duplicate shading network

# 1 08-08-2012 , 08:42 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2011

Location: Dortmund, Germany

Posts: 229

hello. i've created some shader and need to apply it to different objects, however color must be changed for each object. i'm wondering if there any possibility to duplicate whole shading network and then change the color nodes instead of making whole network again for every object. i can only duplicate the shader node, it has no inputs and outputs. when i'm selecting whole network and click duplicate, each of selected nodes is duplicated without any connections.

Quote

# 2 08-08-2012 , 08:52 PM

Super Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2006

Location: South FL

Posts: 3,522

Since you only want the diffuse color changed per object, it would be a good idea to use the triple switch node.

- Genny
__________________
::|| My CG Blog ||::
::|| My Maya FAQ ||::

Quote

# 3 08-08-2012 , 09:00 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2011

Location: Dortmund, Germany

Posts: 229

the color consists of two ramp shaders.

Quote

# 4 09-08-2012 , 02:04 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2008

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Posts: 229

In hypershade, go to Edit>Duplicate>Shading Network.

I think that's the right option. There are three there. With Connections will duplicate the shader and maintain the connections to the original source ramps. Shader Network should dup all nodes in the network, and "Without" only dups the shader.

I tend to agree with the above though. It's well worth learning to use the utility nodes. They save on resources, and keep the scene much more structured. FOr instance: Let's say you had a few objects that needed the same specular effects AND different colors. Duping the shading network will do just that, until you decide to tweak the specular and suddenly you have to tweak THREE shaders. With a triple switch you adjust the shader's spec, drop a tri-switch into color, and drop different ramps into the switch, along with different geo. Later when you want to adjust the spec, you only have one node to adjust. You can see the benefit as your scenes get more complicated and you're changing things on the fly.

--
Peter Srinivasan
Producer

Quote

# 5 09-08-2012 , 09:15 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2011

Location: Dortmund, Germany

Posts: 229

ty for help

Quote

# 6 09-08-2012 , 07:02 PM

Super Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2006

Location: South FL

Posts: 3,522

The thing about the `duplicate shader` type options is that it duplicates upstream nodes which means if you have the shader selected it won't duplicate the shading group node. It's a good idea to select the actual shading group node instead.

--> Triple Switch - Youtube

- Genny
__________________
::|| My CG Blog ||::
::|| My Maya FAQ ||::

Quote

# 7 09-08-2012 , 07:19 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2008

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Posts: 229

I forgot about that issue! And I've definitely run into it myself. Thanks for posting the vid, btw. Much easier than following my little... tutorial... above user added image

--
Peter Srinivasan
Producer

Quote

# 8 09-08-2012 , 09:30 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2011

Location: Dortmund, Germany

Posts: 229

nice tutorial, ty for the help.

Quote

# 9 29-01-2016 , 05:21 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2015

Posts: 10

The triple switch node is cool, but I didn't find a way to assign different colors on different parts of the same object, like we could do with multiple materials.
Is that possible ?

Quote

# 10 29-01-2016 , 10:57 PM

Super Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2006

Location: South FL

Posts: 3,522

Most definitely. Check out “texture mapping”, lots of tutorials on the basics floating around.

- Genny
__________________
::|| My CG Blog ||::
::|| My Maya FAQ ||::

Quote

# 11 30-01-2016 , 04:26 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2015

Posts: 10

"Texture mapping" leads me to mostly UV mapping tutorials and other beginner stuff. I don't think this is such a basic thing actually.
But I'm not sure I was clear enough. I want to use the triple switch node on the same object, with the same material, but with different colors on different components of this object.

I tried some dirty method by first assigning another material to some faces and then in the node editor moving the right connections from one shading group to another and so on, so that the "object group" outputs of the objectShape go to the right "In Shape" inputs of the Triple switch, but as soon as I disconnect the "Dag set members" of the newly made shading group, the vertex group or whatever it is that defines the selected faces seem to be deleted.

Wow, that was NOT very clear, but anyway if you know how to do it can you explain it ?
Because googling "triple switch node on single object" does not return any good result.

Thanks

Last edited by caetano; 30-01-2016 at 08:49 PM.

Quote

# 12 31-01-2016 , 02:28 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2015

Posts: 10

Also, The switch nodes are quite buggy with bump maps (at least in Maya 2015).

When using a switch, the bump doesn't render in viewport 2.0, and doesn't always render in Maya software and mental Ray. It's very random.

Last edited by caetano; 31-01-2016 at 03:09 AM.

Quote

duplicate shading network

Posting Rules Forum Rules

Similar Threads

Topics

Free Courses

Full Courses

VFX News