Is this possible in Octane?

[sethRichardson]

Is a user value driven shader switch possible in Octane like it is for Arnold, Vray, RS or is that out of the skill set here?

In this setup there's a User Data node that's pulling Integer data from a user data setup on a null that has options 0-5. Then that drives what texture, material, color, etc gets selected. Seems pretty standard in the other plugins for c4d so im just wondering if its not possible.

And dont say xpresso. That requires alot of nonsense around if/then statements and iteration lists that are slow. Its very hacky and gross.

[frankmci]

Basic Driven Keys should do what you need without ever needing to touch, think about, or even know thatThe Editor That Shall Not Be Named exists, even though Driven Keys actually are instances of The Forbidden Toolset. Here's a simple RGB material using a Switch Texture Node driven by User Data. The object has an integer User Data field set with a min/max of 1-3 that is directly driving the Input field of the Octane Switch Texture node. The whole thing was set up with a few contextual menu clicks. I never had to open the UI for... well, you know. Yes an Expression was created, but with no fuss, no muss, no need to know anything about it. Also, being such a simple Driver/Driven relationship, it evaluates very quickly. If you need any fancy logic or math functions, that can probably all be done directly in the material with Octane nodes, offloading it to the GPU with a minimal speed hit. If that's still too much hacky, gross nonsense, then I can't help you.

https://help.maxon.net/c4d/2023/en-us/D ... ven%20keys

[sethRichardson]

Now duplicate that material. Having one user data drive multiple materials is the issue because once duplicated you have to do that all over again. No one wants 40 xpresso setups

[frankmci]

Now duplicate that material. Having one user data drive multiple materials is the issue because once duplicated you have to do that all over again. No one wants 40 xpresso setups

You can set driven keys on multiple objects at once, including Octane nodes. Right-click the User Data channel and select "Set Driven". Select all the relevant Octane nodes that you want to drive, (either within a single material or across multiple materials, or any combination thereof), right-click on the multi-selected node's channel name that you want to drive and choose "Set Driven." Boom, all selected nodes are now driven by the same source. Again, no need to touch the you-know-what.

It's really not that involved. Maybe you can give a specific example of what it is you are trying to do so we can better understand what you consider the difficult part.

[sethRichardson]

Again theres a reason why I asked if we could do it the way literally everyone else is doing it by having access to user data in octanes node editor is to avoid the mess of what you are describing. It's just bad workflow, if you delete or change a material you now have to manually add that into the xpresso tree which is massive if you have say 50 materials because each one of those creates its own driven node. Its so incredibly limiting for larger projects that im surprised you suggested it with a straight face when the alternative a user is asking for is a single node that would do it all and be non destructive. Even vray has a more intuitive solution to this and they implemented it within a week of someone asking for it.

Asking for features from C4D Dev's is like you kicked their cat across the room and spat on their mom lol. I just dont get it.