Tutorial: Texture Filters

This guide provides a detailed walkthrough for using the Texture Filters job. This is a versatile utility job that allows you to apply a wide variety of common post-processing effects and artistic filters to your textures, such as blurs, sharpening, edge detection, and painterly effects.

1. Setting Up the Texture Filters Job

1. In the main Texture Tools window, click the Add Job button.

2. From the dropdown menu, select Job: Texture Filters.

3. A new "Texture Filters" job will be added to the job queue. Select it to see its properties in the Details panel.

2. Providing the Input Texture

The Texture Filters job operates on a single input texture.

• In the Input viewport on the left, drag and drop the texture you wish to modify from the Content Browser into the INPUT TEXTURE slot.

3. Configuring the Filter

All the settings for this job are located in the Input Settings category in the Details panel.

Selecting a Filter

The most important setting is the Texture Filter Type dropdown. This determines which effect will be applied to your image. When you select a filter, its specific parameters will appear below the dropdown, allowing you to fine-tune the effect.

Filter Types and Parameters

Here is a breakdown of each available filter and its unique settings.

Simple Blur

Applies a basic, uniform blur to the image.

• Blur Distance: Controls the radius or "spread" of the blur effect.

• Blur Steps: The number of samples used to create the blur. Higher values result in a smoother, higher-quality blur but are more performance-intensive.

Spiral Blur

Creates a blur effect that twists in a spiral pattern from the center of the image.

• Blur Distance & Steps: Controls the base amount of blur.

• Radial Blur Steps: The number of steps taken along the spiral path.

• Radial Blur Offset: Controls the tightness of the spiral.

• Radial Blur Kernal Power: Adjusts the intensity of the blur along the spiral.

Motion Blur / Motion Blur With Chromatic Shift

Applies a directional blur to simulate movement. The "Chromatic Shift" version adds a color fringe effect for a more stylistic look.

• Blur Distance & Steps: Controls the length and quality of the blur streaks.

• Motion Blur Vector: An X/Y value that sets the direction of the blur. For example, (X=1, Y=0) creates a horizontal blur to the right.

Sharpen

Enhances the details and edges in the texture, making it appear crisper.

• Sharpen Amount: The intensity of the sharpening effect.

• Sample Offset: The distance (in pixels) used to compare pixels for the sharpening calculation.

Pixelate

Reduces the texture to a grid of large, solid-colored blocks for a retro, pixel-art look.

• Pixel Resolution: The number of "pixels" along the width of the texture. A lower value results in larger, chunkier pixels.

Edge Detection

Creates a line-art version of the texture by detecting the edges between light and dark areas.

• Edge Transition: Controls the softness or hardness of the detected edges.

• Shader Resolution: The internal resolution used for the edge detection calculation.

• Luminance: A color value used to weigh the importance of the R, G, and B channels when detecting edges.

• Background Color: The color of the non-edge areas.

• Line Color: The color of the detected edge lines.

Toon

Reduces the number of colors in the image to create a cel-shaded or "toon" look.

• Toon Amount: Controls the number of color bands or "steps" in the final image.

Kuwahara (Painterly)

A non-linear filter that smooths the image while preserving edges, creating a stylized, painterly, or watercolor-like effect.

• Kuwahara Radius: The size of the sampling area. Larger values create a more abstract, painterly look but are more computationally expensive.

• Kuwahara Blur Blend: Blends a slight blur into the final result to soften the effect. 0 is no blur, 1 is full blur.

4. Generating the Filtered Texture

1. Once you have selected your filter and configured its parameters, ensure the Texture Filters job is selected in the job queue.

2. Click the main Run Selected Job button.

3. The tool will apply the filter to your input texture. The new texture asset will be saved to the path specified in the Generate Settings category with the _Filter suffix.