a thread for discussion about shaders. show off, post exaples from others,your own node setups,code,tips,questions,etc.
Cris
>>1004856this is actually a nice idea for a thread.I hope something interesting comes off it.Anyway only noteworthy thing i have to show is this UV stitcher i made a while ago for the models i ripped off a game to change characters' clothes and such. Basically takes coordinates texture and then stretches the clothes over the base "Skin" texture.It works, but i wonder if there's something i could do better or make it more comfortable to work with. I'd love some kind of UI addon or script that would just let me set the image nodes as interface elements with a preview outside of the shader editor for quick access, like somewhere on the side panel.>>1004860I hate Cris just as much as everyone else on this board but i'm thinking you might be mindbroken with this one, mate.
>>1004862Cris
>>1004862Thanks, i hope this gains traction as well. Shaders are a very important part of 3dcg and there wasn't anything about it on this board so i figured this place needed this sort of thread.i don't have much too, but i made this very simple node setup that apes GoldSrc's chrome materials a while back.
something I made a few months ago, very simple but very effective for my needs
the thing about shaders is that you have to and should write them in the text editor.
>>1004879This, idk what's this gay drag and drop stuff is all about
>>1004879shaders are the only type of thing nodes are suitable for, honestly. and it works great.
>>1004879Slower>>1004902Quicker
>>1005006You can't do a lot of stuff with spaghetti graph nodemess. There are a lot of situations where you will never achieve what you can with the text editor, making it not faster at all, but a knowledge check.
>>1005014>>1004879I'm starting to believe this to be true. The problem is, I have to learn a language in order to make text shaders. That's intimidating.What do you guys know about SDFs? That's what I'm after. Can you make SDF objects in a text editor?
>>1005037by its own, a raw SDF is limited and semi useless. You can't just use a signed distance field by itself and expect it to work well.
>>1005041Isn't that true about everything? If I make a polygonal cube, does it accomplish anything on its own? Not really. You have to give the cube purpose. So tell me something I don't know.SDFs can be used to create all kinds of things. But first I need to know how to create the basic shapes. All the resources I've found so far, are for text editors. Can you make any? How far does your knowledge go?
>>1005045i wont expect you to understand this but a SDF has a tendency to collide with itself and merge where you dont want it to while simultaneously expanding out where you also dont want it to. To solve this there is a solution, but, i wont go in to it here.My knowledge is vast. What I suggest you do however is use the built in SDF function in maya
>>1004870reminds me of the sphere map shader i did a while ago. pretty identical to yours but with a mapping rotation of (90,0,180), scale of (-1,1,1), and an environment texture set to mirror ball rather than an image texture.
>>1005046That's not what I've seen. I've seen SDFs with super precisely defined edges. From what I've gathered, there are two kinds of SDFs. Ones with exacting boundaries, and ones that sort of break boundaries. I'll assess whether or not their limitations are detrimental to what I'm trying to create. But first I need to know how to create. I'll resort to text before I switch to maya.This is what I've made in blender so far. The sphere is easy. But the tube is difficult, and my tube lacks perspective. Both ends of the tube share the same distance from the camera. I don't know how to give both ends their proper camera distance and create the tube shape at the same time. It's like I can only get one or the other.Do you see here, that once the node group is created, it's actually quite compact. All the spaghetti contained.
>>1005055if you use maya you'll be up and running in like 2 minutes. Right now, you don't even know what you are talking about in regards to sdf.
>>1005056ok, whatever man. I'm ignoring you until you post your work. The thread hasn't even been up for 3 days, and you're already dragging it down with crabby /ic/ level banter.I'm sorry, guys, I gave him too many (You)s as it is. I'll stop now.
>>1005057>he's a post your work guyi used SDF extensively for well over 100 tissues and bones in this old work and fed them into the solver
>>1005058>He's the flesh monster guyWell you posted something, so here's another (You) I guess. But showing me undulating flesh, doesn't mean you know how to create SDFs. Instead you deflect by saying "use Maya". Which I presume does the work for you, so you never learned how. Now pressed to actually explain how, you can't do it. Sorry, but this thread is for learning how to create shaders. Not software preference. I told you that I'm sticking with Blender, and I might reluctantly get dragged into text editing, if you can assist me in transitioning by showing me how an SDF is made with text. If you can't do either of those things, then what can you do for me?Here's my SDF sphere setup for scrutiny. Maybe someone knows how to do it better. I'd take that advice.
>>1005065SDF is built in to maya. Has been for several years now.
>>1005067it also works a lot better than what you showed here >>1005055
>>1005054nice
>>1005014>a lot of situationsfor .0001% of users
>>1005087the users who develop any program in a text editor and implement new things are smaller in number than the users who download the software, use it for a week and then never use it again, or worse, keep using it but cant get anything good out of it but drive up the total monthly download numbers
>>1005109for .0001% of long haul users
