sorry for not directly getting into every of your examples; anyway you did hit one point that is on my todo list for a long time already: using the same node / controlling the same parameter in several different materials. this is also the main reason why the value display in the mat tab works as it currently does (means not allowing structural changes): it will allow to reduce the amount of internal material values to act as quick access to often used parameters, it will allow global values (like a float controlling the gamma parameter for several materials), it will allow to change similar parameters for multiple materials (like it is possible in the daz surfaces tab) and last but not least it will be extended by material preview features. i'm pretty confident that the "final" implementation will allow to work fast and without annoying limitations, be it a novice or a pro.linvanchene wrote:Bottom line:
this means pasting settings without pasting maps will become less important than it currently looks. but i do agree that this in general is a useful feature, thus there is a good chance we will see it in one of the next updates.
btw - just to clarify what i mean when i say "material": a material to me is a more or less complex set of octane nodes in whatever representation; be it a single material type node, or a bunch of several nodes (including more than one material type) using extensive wiring. the "correct" expression in octanes' terms would be a material macro. so the both trees in the mat tab represent mesh pins (aka daz surfaces) and material macros (simply "materials").
speaking of names: i decided to not use the octane wording in a few areas for a reason; most notable the "rendertarget" is called render setting. mostly because i wanted to use meaningful naming for octane newbies. why there needs to be a target just to render something is imo not quite obvious. a render setting is imo better to understand and also matches the same thing in DS.
and one last one: also on my to do list is a nifty feature to control emitters in a very comfortable way. simply said it will be possible to create octane lights (with or without adding special light objects to the scene) and work with them just like with materials in the mat tab. this will allow much better and faster light setup control and also provide much better oversight regarding emitters in a scene.
... of course i can give no eta for all this things, but i think i will have a busy summer
