C4D Octane Nodes are too limited compared to other DCCs

[SSmolak]

C4D Octane nodes are too limited compared to Modo or Blender and even Octane Standalone.

1. In C4D most of the nodes have limited inputs for example Color correction is without hue input, Realtive Distance has only Transform input, Float has no inputs at all.
2. There is no way to use object positions like this : https://youtu.be/9RTe-L_DB8A - ok yes there is link to object in Transform node but how to check other object orientation related to surface like light for example ?

[aoktar]

too?
- Hue doesn't have texture input in Standalone also.
- You can put any object to Transform and connect to Rel. Distance
- What do you expect to connect to float? Is there something you can't do with C4D's capability with this?

[SSmolak]

too?
- Hue doesn't have texture input in Standalone also.
- You can put any object to Transform and connect to Rel. Distance
- What do you expect to connect to float? Is there something you can't do with C4D's capability with this?

In Standalone every node input can have basic connection - even for sun direction, that can be used for connecting more advanced nodes not listed here :

hue_standalone.jpg (15.18 KiB) Viewed 1483 times

Blender version of Color Correction :

blender_color_corr.jpg (10.01 KiB) Viewed 1483 times

Yes, right there is link to object in Transform node that works great except it is very hard to achieve good relation to object rotation like light - I must test it more maybe I'm doing something wrong.

[aoktar]

Value types are still available but not usable because of different type of connections. These are not very old and having some design limitation of node editor. Because of this I didn't completed this, will take time. Also you can do same tasks with C4D's xpresso/etc.. features. These nodes are just variables not rendertime parameters.

[SSmolak]

Right, almost everything can be done using xpresso but you know that this is little time consuming and needs to recreate/reconfigure for every new scene/materials.

This Sun Direction paremater from Standalone is very good. Some time ago I asked for feature like this but I didn't know that Standalone has this by default.

[aoktar]

Right, almost everything can be done using xpresso but you know that this is little time consuming and needs to recreate/reconfigure for every new scene/materials.

This Sun Direction paremater from Standalone is very good. Some time ago I asked for feature like this but I didn't know that Standalone has this by default.

I'll look to make some ways for easier connections.

[ShivaMist]

What are the plans for the node editor since you have not taken the route of the Cinema 4D Node Editor ? I remember seeing a demo of the new editor in standalone being based on the C4D Octane node editor a year ago or so

I also have a few comments on how to improve the node editor :
- The comment node is very useful for complex networks but it lacks some preset and the ability to set default colors
- Comment node could be automatically drawn around the selected nodes
- Having some routing option to avoid visual noodle soup (like Blender or Houdini)
- Having the ability to drag and drop an existing node on a link (same behavior as a new node is dragged from the side menu and dropped on any link)
- Improve the grouping feature with inputs, outputs and parameter promotion
- Grouping feature is also unstable and can cause crashes

21_02_2023_Node_Editor_Grouping.zip

(3.13 MiB) Downloaded 47 times

- Auto Layout, Solo Node shortcut (add/modify)
- Chaos Node overhaul to support multiple textures inputs/outputs (avoids having to create a node for each PBR texture and link the parameters)
- Chaos Node HexTile mode https://github.com/mmikk/hextile-demo
- PBR texture importer (i know there are scripts that do it but having it native with the possibility to setup custom tokens for pattern recognition would speed up the process 1Ox)

[aoktar]

- Having some routing option to avoid visual noodle soup (like Blender or Houdini)
- Having the ability to drag and drop an existing node on a link (same behavior as a new node is dragged from the side menu and dropped on any link)

I'm not permitted to share all plans, but we are on the what you saw and much more.
Could you show examples for this?

- Chaos Node overhaul to support multiple textures inputs/outputs

Having ideas for making it easier

[ShivaMist]

I'm not permitted to share all plans, but we are on the what you saw and much more.

I understand, can't wait to know more about it!

Could you show examples for this?

Of course!

- Having some routing option to avoid visual noodle soup (like Blender or Houdini)

Node Framing and Rerouting in Blender :
https://youtu.be/TMz4ikl1yYM

Node Organization in Houdini :
https://vimeo.com/204582189?embedded=tr ... er=1723479

- Having the ability to drag and drop an existing node on a link (same behavior as a new node is dragged from the side menu and dropped on any link)

Node Drag and Drop (Works on newly created nodes but not on existing nodes)

Drop_Nodes_On_Link.mp4

(1.55 MiB) Downloaded 1114 times

Node Link Hover get a bit inconsistent when the nodes link is getting close to 90°

Drop_Nodes_On_Link.mp4

(1.55 MiB) Downloaded 1114 times

Having ideas for making it easier

That's great i'm down to give you some feedback when you'll have a test build ready!

[jobigoud]

- Chaos Node HexTile mode https://github.com/mmikk/hextile-demo

Chaos node is based on the same two papers the repo you pointed to is referencing. It's already using an hexagonal tiling of the plane.