Tutorials at Lizard Lounge Graphics : Maya - Quick Fresnel Shader MEL script

Fresnel shaders (facing ratio driven falloff) is a great way to break away from flat looking computer graphics and visual effects. I use this all the time. Since I am a lazy person; if I can do something by pusing a button instead of ten I will. MEL is a great way to do this in Maya.

It's a pretty simple script: it creates a utility node (sampleInfo) and a shader node (ramp) and connect the facing ratio to the vCoord of the ramp, changes the colors, adds the ramp to the current selection and maps the upstream connections in the Hypershade window (if it is open). You then connect it as you like(see above illustration). Tested under v6.5.0.

Read the fine print before you use this.

download *.zip file