More Shader Progress

I fixed up the loop errors I was having, so now the final shader node combines layers to achieve its final color.

In this example, for simplicity of network, I'm only using Layer nodes with base colors (no pigment fraction).


By following the Lambert shading example included in the Maya development kit, I have thus been able to forgo writing a custom renderer. My shader now works with Maya Software - the default rendering package - which gives me sweet stuff like shadows. This is nice. Knocks a full task off my list and makes my shader more functional!


I now need to write the more complex equations (which take into consideration layer thickness, and ray scattering) as the light goes through the layers.

Better Than Nothing... Shader Progress

I've been working on the shader since there is a beta review tomorrow. Here's what it looks like at the moment. I'm trying to get it to render as a lambert before I start doing too many fancy layer things.

I rendered this using ordinary Maya Software. The light is red, explaining the ground plane and all. The right cube uses the default lambert1 shader and exists for comparison.

Not enough time. Not enough time. Not enough time!

Shader I

I missed putting up about seven pages' worth of planning, so I've been behind on updating this. That doesn't mean I haven't been working, though! I've started coding. This is for the "660" part of my project. It takes the algorithms from this paper and translates them into a Maya shader:

KRISHNASWAMY, A., AND BARANOSKI, G. 2004. A biophysically-based spectral model of light interaction with human skin. Computer Graphics Forum 23, 3 (Sept.), 331–340.

This is the shading network for the tissue texture. Conceptually, the paper outlines how light travels through each layer of tissue - being absorbed and scattered at each one. Therefore, I am imitating this structure with Maya shader nodes. Because the shader needs to be generalized to both plants and humans, the number of pigments, color, and physical properties are all user defined.

I've decided to make pigments and layers utility nodes, so artists who want greater customization can link them via the Hypershade (as I have been doing) as well as use the plug-in provided GUI (to be developed later).