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USING A CONTROL NODE |
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USING A CONTROL NODESometimes you will find yourself playing with a node that has several related settings which need altering in proportion with each other. The brick node provides a good example of this. I have found many occasions when I'm happy with the overall effect, but the scale wrong, leaving me needing to alter the width, height and mortar width settings to get a smaller or larger brick. Even once a material is ready, there will be occasions when the target object is on a different scale to the original, making the material look too big or too small.This technique takes the hassle out of this, and can be very useful when developing new materials. Create a maths node, leave the Math_Argument at Add, and plug that node into the input of the nodes you want to control. In this example, I have plugged the add node into the three brick scale inputs. Once this is set up, any change to the Value_1 of the maths node will be reflected on all three of the brick scale nodes, allowing you to scale your brick much more easily. You can still alter the individual settings on the brick node to alter the shape of the brick, but the maths node has given you an overall control. This trick can also be used to control several separate nodes at once. For example, you could have two similar brick nodes - one providing colour and one providing a bump map, both at the same scale, but with slightly different softness setting. Plug your maths node into both of these brick nodes, and your single control will alter all six scale settings! |
