Extended Topics

Here are some ideas on ways to further your journey with the NME in particular, but also some resources on shaders in general:

• Use the techniques we learned about in this chapter to create procedural clouds for the Planet Earth Material. One way to approach this would be to start with the existing cloud texture and distort it using some type of Noise node.
• The Book of Shaders (https://thebookofshaders.com/) is a free online resource that, while still an evolving work-in-progress, can be, as the authors describe it, “a gentle step-by-step guide through the abstract and complex universe of Fragment shaders.” Even though it focuses entirely on Fragment shaders, it is nonetheless a spring-powered steppingstone toward improving your understanding of shaders. Each chapter introduces examples and exercises along with the necessary material – try reproducing examples from this book in the NME. Post your results on the BJS forums and see what...