It was my understanding that we should be using /rendering/scene/diffuse/red for all colors in our standard particles for things like tire smoke water spray etc.
Did I misunderstand this and it is OK to also use the other two rgb colors?
It seems not only will your effect dissipate with darkness but might also match the ambiance of the scene better using all three?
I also have experimented with using a /rendering/scene/diffuse/ factor for a specific color or really more for a specific shade.
For example, /rendering/scene/diffuse/x * .1 VS /rendering/scene/diffuse/x * .9 gives you dark dust vs light spray.
I am using it in the AirCrane to change the rotor wash particles from dark to light when transitioning from land to water.
Add a bit of color
/rendering/scene/diffuse/r * .8
/rendering/scene/diffuse/g * 1
/rendering/scene/diffuse/b * 1
and you start getting water colored spray that turns dark at night.
Is there anything I am missing here, any reasons not to do this if done in moderation?
Taking this concept one step farther, does the property tree expose more details of the scene, like surface colors, water for example? If not we should be exposing this type of information. Material type would be helpful. I think all I ever found was things like friction factor.
One area I am really uneducated in is our shader base. I know there is more shader effects available than ever before, at least working examples, but it seems so mysterious and not intuitive, at least for me. I would really like to start converting all these effects to a shader solution and generalizing it enough to allow others to integrate them easily, but I am unclear as exactly where to start. Maybe contrails, don't we have shader effects for those? Also the Shuttle plume, maybe a place to start?