I’m hoping to find the best resource for learning the theory behind cycles nodes. I’ve read many of the Blender books on the market, and the vast majority of them seem to stop at a relatively low level when it comes to materials and texturing, especially in cycles.
I’d like to develop a working knowledge of the theory behind node usage, as opposed to simply copying what I learn in tutorials, so that I might be able to work up my own procedurals. Reading the wiki book makes my brain hurt, and I figure there has to be a better way to learn this stuff.
At the most basic level there are four type of node input/output.
Color maps, indicated by a yellow dot, are used for color data such as diffuse and specular color maps.
Data maps, indicated by a grey dot, are used for numeric data, often (but not always) on a scale from 0.0 to 1.0.
Mapping data, shown by blue dots, is used for determining texture coordinates or for normal mapping.
Green dots represent shader data.
Generally it’s a good idea to make sure only dots of the same color are connected, although you could probably get away with connecting a color map to a data map.
Shader types:
A shader is simply a way of simulating how a material reflects light falling on it. By mixing and adding shaders, one can create a number of effects. For a plastic material, adding a glossy shader to a diffuse shader works well.
My experiments with the light path node have revealed that shaders are grouped into two of four families.
The glossy ray family is made of of the glossy, anisotropic, glass, and refraction shaders.
The diffuse ray family is made up of the diffuse, subsurface scattering, velvet and translucent shaders.
The reflection ray family consists of the glossy, anisotropic, Diffuse, subsurface scattering, and velvet shaders.
The transmission ray family contains the glass and refraction shaders.
@EnV The approach to your book is a great idea, but in my opinion, you should have used color images. The other important area that could be added, are techniques for reducing render times in cycles.
After only scanning the table of contents, it seems like there is a lot of focus on procedural textures ( which I rarely use ). One question I have is how much do you cover using multiple image textures to form grunge and dirt ect. I also think that using cycles in compositing with live footage / images would be worth covering.
@harleynut97: I actually used color images for everything, only the paper version of the book has (sadly) been printed in b/w but, if I’m not wrong, with it you can have also the e-book version (everything in color), the hires images, the blend files for evey recipe in the book and the download of the last 2 chapters that haven’t been included in the book for reached limit of pages number; and also you can buy just the e-book version.
Tips to reduce rendering times are explained to some extent inside the recipes, even if there is not a dedicated chapter.
Yes, the focus is mainly on procedural textures and for a simple reason: image textures are explained in the first recipes (and in some other) and there is no need to say much more about that… procedurals are more complex and are used to explain the basic working philosophy behind Cycles material nodes.
Cycles in compositing with live footage is a really interesting point, but I think it would need a book per se.
I did a tutorial series that goes fairly in-depth on Cycles nodes while creating a very useful all-purpose shader. If you’re a “learn by doing” type of person it might be right up your alley.
Try a project based learning approach. When next you learn from a tutorial, try understanding why a certain type of node has been used instead of copying the node trees. Try recreating as many of the projects you have learnt. Don’t be afraid to reference if you are stuck. In time you realize things will come to you naturally.
follow from the beginning this long thread
over 50 pages long
but this will show a lot of the cycles nodes set up
and you will also find some link to tutorials that explain the nodes basic
for cycles
takes time but it is free and many test file available