Assign color by surface/face orientation

I'm trying to get started on a definition that will either assign a flat shader color to referenced surface based on it's orientation, or a definition that will at least reference.

I have a massive 3D pattern which I need to apply different tones to depending on the orientation of the surface

If anyone has in ideas to kick start I would appreciate it.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by djordje on March 19, 2013 at 5:38pm

Hi Ryan,

It is very difficult to say anything, without definition or screenshot or even hand sketch attached.

Maybe this definition will help you understand the principle.
It "colors" the surfaces based on the angle their normals for with the X axis:

Attachments:

vector_angle.gh, 8 KB

Permalink Reply by Ryan Ekstrom on March 19, 2013 at 6:11pm

As an example, this is what I'm trying to achieve. I could do this manually in the example because there are few surfaces but I would like to apply this effect to hundreds of them. All magenta faces have the same orientation - all yellow faces have the same orientation. I'm essentially trying to figure out a way to select multiple of the same/similar objects. If I can apply color in the process, all the better.