Swaying Material

A dynamic shader that adds a smooth sway effect to 3D models. You can control the sway amount, speed, direction, and duration. It also allows full material control over properties such as albedo color, metallic, roughness, specular, and opacity, making it ideal for creating flexible, animated surfaces with realistic material properties.

Shader code

shader_type spatial;

// ----------- RENDER MODE SETTINGS -----------
render_mode blend_mix, depth_draw_opaque, cull_back;
// blend_mix       = enables alpha blending for transparency
// depth_draw_opaque = render depth normally (can tweak if using full transparency)
// cull_back       = backface culling enabled

// ----------- SWAY PARAMETERS -----------
uniform float sway_amount : hint_range(0.0, 1.0) = 0.1;
// Maximum sway offset

uniform float sway_scale : hint_range(0.0, 10.0) = 1.0;
// Controls how tightly sway oscillates over the mesh's Y axis

uniform float sway_duration : hint_range(0.01, 10.0) = 2.0;
// Time (in seconds) for one full sway cycle

uniform vec3 sway_direction = vec3(1.0, 0.0, 0.0);
// Direction of sway movement (X, Y, Z)

// ----------- MATERIAL PARAMETERS -----------
uniform vec4 albedo_color : source_color = vec4(1.0, 1.0, 1.0, 1.0);
// Base color of the material (includes alpha)

uniform float metallic : hint_range(0.0, 1.0) = 0.0;
// 0 = non-metal, 1 = full metal

uniform float roughness : hint_range(0.0, 1.0) = 1.0;
// 0 = smooth mirror, 1 = fully rough

uniform float specular : hint_range(0.0, 1.0) = 0.5;
// Strength of specular reflection for non-metallic surfaces

uniform float opacity : hint_range(0.0, 1.0) = 1.0;
// Controls transparency

// ----------- VERTEX FUNCTION -----------
void vertex() {
    // Calculate a normalized sway angle over time
    float sway_time = (TIME / sway_duration) * 6.28318; // 2π = full sine wave cycle

    // Calculate sway based on vertex height (Y)
    float sway = sin(VERTEX.y * sway_scale + sway_time) * sway_amount;

    // Apply sway in specified direction
    VERTEX.xyz += sway * sway_direction;
}

// ----------- FRAGMENT FUNCTION -----------
void fragment() {
    ALBEDO = albedo_color.rgb;
    METALLIC = metallic;
    ROUGHNESS = roughness;
    SPECULAR = specular;
    ALPHA = opacity;
}

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