The W Texture gives you the means to place gradients on hair geometry. This is useful when you need to shade a Paint Effects stroke or other Hair system within Maya® so that the color values change along the length of the hair strands. Figure 1 shows Paint Effects hair rendered with an Octane Gradient Texture shading the DiffuseAmount of diffusion, or the reflection of light photons at different angles from an uneven or granular surface. Used for dull, non-reflecting materials or mesh emitters. attribute of the hair so that the color gradually shifts from red to green along the length of the hair strands.
Figure 1: The W Texture applies a Gradient along the length of Paint Effects hair strands
The W Texture can be added to an Octane Gradient Texture and connected to any material assigned to the hair system. Typically, it is assigned to Diffuse or Albedo (in the case of the Octane Hair material), Opacity, Roughness, etc (figure 2).
Figure 2: The W Texture used to place gradient colors across the length of hair strands