A concave-convex option for bevel node?

General Forums Blender Development Discussion
1

I do not know if any developer will see this post but I do think that it is important to have such an option in bevel node. It will give the opportunity to differentiate, easily between ‘dirt’ and ‘wear’ areas in shading. It is a pity to have already the bevel node and not having such an option in it.

2

Have you tried the AO color node (which differs from the shading node as it produces color/value information)?

3

Can you put any screenshot of the node arrangement needed to produce the two separate shadings (on concave and convex edges)?

4

I just drop the note here for getting again the topic to the top of the list in the forum. It is a pity having such a good node as the bevel node and leaving it without options giving to the user to select between concave and convex edges.

Although I do not have any knowledge about programming I do suspect that it is something not so difficult for the developers in Blender team to add such a feature to the bevel node. Such an addition would get Blender’s texturing abilities very close to Substance Painter like apps’ ‘wear’ and ‘dirt’ mask producing features.

I do not know where else I can put this request so that some developers could see it. Any idea about such a place?

5

The AO node will catch only concave edges by default, and if you set the “inside” flag, it will catch only the convex edges instead.

ao_convex_concave
ao_convex_concave2341×2037 447 KB

If you use an AO node with the “inside” flag set and plug some noise into the “distance” socket, you’ll get a ragged mask along the convex edges, which makes a nice wear mask:

wear mask
wear mask2323×1959 383 KB

You can do the same node setup with “inside” disabled and some larger+softer noise to make a crevice dirt shader too.

EDIT: I have a thing on Gumroad that packages up this technique into something like Substances “Metal Edge Wear” filter, if anyone’s interested: https://jtheninja.gumroad.com/l/RTFYt

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6

Thank you very much for the precious information J_the_Ninja! Will try it! :slightly_smiling_face:

7

Oh that’s such a nice trick, I never thought of this. Thanks !!

8

Sorry for my ignorance, but in that example what is this node? I can’t find it. :hot_face:

BlenderNodeAddsomething

9

Hi, it is a color mix node switch to “Add”.

Cheers, mib

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10

Much appreciated!

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