Cineversity

Hi Darrin,

Trying my best to understand this very technical Redshift Node thing.

My questions are always why….why are you putting a fresnel, why a ramp, why this and why that

How do you know what to add where, and when you drag it from the output to the input, you get another million options :D :D

So why & how do i know what to use.
So it needs to make sense for me why i do it - not just doing it for no reason.

cheers
Mo

Hi Mo,

I understand your question very well.
Going from the “normal” Material System to the Node-based is like going from After Effects to Nuke or Fusion. After Effects nearly guides you through it, whereby node-based compositing requires one to know what is needed.

In other words, without understanding how things have worked so far, it must feel cryptic. The feeling I assume where your question is based upon.

There is even a checkbox in the Reflectance channels for Fresnel in the Material System (the one with a single interface and channels). Easy to get tempted to click on it and see what happens. It is an effect that simulates the increasing reflectivity of surfaces when seen tangential.
So, if one does not know that this is an option at all, how can one get there with nodes?
A) you need to know the standard (or normal) material system well enough, including shaders, to search for Nodes that can do it.
B) you read through the list of available nodes and ask yourself with each, is there something in the real world I can relate to.
C) You watch tutorials like this and get pointers on what you need to know.

In short, take a Material and go through all channels that you have used, like Reflectance, Displacement, Transparency, and search with the terms given in the Node Interface.

Node-based material is less if at all intuitive, and they are based on a certain amount of knowledge.

Is that something a beginner in 3D Animation/Visualization can handle without learning? I assume not.

What the node-based system does, it practically forces you to understand materials in a very dense, detailed way.
Any tutorial series that would like to address this, for starters, in this kind of work, would have the need to go through each Node like a dictionary to provide the needed based to know a little bit about the why. It needs then to conclude with many examples, to give context to each and every single one.

I hope that helps a little bit to see the work that needs to be done.

All the best

Hi Dr Sassi, thank you for the reply.

What do you mean by normal material system - The one used like we all did in C4D for years?
Nodes are very difficult to be honest. Not sure why someone actually decided to do this if there was already a very good material system.

sure will watch more tutorials & see how I’m doing.

(Currently using VRay & Corona, been a 3D artist for 15 years, but going to this it like learning a new language…)

Best
Mo

can i just use normal C4D materials in redshift?
Maybe just create them in C4D & convert them then to nodes? Much much easier i think?

Hi Mo,

Yes, it is like a new language that allows for a more individual expression than a predefined layout with strong borders.

Yes, standard or normal material system. Since it was the default way of setting up the surface qualities for a long time, while the only material system, it had not really a name.
I think nodes have proven to have advantages in VFX compositing for decades by now. One major part is here that any item brought into the node editor can be reused many times. In the channel-based (normal/standard), a texture or shader that was used in the one channel needed to be copied into another channel where it was needed as well. Any change of this information needed to be done again and perhaps again in the next.
With Nodes, those changes are done in one node, and the connections are done for any connected parts. This was and is a long-standing request from artists.
The node system allows for so many more connections inside the application, and the option to integrate scene based influences will expand what is possible.
I understand the problems going from what you know for a long to a new system. I remember vividly going from a layer-based system to a node system with Shake nearly two decades ago. Similar to going from a ready to use render system (Artlantis with Archicad), with drag and drop materials, to a material-channel based system in the early ‘90s. Yes, for sure, I know these claustrophobic feelings to have no idea where to start.
It is just a matter of deciding and using it like Xpresso, which is, without a doubt, helping to expand the options.

See yourself using it and feeling at home inside of it. You will certainly enjoy the advantages.

All the best

P.S.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcwT_j_PThU