Sequential node groups for Materials doesn't work Tweet

[ChrisH]

Hi!

I came across a problem where I can't pipe the material output from one node group into another node group (for mixing etc), it just appears as the default white material (see picture).
It works fine if I just connect a material node to the second node group.

Here's the setup:
A node group with a material setup.
Another node group with another material setup + a mix material (and texture to control it, just a checker texture in the test) to combine the material with an incoming material.

(The third Suzanne should be gold + red)

(I've also had problems with a node group, with a material setup, inside another node group [same result: it gets ignored], but that I couldn't replicate in my test file, but can't get to work in my real project. ETA: The problem appeared in my test file as well: If I [in a node group] connect the output [OutMat] of the group, instead of just a material node, it tries to refresh the viewport, but just stays at "Waiting for image", if I reload the viewport the material appears white)

Using the 17.5 TEST / 2018.1 RC 6 version.

(I've tried with Nodegraph optimization ON and OFF, with the same result)

[linograndiotoy]

Thanks for you report Chris!

[DrawFun]

Hello Chris,

Thanks for your report and sample scene.

This is addressed in OctaneBlender with blender 2.8, which is currently in development. So is the meaningless naming issue.
These issues are tough to fix in the current shader node graph system so we rewrite a new one in blender 2.8 to get them sorted. Now we still need some more tests to make sure the new system is stable enough. After that, it will be merged into blender 2.79 builds.

Cheers,
DrawFun