Custom matte Node Tweet

[henningricke]

Hi guys, I’d like to share a thought that has been rotating in my mind:

What if there was a way to create mattes in octane materials, simply by using 3D objects?
I know you can do something like this via vertex maps, but they are limited by the mesh resolution what makes them unsuitable in many cases. I am talking about really defined mattes.

How about a node that works like the dirt node does, but with one major difference: The option to restrict it to dedicated 3D objects, turning it into a universal custom matte tool.

I think this feature would be insanely powerful and versatile for pretty much any kind of use case! Also, it could be easy use. What is your opinion on that?

This is of course simply naive wishful thinking from a user perspective. Could this actually be doable?

From my (limited) knowledge of how the dirt node works I can identify 3 major question marks:

1.) Is it even possible to restrict it to certain objects only?
2.) Could it also fill out the inside of the selection and not just the outer rim, like the dirt node does? (Would have to be closed meshes)
3.) Could the matte objects be hidden in the render, but remain being seen by the shader?

[henningricke]

Am I the only one here who believes this would be an incredibly useful feature?
Would it be possible to do though?