Character (shader)

Character on left, VertexLitGeneric on right.

Character is a material shader available in . Shares most generic parameters of VertexLitGeneric. Takes advantage of mask textures to tune stuff like rimlighting, phong shading and other.

Tip:It might be a good idea to look at Valve vmts of new Player Models inside the vpk files, to get better understanding how to structure your Character shader vmt.

Supported Parameters

Textures & Masks

$basetexture

Diffuse mask.

$bumpmap

Normal map.

$envmap

Specular reflection mask.

$masks1

Red channel - $rimlight mask

Green channel - Phong Albedo mask

Blue channel - $metalness mask

Alpha channel - $warpindex mask

$masks2

Red channel - Shadow saturation mask

Green channel - Angle and Amount of Anisotropy

Blue channel - $envmap light scale

Alpha channel - Retroreflectivity

$phongwarptexture

Phong warp texture.

$fresnelrangestexture

To do

Unique Envmap Parameters

Note:In addition to all previous VertexLitGeneric parameters.

$envmaplightscale <float>

How much the surface's lightmap tints the specular reflection. A value between 0 (off) and 1 (no reflection with completely black lightmap) determines how much the reflection is tinted; values above 1 are permitted but seem to actually start inverting the effect.

$envmaplightscaleminmax <vector2>

Thresholds for the lightmap reflection tinting effect. Setting the minimum value higher increases the minimum light amount at which the reflection gets nerfed to nothing.

Unique Phong Parameters

Note:In addition to all previous VertexLitGeneric parameters.

$phongalbedoboost <float>

Phong albedo overbrightening factor.

Unique Rimlight Parameters

Note:In addition to all previous VertexLitGeneric parameters.

$rimlightalbedo <float>

Rimlight albedo overbrightening factor.

$rimlighttint <RGB matrix>

Color tint of the rimlight.

$fakerimboost <float>

Controls the strength of fake rimlight that doesn't use ambient color (visible in pitch black).

$fakerimtint <RGB matrix>

Color of the fake rimlight.

$rimhaloboost <float>

Scale of the rimlight halo.

$rimhalobounds <vector4>

Default value [0.4 0.5 0.5 0.6] controls the blending between light levels.

Ambient Reflection Parameters

Note: Ambient Reflection is similiar to rimlighting.

$ambientreflectionboost <float>

Controls the strength of ambient light on the model.

$ambientreflectionbouncecolor <RGB matrix>

Color tint of the ambient reflections on the model.

$ambientreflectionbouncecenter <vector3>

To do Default value [0 42 0]

Shadow Parameters

$shadowrimboost <float>

Extra boost for rimlight in shadow.

$shadowsaturation <float>

Controls the saturation of shadows.

$shadowsaturationbounds <vector4>

Default value [0.4 0.5 0.5 0.6] controls shadow (color desaturation) blending between light to mid to dark levels.

$shadowtint <vector4>

Tints the color of shadows on the model. Uses [R G B A], alpha is shadow strength.

$shadowcontrast <float>

Controls the contrast of shadows.

Miscellaneous Parameters

$hueshiftamount <float>

Changes the hue of the model.

$metalness <float>

Metalness is just a negative multiply on the albedo.

Note:Doesn't do anything if $masks1 is used.

$warpindex <float>

Changes how much the light can spread on the model, similiar to half lambert.

Note:Doesn't do anything if $masks1 is used.

$anisotropyamount <float>

Controls how much anisotropic lighting tints the model.