ok so i discovered how to do those node setups, but i was wandering if you are some kind of methamatical genius to do all those math functions. Either your that or… just an alien
Sorry it is taking so long, I won’t be able to finish the tutorial until next weekend, but i’ll give you the gist of it: you can select and group a bunch of nodes using Ctrl-G or via the menu Node–>Group. With the grouped node still selected press Tab (just like editing a mesh) and you’ll open the group. Now you can connect the nodes in the group with the two grey areas at the left and right side of the opened group. These will be your group’s inputs and outputs. You can rename and reorder them as you wish, and you can also assign standard values to the inputs. You can also change the name of the group itself. Press Tab again to close the group. Now you can use the group just like any other node. You can even add more copies of the node through the Add->Group menu.
I hope this helps, and the visual guide will follow soon!
[EDIT] Whoa, I didn’t realize this discussion was continued on page 2. I see you already figured it out then. About the math, I really like math, and luckily for me it shows up a lot in the work I do, so I get a lot of practice. Apart from that I also do some programming every now and then.
If you’d like to learn more math as well check out Khan Academy. It serves literally thousands of videos about math and physics, from basic addition to advanced calculus. Also very iteresting for shader writing are the geometry and trigonometry sections. Ooh, I see they’ve added a Cosmology and Astronomy section, and Chemistry as well! I know what I’ll be doing this weekend!
thanks for the reply.
yes it took a while to figure out how to do those groups, so basically i could reconstruct it, but i think what is more important for the blender community is to understand the logic behind it. of course we know how to do the basic math but how the node corrolade to eachother and stuff would be good to know.
I know Khan Academy, i have been doing it actually, expeccially maths actually.
Its a great resource. Salman Khan is doing great work.
you know what i was thinking, that perhaps it would be good to have tutorials about cycles materials and textures in the same way as Khan Academy, that slowly the difficulty is builded up, so that the people can understand the logic behind it and then do it themselves. Because if cycles is going to eventually replace internal render than i believe it would be good for everybody to have a absolutely clear and logically build up tutorials about this, since it is rather complex with these nodes and stuff.
anyway i am really looking forward towards your tutorial
Hmmm… it’s taking more time than I thought, or rather, I have less time on hands than I thought! To get you started, here’s a preview of what the tutorial is going to be about, so you can have some early practice:
I just wanted to jump in and give you another thumbs up. I’m starting to collect materials for Cycles, and right now there’s just not nearly as many high-quality materials out there yet. Thanks for your contribution!
thanks wesvdes,
i am looking forward to the tutorial, i think there is really a lack of tutorials on cycles materials, looking at your work it seems that there is so much one can do with it.
A workaround I’ve seen used is to add a new node, minimize and mute it, then change the label name to describe what’s going on there. Check out Bartek Skorupa’s latest compositing tutorial on BlenderCookie for an example.
This is a really great material. I too will have to have a look at the setup and see if I can figure it out. +1!
Wowowow… I would like to see some explanation of this setup.
Too bad Blender is not displaying this material in viewport properly…
It’s not that complicated when you break it down in small pieces, the problem is seeing the whole picture. It’s about ‘getting it’ (math, logic) with as many variables, being able to see the big picture. Not everybody is capable or we’d all be rocket scientists, hehe… 
And just to be clear, I’m not one of these guys, hehe - I personally go half blind just trying to see the big picture here. 
Nice but… why 3D Finished Artworks?
Beats me
I started this thread in the general discussions forum, but it was moved by a moderator.
By the way, finishing the doughnut tutorial is still on my to-do list, but right now I’m a bit short handed, so it could take a while.
I took 3 classes on MAX/MSP in college, compared to that blender nodes are fairly easy. If you think a wood material is complicated, how about a fully functional drum machine?
This material is amazing. A tutorial on how this was accomplished would be even more so. Looking forward with great keen-ness (is that a word?) to this.
In another community and other software, one can write maths formulae into a Python script which will create a material set for a Reyes renderer (not going to say more about the software: the render engine is a bit of an embarrassment :eyebrowlift2: ). As they say: necessity is the mother of invention. They’ve been able to do reasonably good approximations of materials even without caustics.
Reason I bring this up is: I’m wondering whether Blender would support creating materials for Cycles this way? :o 
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nice materials. @ fweeb: a better sub-forum for this thread would be blender tests.
Awesome materials! Great job 
Dear wesdves, I know you are putting together a tutorial on this, and I’m really forward to seeing it. I took the liberty of taking a look at your setup and suggesting a way to analyze things. I hope it’s OK. I’m only trying to contribute a bit I’m gonna post this in the tutorial section of the forum. In the meantime, you can check it here.
Thanks again!
You bet it’s OK! :yes:
I put this material on BA to be used, shared and learned from, and BAM! You’re doing all three at the same time! But seriously, thanks for doing this. I’m sure people will appreciate it very much. I know I do, because I haven’t been able to get around to finishing the doughnut tutorial, and I don’t know when I’ll have the time to do so. I’m really buried in work right now… 
see link below which explains the math behind the node setup:
by the way - awesome node setup
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Awesome ! Thanks !