MCP_Architectural MetaSL Shader for Softimage

[Daniel Brassard]

Hi everyone,

I have converted the MCP_Architectural MetaSL shader of Mental Mill to work in Softimage. I used Soft 2013 to test it, although I think it may work on 2011 and 2012 as well (a confirmation would be appreciated).

So here is the file as is for test and feedback.

Comments appreciated.

Installation: unzip the file and put the file in your user or workgroup folder:

C:/Users/Username/Autodesk/Softimage_2013/Application/msl

Known Bugs:

- Some of the parameters are not implemented in this shader. They are there for future implementation.

Corrected in this version:

- Conversion from Spectrum type to Color was not correct in some instances
- Conversion from max_value to max was not correct.
- Added a parameter luminance_weight to play with when refl_is_metal is "on". Default color value (0.212671, 0.715160, 0.072169, 0.0)
- Bool are now displaying on the UI

Cheers!

Daniel

[Matic]

Hey Daniel, isn't this shader already available though? I seem to have all of the metaSL nodes from mental mill in 2013 in Autodesk\Softimage 2013\Application\phenolib\msl.

[Daniel Brassard]

There are two MetaSL architectural shaders that come with Softimage: architectural and architectural comp. These shaders came with Mental Mill 1.1 The MCP version come with Mental Mill 1.2 and is part of the mental core library. The MCP version has a few more input parameters than the other Architectural shaders.

The MCP_Architectural is closer to the mia_material_x that come with the MetaSL shader library.

If you really want something daunting, get a hold of the mia-material_x. THAT is a shader!

Dan

P.S Some of the shaders that come with Softimage don't work out of the box. I had to modify the shader code to get them working. Not all of them though, there are some issue related to the old LLVM backend that need to be resolved (Spectrum and Color3 type to name a few) by AD doing an update to the backend.

The MCP was one of them.

[rray]

Thanks! I've tried it but so far couldn't make show up.

[Daniel Brassard]

RRay

The shader should appear under MetaSL as "Architectural shader (core shader library)" of type user shader.

Can you confirm the path you put the shader under?

[rray]

I've tried (user dir)\Autodesk\Softimage_2013_SP1\Application\data\msl

now I've tried the application's msl and there it works! Trying out a pass environment and reflections/refractions, and it looks great already.

[rray]

I noticed something: When the pass environment is rotated, the rendered output is ok, but the hq shaded one is flipped:


One other thing I noticed, when I dialed the diffuse down from 1 to 0.2 and then back up to 1, there's a lot of dark details missing in the reflections when rendered (hq shaded is ok)

[gustavoeb]

When you say mentalcore do you mean the maya plugin? Is nVidia distributing those shaders for free now ?

[Daniel Brassard]

@RRAy

Thanks for the feedback.

You are correct for the filepath where to put the shader. I corrected the first post.

Strange that the HQV is showing the map upside down but not in the rendered view. I'll look at the diffuse as well, it may be an error in the conversion between Spectrum to float4.

@Gustavoeb

I got the MCP shaders from Mental Mill 1.2 available on the NVidia ARC website. They are all labelled mi cross product shaders. I was curious to see what was the difference between these shaders and the one we have in Soft.

To me, MetaSL is nice but a bit experimental in Softimage. You never know if one will work fine or crash on entry. It still hit and miss at that end. Too bad, lot of potential and fairly easy to learn but another area that need some love from AD.

[Daniel Brassard]

RRAY,

I have modified the MCP_Architectural shader. I did have some Spectrum to float4 conversion issue. Can you test it with your scene and see if it works now?

Thanks

Dan

P.S. I have updated the first thread with the new file.

[Matic]

This is awesome Daniel!

[Daniel Brassard]

The MCP_Architectural shader next to those that come with Softimage 2013 (Architectural and Architectural Comp). A few more functionality in this shader although a few parameters do nothing right now, there is a lot of room to play and modify in the future.

[rray]

Diffuse works fine now, the map is is still flipped with an transformed environment here
Btw, I just noticed it's flipped for all factory shaders as well, so it's a bug in the HQV.

[Daniel Brassard]

That is great, RRay. Thanks for the feedback.

Are you going to report the bug to AD?

Dan