Check Out the Nodes Behind This Glowing Ice Blender Material

Have a look at this multilayered ice material showcased by VFX Artist and Generalist Ethan Du Toit, created using just one plane in Blender. Despite the simple geometry, the material creates a detailed, glowing ice-like surface with multiple layers and variations.

The artist also shared the full node setup, offering a closer look at how the effect was built and how the different elements of the material work together:

Ethan Du Toit recreated the effect in Unreal Engine, sharing the node setup for that version as well:

The artist demonstrated how properties of the setup can be adjusted:

Before, Ethan Du Toit shared other peculiar works: for example, he recreated the viral dancing Toothless meme in UE5, visualized a flying kunai in Blender, and shared a tutorial on how to bake any animation into a Vertex Animation Texture and import it into Unreal Engine:

To learn more about Du Toit's workflow, check out our interview, in which he and Animator Charles Icay shared the workflow for a fan concept of Charles Xavier, detailing how they designed and animated the character in the Marvel Rivals style: