more shader experiments

now i feel im getting the hang of it...im going to replicate some of the looks i can see in max.
here's a list of the preset tools in max and their counterparts in Houdini.

one thing to note is that Houdini often bundles up displacement into its shaders
where as this is manual in max. - you mnust always plug something into displacement so you never get displacement by default.

another gotcha in H9 - sometimes in VOPs it apears as though your chaing parameters and nothing is changing in the shaderview...try spinning the view to force a refresh ! :D

Max material-------------------------------------Houdini Solution

Blend material ---------------------------------------mix (after specifying a lighting model)
composite ---------------------------------------------- mix or composite
Double sided ------------------------------------------2 Sided
Ink and Paint ------------------------------------------two tone with wren comp ? exp. fall off comp / edge detect comp.
Matte / Shadow --------------------------------------Matte
shadow ---------------------------------------------------not sure yet
(here the shadow object doesnt render but casts shadows)
morpher --------------------------------------------------mix with SOP groups
sub- object ----------------------------------------------material SOPS
raytrace --------------------------------------------------reflection VOP
Shell material (baked textures mixed in)---------done maually
shellac ----------------------------------------------------additonal lighting models
Top Bottom ---------------------------------------------mix with a vector bias

Max map --------------------------------------------Houdini solution

bitmap ----------------------------------------------------texture VOP
camera map -------------------------------------------per pixel camera mapping
cellular ---------------------------------------------------cellular noise
- with render parm multiplied by dist 2 parm
checker --------------------------------------------------checker
composite ----------------------------------------------composite
dent --------------------------------------------------------combination of noises
falloff ------------------------------------------------------edge falloff
Gradient ramps -------------------------------------use UVTransform
to rotate 90 degs in Z
gradient ramp ---------------------------------------spline VOP
see the fire VOP for an example
spiral and sweep ramps may have to be manually created with other VOPS
investigate this !
marble ----------------------------------------------------marble
but slightly different
mask -------------------------------------------------------mix with float input
noise -------------------------------------------------------anti-aliased noise
for turbulence- muiliply with marble.
output -----------------------------------------------------use invert VOP, clamp / floor / ceiling VOPs and for color map - use a HSV VOP
perlin marble -----------------------------------------combination of perlin noise and marble ? marble with p noise applied to the xy coords?
planet -----------------------------------------------------not sure on this one
smoke -----------------------------------------------------noise variation
speckle ---------------------------------------------------noise variation
splat -------------------------------------------------------splatter
stucco -----------------------------------------------------noise variation
thin wall refraction --------------------------------NApplicable
tiles ---------------------------------------------------------boxes
Vertex color --------------------------------------------Cd attribute
waves-------------------------------------------------------waves
wood --------------------------------------------------------wood

So it seems almost all of max's map / material types are also present in Hoiudini - thats good to know. The main exception would be a spiral gradient - but I can make this witha bit of sweat.

Houdini's extra VOPS:

displacement

cell cracks
furrows
scales
waves

patterns

bricker
burlap
burplap pattern
cellular cracks
gingham checks
high-low noise
mandlebrot set

oscillations
periodic noise
rainbow

ringsripples




skin default
soft dots

rounded stars
splatter
stucco
thin film - like a soap bubble.
here ive specified the mandril as the reflected image.

two-tone

turbulent noise and some variations
veinsvoronoi noise

wire pattern
worley noise
woven