[Bf-committers] Nodes

Branan Riley branan at gmail.com
Thu Jul 20 19:36:09 CEST 2006


I'm going to write a WIKI article as soon as I figure out exactly my final
ideas :)

I think I may do something different than what I originally wrote. I'm
thinking of creating another node tree, to allow for custom shaders that
could be used in any material, even outside of a node material. The current
shaders can stay hard-coded, with an 'add new' option in the list now, that
lets you create a custom shader using nodes. The only issue now is figuring
out how to tie any custom inputs to the GUI. Unless someone has any major
qualms with this idea, I'll start writing a slightly more detailed plan, and
try to have it on the WIKI by the weekend.

Branan

On 7/18/06, Joe Eagar <joeedh at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Branan Riley wrote:
> > I've been trying to figure out how to split the current Material input
> > node. Create a "Diffuse" node, "Specular" node, etc. The Material node
> > can still be there, of course. I'd also like to be able to add a
> > "lights" node, which gives the vectors to the lights for each pixel as
> > well. Coupled with some easy-to-write vector math nodes, this gives a
> > very powerful low-level shader design system, but also allows for less
> > advanced users to create simpler systems.
> >
> > My problem is the three main nodes - diffuse, specular, and lights.
> > I've been digging through the source, but I can't find any sort of
> > easy-to-use hook already in place. I tried looking at the Material
> > Node code, but that pretty much is a front-end for the Material code
> > itself, which is not very fun to look through at all. Any advice on
> > where to get started on any of those nodes would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Branan
> Also, cessen (I don't know his real name -- eh, is it you?) was working
> on this a while back.
>
> Anyway, you might want to write a document on the wiki detailing what
> you intend to do.  Really the material node system needs a comprehensive
> usability review, with suggestions on what new nodes are needed, etc.
> The current paradigm of using nodes to blend materials together should
> be kept, IMHO, but I also think there should be support for writing
> shaders from scratch, too.
>
> Keep in mind, I don't think a material node network is executed once for
> every light.  I believe the network is only executed once per pixel,
> when each component material has been fully calculated.  If you added
> something like a light node, you'd probably have to write code to detect
> it, and if it exists, to execute the node network once for each light,
> accumulating the result.  It might be complicated.
>
> joeedh
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