Quick Snow v5

Complete reference documentation for Quick Snow v5.0+. Compatible with Blender 5.2 LTS and above.

Installation

1. Go to Edit > Preferences...
2. On the left panel open the "Add-ons" tab.
3. Click "Install from Disk..." (top right).
4. Select Quick Snow v5.0.zip and wait while the data copies to your Blender AppData folder.
5. Find the panel in the 3D View sidebar under the "Snow" tab.

Quick Snow Main Panel

1. Global Parameters

Use Snow Displacement — Automatically adds snow displacement to objects after creating snow. On by default.

Apply to all material slots — Adds snow to all material slots of an object simultaneously.

Global Snow Coverage — Globally changes the snow coverage value on every object where local override is not enabled.

2. Object Preset

Adjusts settings based on the type of object selected. For foliage assets, you must select the Foliage preset — otherwise the addon skips transparent and translucent shaders.

3. Select Snow

• Textured Snow — Full PBR materials in 1K, 2K and 4K. 16 snow textures included.
• Procedural Snow — Mixing various procedural noise textures. Includes an optimized shader option.
• Simple Snow — Preview-quality using only Principled BSDF. Fast for quick tests.

4. Create Dynamic Snow

Creates a dynamic snow material among the selected objects by blending the original material with the selected snow material.

5. Append Snow Material

Appends the selected snow material to the active/selected objects without blending with existing materials.

6. Remove Snow

Removes snow nodes and restores the previous shader. If snow was appended, restores to the previous material.

Dynamic Snow Properties

1. Override Globals

When enabled, this object uses its own local snow coverage value instead of the global coverage, allowing per-object fine-tuning without affecting other objects.

2. Lock Snow Rotation

Locks the snow rotation direction so you can rotate the object without rotating the snow. Works on the active object only.

3. Normal Blend (0–10)

Blends snow by calculating height based on the normal map. Automatically uses the node connected to the normal map color. Requires a normal map on the object.

4. Pixel Blend (0–10)

Blends snow by calculating height on every pixel based on any map except normal. Automatically uses the node connected to the base color.

5. Blend Softness (0–10)

Creates a soft gradient on the edge of the snow. Works on any object — no map required.

Snow Displacement

1. Enable Snow Displacement

Adds snow displacement using a Subdivision Surface modifier.

2. Invert Displacement

Inverts the final displacement. Useful for mountain or terrain-style snow creation.

3. Snow Displacement Strength (0–100+)

Default is 50. Can be increased above 100 for dramatic effects.

4. Adaptive Subdivision

Subdivides the mesh adaptively based on pixel size in the render — more detail where needed, less where it's not visible. Significant performance benefit.

5. Dicing Precision (Pixel Size)

Controls the adaptive pixel size of subdivision. Lower values = finer detail, higher memory usage.

6. Subdivision Level

Number of subdivision levels for the Snow Displacement modifier.

Snow Material

Controls

• Snow Tint — Color multiplied with the original snow texture.
• Tint Multiplier — Multiplication factor of the tint.
• AO Strength — Ambient Occlusion strength.
• Subsurface Amount / Intensity — Controls subsurface scattering.
• Snow Softness — Multiplied with subsurface radius.
• Snow Wetness — Controlled by the roughness map.
• Snow Glitters — Controlled by a baked texture map.
• Specular — Specular strength.
• Normal & Bump Strength — Intensity of surface detail.
• Texture Scale — UV scale of the snow texture. Defaults to object dimensions.

Snow Masks

1. Gradient Mask

Removes snow from the bottom part using a procedural gradient. Includes a falloff slider.

2. Vertex Paint Mask

Manually paint where you want snow. Black removes snow, white adds snow.

3. Texture Mask

Four procedural mask types: FBM Noise, Multifractal, Noise, FBM+Noise.

4. Cavity Mask

Masks out snow in concave/cavity areas of the mesh.

5. Edge Mask

Masks out snow on sharp edges. Requires Cycles.

Snowfall

Controls particle-based snowfall and volumetric snow fog effects.

Weather Preset & Snowflakes Preset

Select from presets to quickly set up snowfall intensity, and choose the type of snowflake geometry.

Wind & Particle Settings

• Wind Direction / Velocity — Controls wind affecting snowfall.
• Snow Turbulence — Amount of random motion.
• Particle Mass — Controls fall speed.
• Snow Fall Amount — Number of particles emitted.

Animated Snow Fog

Creates animated volumetric snow fog for atmospheric depth.

Geo Snow Mesh

Create Snow Mesh

Creates a snow mesh using Geometry Nodes on selected objects. Your original object is not affected — the addon creates a duplicate. Works seamlessly with Asset Library objects without unpacking.

Controls

• Snow Coverage / Seed — Area of object covered and random variation.
• Snow Density / Height — Resolution and thickness of the snow.
• Mesh Mask — Procedural mask pattern.

Draw Footprints (Curve-based)

Draw paths using curves, then stamp them into the mesh with controls for Foot Length, Width, Offset, and Rotation.

Snow Accumulation Simulation

Real-time snow accumulation powered by Geometry Nodes. Snow physically falls and piles on target objects.

Key Simulation Controls

• Snow Density — Particles per frame. Keep below 10 if self-collision is on to save performance.
• Enable Self Collision — Allows snow to pile up realistically.
• Kill Floor Z — Removes particles below a certain height.

Dynamic Snow Prints

Objects leave realistic impressions in the snow surface during animation playback.

Impression Controls

• Border Height — Height of the rim forming around impressions.
• Snow Pressure / Max Depth — Depth and spread of the print.
• Mud / Dirt Tint — Color swatches inside the Snow Impression Material to tint the squashed surface.

Icicles & Frost

Procedural icicle generation with an ice controller empty and frost crystal particles.

Controls

• Ice Spikes — Control Icicle Size, Base Diameter, Density, and Distortion.
• Ice Particles — Toggle frost crystals and control their scale/density.
• Ice Mesh — Density and volume of the underlying ice layer.
• Ice Controller — Toggle an empty that directs icicle growth and frost effect intensity.

Tips & Troubleshooting

Asset Library Objects

Quick Snow v5 handles multi-user mesh data. Objects imported from asset libraries work directly without unpacking them first.

Performance Tips

• Use the optimized procedural shader option for faster viewport performance.
• Keep Snow Density below 10 with self-collision enabled for Snow Accumulation.
• Use Simple Snow for quick previews before rendering.

Render Engine Compatibility

• Snow Displacement and Edge Mask require Cycles.
• All other features work with both Cycles and EEVEE.

Frequently Asked Questions