Auragen docs
Auragen docs

Getting Started

OverviewInterfaceNode GraphParameters and Controls

Operators

Surfaces
SDF

Model

SDF PrimitiveSDF 2D ShapeSDF ConvertSDF CombineMesh to SDFKinect SDFSDF Switch

Modify

SDF EffectorSDF Field

Shade

SDF MaterialSDF LightSDF Lighting FX

Render

SDF EnvironmentSDF CameraSDF MulticamSDF Render
3D PreviewperformMODE
3D & SimulationSDF

SDF Environment

Image-based lighting for SDF scenes from an HDRI file, a wired texture, or the built-in studio setup, with an optional skybox.

SDF Environment lights an SDF scene from all directions using an image. With nothing wired and no file chosen it uses a built-in studio setup, so it also works as a quick way to get soft fill light and reflections.

SDF Environment

  • Source priority: wired Image input, then the HDRI file, then the built-in studio
  • Show Skybox draws the image behind the scene
  • Found under SDF → Render in the operators panel
Example patch — drag onto the app to load

The image on the right is the example patch itself. Drag and drop it onto the app, or load it with File → Load, to open the full graph. A Plasma generator is the environment image, with the skybox on.

Inputs and outputs

SDF Environment node

PortTypePurpose
ImageTextureAny texture, treated as an equirectangular environment. It wins over the HDRI file.
EnvironmentSurfaceWire it into SDF Render's Environment slot.

The surface Environment node also fits that slot. The SDF version drops the sun-shadow block, because the march takes its shadows from lights.

Parameters

SDF Environment parameters
  • HDRI (.hdr / .exr / image — empty = built-in GI) — a file picker. Leave it empty for the studio setup.
  • Env Intensity (0–5, default 1) — brightness of the lighting.
  • Rotation X / Y / Z (−180 to 180, default 0) — turns both the lighting and the drawn skybox.
  • Show Skybox (default off) — draws the environment behind the scene.
  • Background Brightness (0–2, default 1) — brightness of the drawn skybox only; shows when the skybox is on.

Env Intensity and the rotations carry a per-parameter animation bar.

Examples

Product shot — no image, no file. Env Intensity 1.2 and a material with Roughness 0.2, so the studio reflections show.

Animated sky — a Gradient Colorizer chain into Image, Show Skybox on, and Rotation Y driven by a slow LFO.

Troubleshooting

The environment has no effect. Its output must land on the render node's Environment slot. If both an environment and a Lights (Chain) environment exist, the dedicated slot wins.

The skybox is visible but the shape is dark — raise Env Intensity; Background Brightness only changes the drawn backdrop.

Related

SDF Render

Where the environment plugs in.

SDF Material

Roughness and metalness decide how much of the environment reflects.

SDF Lighting FX

Four chainable nodes — SDF Soft Shadows, SDF Ambient Occlusion, SDF Fog, SDF Specular — that switch a lighting feature on at the SDF Render node they reach.

SDF Camera

The ray-generation rig for SDF Render — perspective, orthographic, or fisheye lens, fly or orbit navigation, aim ports, and depth of field.

On this page

Inputs and outputsParametersExamplesTroubleshootingRelated