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Creating a Network Material
To create a network material:
1. | Create a NetworkMaterial node and add it to your recipe. |
Network materials are usually created in their own branch and a Merge node is used to connect them to the rest of the recipe.
2. | Select the NetworkMaterial node and press Alt+E. |
The NetworkMaterial node becomes editable within the Parameters tab.
3. | Enter the material’s name in the name parameter. |
Although it's not strictly needed, as Katana handles name clashes gracefully, it's good practice to name the network material, as the name is used for both the node name and the material’s scene graph location.
4. | In the namespace parameter, enter the location below /root/materials to place the material. |
By default, the material is placed below /root/materials in the scene graph, so you don't need to add this in the nameSpace field. Some of the most common namespaces are included as a dropdown to the right of the parameter. You can also specify nested namespaces, for instance, if the namespace parameter is geo/metals, the material is placed in the scene graph below /root/materials/geo/metals.
Adding Ports to a NetworkMaterial Node
On its own, a NetworkMaterial node only creates a scene graph location and it needs to have terminals/ports added to allow the connection of shading nodes. These ports are shader-specific and multiple ports can be added to the same NetworkMaterial node. To add ports, click Add Terminal and select a port type from the terminal type dropdown.
Connecting into a NetworkMaterial Node
A shading node is connected into a NetworkMaterial node’s input port. The type of shading node that connects is renderer specific, for instance the DlShadingNode node. Also, the shader that is assigned to the shading node needs to be of the correct type for the renderer and the NetworkMaterial node’s port.
For example, when creating a 3Delight surface shader as a network material, the shader node that connects to the NetworkMaterial node’s dlSurface port must be a valid surface shader (either of type surface or when using a class based shader, implement one of the expected methods for a surface shader).
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