@Farny: The “Attribute” node can be used to get a specific uv layer, if there is an input in the Anisotropic Shader for that, it could be used I guess.
It would be enough if it does what it does now but simply perturbs the normals with the b/w image as a second step. Don’t know if that would be hard to do tough.
Okay, sorry for the long string of posts, but I’m trying to address things one at a time.
I do actually know what I’ll be working on next… (and DingTo, who I’ve talked to about this, is going to be chuckling when he reads this post.) You all are going to kill me, I think. :o
I was contacted about 2 1/2 months ago by Marcos Fajardo, CEO of Solid Angle (think: Arnold renderer creator), and he recruited me to work for him as a core renderer engineer. I’ve been finishing a major project at Tippett Studio, and so I put it off as long as I reasonably could, but I’m starting at Solid Angle in the beginning of April.
However, and here’s the rub: it’s a significant conflict of interest for me to work on Cycles at the same time as Arnold. I’m trying to get this anisotropic shading patch accepted, and then I’ve got one quick thing I’m going to try to help DingTo with, and that may be it for me. Once I ramp up on Arnold I will switch back to just talking on the forums here, but not writing any code for Cycles.
I’m definitely excited to work on Arnold, and it’s the right thing to do for me and my family. But I’m also a bit sad that I won’t be able to continue submitting patches for Cycles. Cycles is a truly interesting and cool project, and I have learned a lot and enjoyed my (somewhat short) time working on it. I very much would like to see Blender and Cycles succeed, as I think this open source project has the effect of lifting everyone’s “standard of living” so to speak in the graphics community. I have enormous respect for Ton and Brecht and what the whole Blender community is accomplishing.
Questions are welcome, but if you want to rant about my new employer stealing me, you can PM me and I’ll be listen patiently. 
That’s a shame for our community but congratulations, I believe it’s a big step in your career.
However it makes me a bit worried about Cycles, I mean what if a large company would offer Brecht a great job, money that Blender Foundation cannot afford, lets say 10 times larger salary. What would happen then? Perhaps it’s just a speculation but he was hired by Octane developers once, another offer from even more interesting company may come any day.
Mike,
You’ve made a huge impact for the Blender community and we’ll be sad to see you go (coding at least). But man, what an awesome job opportunity for you. Couldn’t be happier for you, so best of luck with the new venture and exciting times ahead for you!
That’s a good question, but Brecht has already circled back to the Blender Foundation at least once. I get the feeling he really likes it there, and that’s a really important part of any job. Just so you know, I didn’t accept the job at Solid Angle because it’s necessarily more money, but because it felt right and seems like the right move. It’s not like Tippett Studio was paying me peanuts (because they pay competitively for sure).
Honestly, I would highly recommend Tippett Studio to any of you. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here, and I am excited about its future. In my heart I’ll be a tippetteer for a long time to come. If Pixar/ILM/Dreamworks/etc. are like a cruise ship, Tippett is more like a pirate ship, one that is loaded with talent. I have had to work hard to keep up.
Aww Mike, we’re sad to see you go, but in the field of renderer development, Solid Angle is definitely where I’d want to be, so congratulations! It will be interesting to hear from you when you make your way back to the boards.
Doing Starship Troopers, director Paul Verhoven refused to adhere to the VFX tech’s demands to use stationary cameras for the FX-shots and he shot big parts of the movie handheld. Back then, before digital camera tracking, ILM - who were contracted to do post & VFX - took one look at the plates and said ‘it can’t be done’. Several VFX studios were asked and all said the same. Until they asked Phil Tippett. 
The CG & comp. in that movie is still among the best ever, even 15 years later… Tippett = awesomeness!
Mike - I didn’t want to complain at Tippett Studio, I believe they take care of their employees really well, but I realize that when it comes to money Blender cannot compete with other companies. Headhunters are seraching the industry for young, talented people and Brecht is a perfect target for them I guess.
PS That’s really off topic but I checked Tippett website and it seems like there’s no demand for modellers (for instance); does such companies look for animators, engineers and vfx specialists mostly, each one of them highly experienced?
Oh, and just so you all know, I’ve removed the donation link now that I’ve submitted what is more or less my last real patch. I don’t think it serves anybody to give me more money, unless you want me to forward it on to the Blender Foundation (or the development fund).
I want to give a sincere thanks to everyone who donated over the last 2 1/2 months or so. It was quite a bit more than I expected, and I’m very grateful for all of the generosity. I hope my patches justify the donations, as I’ve tried to make sure that is the case. :o
This of course won’t be the last you all hear from me, but you all have my gratitude.
This is a legitimate concern, for sure. But it’s also just how the world works…if someone’s skills are determined by the market to be worth more money, there’s nothing evil about accepting the higher pay. However, in the open-source world much of it is volunteerism, and those types of contributions usually have other, non-monetary benefits. Those can be a big draw as well.
I think Brecht is probably getting paid fine, and he looks like he’s enjoying himself. I think his problem is that there’s only one of him, and lots of work to do, hence the whole point of recruiting me to work on Cycles. I am glad I did, and am sad that I won’t be able to continue. I do hope others are able to step up and do more…storm_st is doing some promising things, and he’s quite enthusiastic about it. If I were you guys, I’d cheer him on as well about doing some smaller features and get those patches accepted, while he plugs away at his bidirectional path tracing and volume features.
Mike when you get to arnold ^^ help them get the eyes for a solid blender integration with arnold renderer. it’s a market opportunity!
I’ve thought about Blender integration, but it would have to be through the python API only. I’ll keep my eye on that, because I’ve done it once already (for RenderSpud, my own renderer). Chances are it wouldn’t be able to achieve a tight integration, though.
Might be a fun little side project, assuming Marcos lets me.
Thanks for all your efforts Mike.
Here are Win builds for testers.
Thank you for all your work Mike, it’s sad to see you go but the the thought about Arnold for Blender is also very appealing 
NinthJake - I think we should be really carefull speaking about any Arnold exporter for Blender. Now I’m not an expert with this subject but I know from a good source that such exporter will not be made (as far as I remember it’s because exporters for Blender need to be at the same licence as Blender; check this webpage - http://rudycortes.com/2011/08/btoa-blender-to-arnold/, this guy was working under such exporter but as far as I’m concerned he was told to stop and not reveal any effects of his work).
Thanks a lot Mike! We were lucky to have you for the amount of time we did. Make us proud!!
The least you can do with the remaining donation money is to give it over to the Blender development fund so it can still be used to fund Cycles development.
It is sad to see you go especially after the possibilities that were brought up like bidirectional path tracing. If possible, you could try to get Storm_st up to speed on coding concepts he may not be familiar with as of now so he will have the knowledge needed to finish his patches.
You could also help write some more comprehensive coding docs. for the Cycles wiki for prospective developers to look at. So while you won’t be writing code anymore, you’ll be helping to set the stage for helping future developers get on-board the project.
In other words, you might not be able to write patches anymore, but you can help expand the knowledge-base surrounding Cycles code to get future prospective developers up to speed on the project.
Thanks a lot for everything Mike! I already told you, but will do again, it was great to see such an experienced developer working on Cycles! You made some great and important contributions! Thanks!
Good luck and all the best with your new job, visit us from time to time and say hello please. 
Thomas
Actually…I have an even better source. That blender-arnold integration may actually be something useable. I can’t say more right now, but I’ll be checking into this stuff for sure.
When using the python API, it doesn’t infect/bleed into a dynamically loaded DSO with the actual rendering code license-wise (that’s how the GPL, etc. work; dynamic linking is not grounds for forcing code disclosure).
(It’s nice to have an insider, eh? :p)