Difference between using + and * operator after tex2D to add albedo color?

Question

I have a two different codes with a little difference

Case 1. I used a + operator before _myColor.

void surf(Input IN, inout SurfaceOutput o) { o.Albedo = (tex2D(_myTexture, IN.uv_myTexture) + _myColor).rgb; }

Case 2. I used a * operator before _myColor.

void surf(Input IN, inout SurfaceOutput o) { o.Albedo = (tex2D(_myTexture, IN.uv_myTexture) * _myColor).rgb; }

In first case It gives bright color.

But in second case it gives very dark color.

My question is why and how this is happening?

Answer 1

In a shader, colors in the viewable range are assumed to be in the range 0 to 1. If you take a value that's between 0 and 1 and add a positive value to it, it will get brighter. However, if you take a value between 0 and 1 and multiply it by a value between 0 and 1, it will get darker. To understand, think about multiplying 0.5 by 0.5. The result is 0.25.

More generally, any value between 0 and 1 can be thought of as a percentage. 0.05 = 5%. 0.25 = 25%. So multiply any value between 0 and 1 by a percentage between 0 and 1, and it will be less than the original value. (50% of 50% is 25% in the earlier example.)

If you have a photo editing application like Photoshop or GIMP, you can see the difference between the 2 by creating 2 layers with image data in them, and setting the blend mode of the top layer to either Add or Multiply. It's particularly revealing if you use a left-to-right gradient of black to white over the same gradient rotated 90°. You'll see how all the values react to the current blend mode.