fading out wave texture with geometry nodes

Question

does anyone have an idea how I can create a wavetextur in geometry nodes with a flowing gradient?. I can limit the texture but I always have a sharp edge and no smooth transition. I hope the picture can make that clearer.

many thanks

Julian

Answer 1

Sure. But first, let's identify something you're doing that doesn't make sense: you're turning a fac into a vector via vector math, then turning that vector into a scalar by plugging it into your bottom vector math/scale input. Your vector math/multiply isn't really serving much purpose here, and you'd be better off using a math/multiply node here, or building that multiplication into your Map Range node (with "clamp" disabled.)

After that, the reason that you always have a sharp edge is because you're either displacing it or you're not, because you are operating via "selection"; and the size of that scale is not at all a function of the Z position of the vertex.

Here, instead of acting on a selection, I'm acting on all vertices, but I'm modulating the displacement down to 0 for most of them. By remapping the Z position with the Map Range and RGB curves nodes, then scaling my displacement vector by that remapping Z position, I can create a smooth gradient of no displacement (at or above Z = 0.0) to full wave displacement (at or below Z = -0.5). With just the map range node on Linear, this would be interpolated linearly; the RGB curves node shows how I change that interpolation curve arbitrarily.