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Now that we've set up the noise and phase for Component 1, we also need to set up the filter. Click on the Filter button at the bottom of the DTE (or you can click the button on the upper right corner of Component 1) to open the Filter Palette.

The filter affects the appearance of the noise. It can refine the noise to give it more or less detail, increase the contrast, apply it only to high or low altitudes, or change its orientation.

At the upper right corner of the Filter Palette are four spots, one for each component we could use to make our texture. Make sure the first spot is selected (it should have a small ball in it). In the center of the Filter Palette is graphic depiction of the formula currently being used to filter the component, and below that is the name of the formula. Click on the formula name and you will get a list of all the formulas you can use. Select "Clip aX+b." Set the value of "a" to about "0.78", the value of "b" to about "0.0004", and the value of "c" to "4". To do this, simply click/drag over the numbers. You may have a hard time getting these exact values, since the Filter Palette doesn't have those little arrows to let you adjust the values in small increments. Your Filter Palette should look similar to the image below.

Filter settings for Component 1.

When you are done, click on the Filter button at the bottom of the DTE to hide the Filter palette.

Now go back to the panel for Component 1. At the bottom left corner of the panel is a small down arrow. Click on this arrow to get a list of "Color Modes". Select "Linear Interpol3". On the right side of the panel are buttons labeled C, A, and B. These stand for Color, Alpha, and Bump. The one we're interested in here is the Alpha button. Alpha is what creates transparent areas in a texture. Basically, the Alpha channel interprets the transparency of an image according to its gray scale values. White values are seen as solid, black values as completely transparent, and gray as somewhere in between. In this case, the white (i.e. solid) spots of Component 1 are our rain drops, and the black areas are just the empty spaces in between. Since we're not interested in the color or bump of Component 1, click on the C, A, and B buttons until only the A button is highlighted. Now Component 1 should look like the image below.

Component 1 should look like this now.

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