Tip: The facing_ratio shader can also be used to achieve this shading effect.
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A rim shader is useful for achieving a lighting effect related to the contour/outline edges of an object. The above scene demonstrates a simple shader that simulates a fake rim light shading effect. It can be useful for creating fresnel or cartoon-like skin effects.
The shader (R18) can be downloaded here.
The rim shader effect is primarily controlled by connecting utility shader (set to ndoteye) to the specular_weight attribute of a standard_surface shader.
Final shader network
A complement shader is inserted before the utility shader to invert the ndoteye effect of the utility shader.
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Without Complement | With Complement |
A color_correct shader can also be added to refine the rim shading effect. The images below show the effect adjusting the gamma attribute has on the rim shading effect.
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0.25 | 0.5 | 0.75 |
Adjusting the specular_color can also give different effects.
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Specular color: yellow | Specular color: black |
*Thanks to sample and hold for the use of the toy scan model.*