Linking/Appending

All objects and groups in the file are clearly named and properly labeled so they are easy to find and link or append from another .blend file by searching by name.

Individual fruits and vegetables can be linked/appended either as an individual object; to allow tweaking in the destination file, and to benefit from automatic object variations given by the Displace modifier; or as a group instance for better management, and performance optimization. Please not that linking individual fruits as group instances will not benefit from displace based variations, since these require object coordinates to function properly.

Linkable individual fruit objects will have no numbering in the name, and names start with Food Fruit ### or Food Vegetable ### Followed by a category name (like citrus, pear, or apple)

Groups follow a similar naming convention, all starting with Assets Food Fruit ### or Assets Food Vegetable ### for individual fruit group instances.

All setups must be linked as groups since they are comprised of multiple objects. Naming follows Assets Decoration ### for bowls, and Assets Crate Fruit ### , Assets Crate Vegetables ### or Assets Fruit Box ### for crates and boxes respectively.

To use these in your own project just go to File > Link browse to the Cycles_ProceduralFood_V##.##.blend file, enter either the Groups or Objects category and look for the desired assets to link/append.

Materials

Cycles Procedural Fruit Texture Node

Most fruit materials use the same base texture node-group setup that allows a standardized way to control the fruit colors in a consistent and predictable manner.

It basically uses a three level system that controls concentric bands of color that start at Level 1 centrally near the stalk, Level 2 around the top, and Level 3 as dominant body color.

These are mixed according to a noise texture whose parameters can be precisely controlled for different progression effects.

Parameters

1. L1 Color - Color or texture near the stem or stalk part of the fruit
2. L2 Color - Color or texture near the top and upper parts of the fruit
3. L3 Color - Dominant color or texture for the remainder fruit body
4. L1 Threshold - Controls the position of the limit where L1 ends (higher value means L1 is larger, and its limit lower in the fruit)
5. L1 Hardness - Controls the smoothness of transition (higher values cause a sharper transition, lower values cause a softer transition)
6. L2 Threshold - Controls the position of the limit where L2 ends (higher value means L2 is larger, and its limit lower in the fruit)
7. L2 Hardness - Controls the smoothness of transition (higher values cause a sharper transition, lower values cause a softer transition)
8. L1 Random Color - A random color applied per fruit object on top of the base textures defined above. Good for adding a slight randomization factor
9. L1 Random Factor - Amount of color added (lower values cause a subtler variation)
10. L1 Fresnel Color - Color for a tangential gradient visible at grazing anles
11. L1 Fresnel Factor - Amount of Fresnell added
12. L1 Noise Factor - Amout of distortion added to the gradient lines for the levels defined above(Lower valies give a straight linear transition, higher values cause a more irregular wavy transition)
13. L1 Noise Scale - Size of the distortion noise
14. L1 Noise Detail - Amount of fine detail
15. L1 Noise Distortion - How distorted the noise spots are