well as I would like, but it works, just add a subsurface scattering node and
you can use it like any other BSDF.
It is using fully raytraced sampling compatible with progressive rendering
and other more advanced rendering algorithms we might used in the future, and
it uses no extra memory so it's suitable for complex scenes.
Disadvantage is that it can be quite noisy and slow. Two limitations that will
be solved are that it does not work with bump mapping yet, and that the falloff
function used is a simple cubic function, it's not using the real BSSRDF
falloff function yet.
The node has a color input, along with a scattering radius for each RGB color
channel along with an overall scale factor for the radii.
There is also no GPU support yet, will test if I can get that working later.
Node Documentation:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Render/Cycles/Nodes/Shaders#BSSRDF
Implementation notes:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:2.6/Source/Render/Cycles/Subsurface_Scattering
PyNodes opens up the node system in Blender to scripters and adds a number of UI-level improvements.
=== Dynamic node type registration ===
Node types can now be added at runtime, using the RNA registration mechanism from python. This enables addons such as render engines to create a complete user interface with nodes.
Examples of how such nodes can be defined can be found in my personal wiki docs atm [1] and as a script template in release/scripts/templates_py/custom_nodes.py [2].
=== Node group improvements ===
Each node editor now has a tree history of edited node groups, which allows opening and editing nested node groups. The node editor also supports pinning now, so that different spaces can be used to edit different node groups simultaneously. For more ramblings and rationale see (really old) blog post on code.blender.org [3].
The interface of node groups has been overhauled. Sockets of a node group are no longer displayed in columns on either side, but instead special input/output nodes are used to mirror group sockets inside a node tree. This solves the problem of long node lines in groups and allows more adaptable node layout. Internal sockets can be exposed from a group by either connecting to the extension sockets in input/output nodes (shown as empty circle) or by adding sockets from the node property bar in the "Interface" panel. Further details such as the socket name can also be changed there.
[1] http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Phonybone/Python_Nodes
[2] http://projects.blender.org/scm/viewvc.php/trunk/blender/release/scripts/templates_py/custom_nodes.py?view=markup&root=bf-blender
[3] http://code.blender.org/index.php/2012/01/improving-node-group-interface-editing/
of closures limit. Optimized the code now so it can handle more.
Change SVM mix/add closure handling, now we transform the node graph so that
the mix weights are fed into the closure nodes directly.
for now subtype is not defined, but once we start parsing the metadata we can set texture inputs as FILEPATH
also, it takes relative strings and convert to absolute for all strings (which is arguably a good solution, but
should work for now)
Each BSDF node now has a Normal input, which can be used to set a custom normal
for the BSDF, for example if you want to have only bump on one of the layers in
a multilayer material.
The Bump node can be used to generate a normal from a scalar value, the same as
what happens when you connect a scalar value to the displacement output.
Documentation has been updated with the latest changes:
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/Render/Cycles/Nodes
Patch by Agustin Benavidez, some implementation tweaks by me.
It's using the Ward BSDF currently, which has some energy loss so might be a bit
dark. More/better BSDF options can be implemented later.
Patch by Mike Farnsworth, some modifications by me. Currently it's not possible yet
to set a custom tangent, that will follow as part of per-bsdf normals patch.
This allows group nodes inside other group nodes in cycles and makes the
code more generic for all possible cases, like direct group
input-to-output links and unused group sockets.
Previous code tried to connect external nodes and internal group sockets
by following links until a "real" node input/output. This quickly
becomes complicated in corner cases as described above and can lead to
unexpected behavior when the group socket is of a different type than
the internal/external sockets, but that conversion is skipped.
The new code uses the concept of "proxy nodes" similar to what the new
compositor does. Each group socket is replaced with a proxy node with a
single input and output, to which other nodes in the same tree and
internal nodes can link to. After all groups have been expanded in the
graph, these proxy nodes are removed again, adding converter nodes if
necessary.