Contour Flow
Contour Flow builds the wall from layers of an implicit iso-surface, so the mesh reads like smooth contour lines wrapped around the part. Bulges and pinches flow continuously around and up the surface, similar to soft clay or slow lava. Angular and vertical frequencies can be tuned independently for directional “grain” or stacked bands.
Preview
Effect Controls
Interactive preview is available in the interactive reader.
Parameters
Angular Freq- How many flow lobes repeat around the circumference (0.5–20).
Vertical Freq- How many vertical cycles of the flow field stack along height; 0 disables vertical variation (0–10).
Flow Depth (mm)- Peak displacement along the normal (0–10 mm).
Angular Phase- Rotation of the angular pattern in radians (0–6.28).
Vertical Phase- Vertical shift of the pattern in phase units (0–6.28).
Smoothing- Blend between sharp iso bands and softer flow; higher is rounder (0–1).
How It Works
A 3D scalar field is evaluated in cylindrical or surface-aligned space; the modulator displaces vertices toward an iso-level of that field so ridges and valleys follow equipotential “contours.” Angular Freq and Vertical Freq set how fast the field changes around the axis and along height; Smoothing widens the transition so steps become gentle slopes instead of tight creases.