by ITOOSOFT·Rendering
Illustrative cover generated by AnyPlugins — no product screenshot available.
Color Edge sits among the more popular entries in the autodesk_apps library, earning its place for a procedural, fully parameter-driven approach to edge gradients in 3ds Max.
Color Edge is a procedural texture map for Autodesk 3ds Max that generates colour gradients on the visible edges of an object. You mark which edges are visible using 3ds Max's built-in Edit Mesh tools, then assign the colours with the Color Near Edge and Color Far Edge settings. The map is fully procedural.
The Color Ramp section defines the distances from an edge that form the gradient, with controls for offset, width, ramp up and ramp down. A Noise section adds procedural noise to break up the transition: an Amount setting for strength, three generator types — Regular, Fractal and Turbulence — a Levels setting for fractal iterations or turbulence, and a Noise Threshold group for a smoother move from the threshold value to the noise value.
Color Edge can blend between maps and materials, for example a smooth transition between a road or path mesh and terrain. It may slow down on overly complex geometry, though the plugin ships with caches and buffers to speed up calculations.
Color Edge is best for blending between maps and materials, such as creating a smooth transition between a road or path mesh and terrain.
Color Edge is completely free to download and use.
Color Edge officially supports 3ds Max 2022 through 2026, and carries unofficial support for 3ds Max 2014 through 2021. If you are on one of the newer releases you are on supported ground; on the older versions it should still run, but without official backing. Check the developer's page for the details that apply to your exact 3ds Max release before installing, since the level of support differs between those two ranges.
Color Edge is listed here as free to download. Pricing and licensing terms can change over time, so for the current status and any conditions attached to using it, check the developer's page. That listing is the authoritative place for licence details, and it will reflect anything that differs from what is shown here. Treat this entry as a starting point and confirm the terms before you rely on them for a project.
Color Edge sets the gradient using two colour settings: Color Near Edge and Color Far Edge. The Color Ramp section then defines the distances from the edge used to build the gradient between those colours, with parameters for offset, width, ramp up and ramp down. First you define which edges are visible with 3ds Max's built-in Edit Mesh tools, and the gradient forms along those edges using the supplied colours and parameters.
Color Edge may slow down when applied to overly complex geometry. To help with that, the plugin ships with caches and buffers that speed up its calculations. If you notice performance dropping on dense meshes, that behaviour is expected, and the caching is there to offset some of the cost. Keeping geometry complexity in mind where you apply the map is worth doing when you plan a scene.
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