The Gabor Noise texture is one of the many procedurally generated textures provided with MODO. Procedural textures are mathematically created at render-time, and therefore have no fixed resolution; they can be magnified nearly infinitely with no visual loss in detail. Gabor Noise is a simple procedural noise texture that generates patterns which can easily be stretched and rotated, like brush strokes. In addition it offers direct control over the frequency characteristics of the pattern, meaning that you can specify the feature density and smoothness very easily.
The Noise texture has 2 zones, the Color/Value 1 and Color/Value 2. The texture will modulate between the two based on the particular algorithm and user settings. Essentially there are pseudo-random points created in 3D space and the texture blends from one value to the next based on the proximity of one sample point to the next. Each zone can have a value, color and alpha value. Which of these are used is dependent on the Effect channel to which the texture will be applied. For instance, if the texture is to be used as a displacement, the Value settings would be utilized whereas setting the texture Effect to Luminous Color would use the Color and Alpha settings for Value/Color 1 and Value/Color 2.
For information regarding adding and working with Shader Tree Items Layers, please reference the Shader Tree page of the documentation.
Layer--
Enable: Toggles the effect of the layer on and off, duplicating the functionality of toggling visibility in the Shader Tree. When un-checked (disabled), the layer has no effect on the shading of the scene. However, disabled layers are saved with the scene and are persistent across MODO sessions.
Invert: Inverts the RGB values for the layer producing a negative effect.
Blend Mode: Affects blending between different layers of the same effect type, allowing user the ability to stack several layers for different effects. For more on blending, please reference the 'Blend Modes' page of the documentation.
Opacity: Changes the transparency of the current layer. Reducing this values will increasingly reveal lower layers in the shader tree if present, or dim the effect of the layer itself on the surface.
Locator: Most texture layers also have an associated 'Texture Locator' that is automatically created in the 'Item List'. This defines the mapping of the texture (way the texture is applied) to the surface. The 'Locator' option sets that association. Users can choose alternate locators, however, the need to do so will be very rare; still, there are some possible instances where users may want multiple texture items to share a single locator.
Gabor Noise--
Orientation: The 'Orientation option controls the rotation of the striped/stretched sections of the Gabor Noise, essentially rotating the noise around the defined axis (as set in the 'Texture Locator').
Frequency: The 'Frequency' option controls the rate of modulation of the noise features.
Bandwidth: The 'Bandwidth' option controls the frequency spread between the two different values, low values preserve the striped appearance, while higher values increasingly randomize the look of the pattern.
Random Offset: The 'Random Offset' value will shift the location of the noise across the surface.
Brightness: The 'Brightness' option can be used to adjust the apparent lightness to darkness intensity, modifying the fading between the 'Value/Color 1' setting and the 'Value/Color 2' setting.
Contrast: The 'Contrast' option can be used to adjust the apparent light to dark ratio, modifying the fading abruptness between the 'Value/Color 1' setting and the 'Value/Color 2' setting.
Value/Color/Alpha 1&2: Depending on the defined 'Effect' type, MODO will either look for a 'Value' input such as for a 'Bump Map' or a 'Color' input for a 'Diffuse Color' setting. The two separate values will attenuate between each other, modified by the 'Brightness' and 'Contrast' settings. The Alpha Values will define opacity of the values allowing underlying Shader Tree layers to show through.
