Alpha Piscium’s water rendering is divided into two interacting layers: the surface and the volume beneath it. The surface combines a GGX specular BRDF with parallax-mapped wave normals to produce three-dimensional ripples that refract and reflect the world above. Below the surface, a volumetric scattering and absorption model gives water its characteristic color depth — clear blue shallow water that deepens to teal and finally to near-black as the column of water absorbs the upper wavelengths of light. Caustic patterns cast onto the seabed are traced using a photon-map-inspired approach, while underwater light shafts simulate the shimmering caustic columns visible in real swimming pools and shallow seas.Documentation Index
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Water Surface
Surface Roughness
Surface Roughness
Controls how smooth and mirror-like the water surface appears. The actual GGX roughness value is 2^−x, so higher settings produce smoother, more reflective water. Range: 4.0–12.0. At the default of 9.0 (roughness ≈ 0.002) the surface is very smooth, giving sharp reflections broken up by the normal map.
Wave Normals
Wave Normals
Intensity of the procedural water surface normals. Range: 0.0–5.0. Higher values produce choppier, more visibly perturbed waves; lower values create a calmer, more glassy surface.
Parallax Waves
Parallax Waves
Parallax occlusion mapping gives water waves genuine three-dimensional depth rather than flat normal map perturbation, making ripples appear to have physical height.
Enables parallax occlusion mapping on water waves. When enabled, waves appear three-dimensional from grazing angles instead of flat. Disable if you experience performance issues on lower-end hardware.
How deep and prominent water waves appear with parallax enabled. Range: 0.0–5.0. Higher values exaggerate the wave height for a more dramatic surface.
Number of linear search steps for parallax intersection. Valid values: 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32. Higher values reduce staircase artifacts where steep wave faces are visible but cost proportionally more GPU time.
Number of secant refinement steps after the initial linear search. Valid values: 1–8. Higher values produce a more precise wave silhouette at minimal additional cost.
Refraction
Refraction
Uses an approximated refraction direction optimized for screen-space refraction. Produces more convincing results than full physically-correct refraction in most viewing scenarios while remaining compatible with the screen-space rendering pipeline.
Underwater Effects
Caustics
Caustics
Enables water caustic patterns on submerged surfaces. Alpha Piscium traces the paths of photons refracted through surface waves and accumulates them onto the seabed and submerged blocks, producing the characteristic shimmering light patterns visible in pools and shallow water.
Underwater Light Shafts
Underwater Light Shafts
Approximates the underwater light shaft effect caused by refraction through surface waves. Creates the bright columnar rays visible when looking up from underwater. Uses the wave normal information to modulate shaft intensity without a full volumetric ray march.
Sharpness of the approximate underwater refraction rays. Range: 0–12. Higher values create narrower, more defined light columns; lower values produce a softer, more diffuse glow.
Softness of volumetric underwater light shafts. Range: 0–10. Higher values diffuse the rays into a broader, dreamier glow; lower values keep rays tightly defined.
Underwater Shadow Samples
Underwater Shadow Samples
Number of shadow map samples evaluated for underwater shadowing. Valid values: 16–256. Higher values smooth underwater shadow edges at the cost of GPU performance.
Size of the sample pool used for underwater shadow accumulation. Valid values: 2–16. Higher values increase shadow quality and reduce banding but also increase GPU cost.
Water Color (Volume)
Scattering Coefficients
Scattering Coefficients
The scattering coefficients control how much of each RGB wavelength scatters (bounces) within the water volume. Higher scattering for a channel means light of that color spreads more widely beneath the surface.
Red channel scattering coefficient (percentage, 0–100). Lower values reduce red light scattering, giving the water a blue-green tint at depth.
Green channel scattering coefficient (percentage, 0–100). Affects the mid-tone blue-green hue of the water.
Blue channel scattering coefficient (percentage, 0–100). Higher values keep the water appearing blue at greater depths.
Global multiplier for all scattering coefficients as 2^x. Range: −15.0 to −5.0. The default of −9.0 (≈ 0.002×) keeps scattering very subtle; increasing toward 0 makes underwater scenes noticeably brighter and murkier with scattered light.
Absorption Coefficients
Absorption Coefficients
Absorption controls how quickly each wavelength of light is consumed as it travels through the water column. Higher absorption for a channel means that color disappears faster with depth.
Red channel absorption coefficient (percentage, 0–100). The default of 100 means red light is absorbed very rapidly, which is physically accurate — red is the first color to disappear in real water.
Green channel absorption coefficient (percentage, 0–100). Green persists longer than red but fades before blue.
Blue channel absorption coefficient (percentage, 0–100). Lower absorption means blue light travels furthest, giving deep water its characteristic color.
Global multiplier for all absorption coefficients as 2^x. Range: −15.0 to −5.0. Higher values (closer to 0) create murkier, less transparent water with more rapid color loss.
Translucent Block Properties
Roughness Overrides for Translucent Blocks
Roughness Overrides for Translucent Blocks
These settings apply to translucent blocks such as glass, stained glass, and ice — not to water itself. They allow the roughness of translucent surfaces to be constrained independently from resource pack values.
Reduces the roughness of translucent blocks relative to their resource pack values. Actual reduction is 2^−x. Range: 0.0–8.0. Higher values make glass appear smoother and more mirror-like.
The smoothest (most mirror-like) that translucent blocks can appear. Actual roughness floor is 2^−x. Range: 4.0–16.0. Higher values allow sharper, crisper reflections on clean glass.
The roughest that translucent blocks can appear. Actual roughness ceiling is 2^−x. Range: 1.0–16.0. Higher values allow frosted or heavily etched glass effects.
Translucent Absorption
Translucent Absorption
These settings control how translucent blocks absorb and tint light passing through them — for example, how strongly stained glass colors the light behind it.
Saturation of the absorption color tint. Range: 0.0–4.0. Higher values produce more vivid, intense color through stained glass.
Power curve applied to the absorption color. Range: 0.0–4.0. Higher values increase contrast in the color tinting.
Power curve applied to the translucency (alpha) channel. Range: 0.0–4.0. Higher values create sharper transitions between fully transparent and fully tinted areas.
Global multiplier for color absorption strength. Range: 0.0–4.0. Higher values deepen and strengthen the color cast of all translucent blocks.
Specular Highlights
Maximum Specular Luminance
Maximum Specular Luminance
Maximum luminance allowed for specular reflections and highlights, measured in cd/m². Valid values: 256–16777216. Caps the brightness of mirror-like reflections on very smooth surfaces such as still water, preventing overexposed white blowouts from sun glints.