wasted work. BACK draws the inward-facing side, for a surface seen from the inside such as a skydome or a box the camera sits in. BOTH draws either side, which is what an open single surface needs: a cutout leaf, a sheet of cloth, or a plane the camera can walk around, all of which disappear from one side under FRONT. The shadow pass follows BOTH so an open surface still casts a shadow whichever way it faces the light, and draws FRONT otherwise. |
This page is generated from the engine, so it describes the release you can download. The same text is in the editor's Help panel next to the node itself.