Expanding materials in the node graph editor?

Sat Jan 11, 2014 5:53 pm

Is there a way to do this? In the standalone I can "explore" a material to see how it's connected internally. In the plugin, if I load a mix material from the DB and go into the node editor, I can only ever get a brick that say "mix material" and have three pins, the mix and the two materials. Is there a way to "explode" this mix material brick into the constituents, so I can connect more bricks to the two materials for instance?

t_3 · Sun Feb 09, 2014 10:05 pm

when you hover over a node (pin name), press the ALT key and then literally drag out the pin node from its parent.

since the host nodegraph editors (if created from scratch like in the daz plugin or existing like in 3ds, c4d, etc.) usually have not much in common with the standalone graph (coordinate system, etc). the plugins receive live db materials only as single collapsed node. i'm going to have an own unfold method, ideally one that doesn't create multiple nodes that internally have just multiple output connections, but this is still down the road...

Mon Feb 10, 2014 7:05 pm

Thanks, so the way to do it now is to open the material in the standalone and copy the tree by hand? Or can we import materials from there now, I'm so confused with all these new features

t_3 · Tue Feb 11, 2014 12:26 am

DrHemulen wrote:Thanks, so the way to do it now is to open the material in the standalone and copy the tree by hand? Or can we import materials from there now, I'm so confused with all these new features

sry

no; what i meant is a standard function of the daz plugin nodegraph editor: you can drag out any "internal" pin node into an external (wired) node by just ALT-Click-Drag the pin name.

i.e. a mix mat form a download ldb mat: alt-click and drag the texture 1 pin and you have the diffuse node out. repeat for any other node you are interested in rewiring. then wait a little until i have done the unfold which does this with one click

Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:49 am

Ooooohhh

That was exactly what I was after! Thanks!!

Sun Mar 30, 2014 1:37 pm

t_3 wrote:
DrHemulen wrote:Thanks, so the way to do it now is to open the material in the standalone and copy the tree by hand? Or can we import materials from there now, I'm so confused with all these new features
sry

no; what i meant is a standard function of the daz plugin nodegraph editor: you can drag out any "internal" pin node into an external (wired) node by just ALT-Click-Drag the pin name.

i.e. a mix mat form a download ldb mat: alt-click and drag the texture 1 pin and you have the diffuse node out. repeat for any other node you are interested in rewiring. then wait a little until i have done the unfold which does this with one click

How do I do the opposite once I've alt-dragged the pin out of the node? How do I then put it back in? I watched your vimeo video on this. looks like you did it really fast like in one click.

t_3 · Sun Mar 30, 2014 6:59 pm

legarcUT wrote:How do I do the opposite once I've alt-dragged the pin out of the node? How do I then put it back in? I watched your vimeo video on this. looks like you did it really fast like in one click.

do you mean one of the very early videos? there was indeed a method to drop nodes back, but as it wsa only of limited use (can't re-integrate nodes with multiple connections) i didn't go on with it.

another way to achieve it would be to copy and paste particular node; the pasted node will contain all the external graph, but it must be clear that this also multiplies nodes that have multiple connections in the graph...