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Training Highlights
Stylized Rendering with Brushstrokes
Geometry Nodes from Scratch
Procedural Shading Fundamentals
Stylized Character Workflow

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Animation Geometry Nodes Lighting Rendering Rigging Shading
Film Highlights
Wing It!
2023
Charge
2022
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2021
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2019
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Course
Procedural Shading: Fundamentals and Beyond
Introduction
  1. 01

    Introduction

    Free
  2. 02

    Definition

  3. 03

    Content Overview

  4. 04

    The Shader Editor

1: Fundamentals
  1. 01

    Colors, Values & Vectors

  2. 02

    Vectors and Pixels

  3. 03

    Coordinate Types

  4. 04

    Value Control

2: Procedural Textures
  1. 01

    Noise Textures

  2. 02

    Shape Control

  3. 03

    Repetition

  4. 04

    Texture Composition

  5. 05

    Space Manipulation

3: Shading Principles
  1. 01

    PBR

  2. 02

    Geometric Dependency - Context Sensitivity

  3. 03

    Generating PBR Maps

4: Shader Composition
  1. 01

    Blending & Masking

  2. 02

    Randomization

  3. 03

    Semi-Procedural Workflow

  4. 04

    Volumetric Shaders

5: Modular Setup
  1. 01

    Parametrization

  2. 02

    Nodegroups

6: Automation
  1. 01

    Drivers

  2. 02

    Animation

Workflow Examples
  1. 01

    Walls (Chapter 2+)

  2. 02

    Wood (Chapter 3+)

  3. 03

    Dynamic Walls (Chapter 4+)

  4. 04

    Wooden Boards (Chapter 5+)

  5. 05

    Fire (Chapter 6+)

  6. 06

    Rainy Window (Chapter 6+)

Files & Tools
  1. Example Scene
  2. Example Scene - Simplified Free
  3. Visualization (Chapter 1-4): Value Graph
  4. Visualization (Chapter 2-5): Space Origami
  5. Example Shader (Chapter 3-1): Rock
  6. Example Shader (Chapter 4-1): Dilapidated Cube Scene
  7. Example Shader (Chapter 4-3): Image Texture De-Tiling
  8. Example Shader (Chapter 4-3): Semi-Procedural Fishbones Boards
  9. Example Shader (Chapter 4-4): Procedural Volumetric Clouds

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Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes Author
License CC-BY
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1: Fundamentals

Colors, Values & Vectors

Get the visualization file here:

Blender File · 2.4 MB · CC-BY Color-Value-Vector.blend
Download File

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46 comments
Alessandro Michelazzi
Alessandro Michelazzi
Dec. 7th, 2023

Is there's a way in Blender 4.0+ to disable the color managment for debug as shown in the example? I can't find the "none" option in the Display Device anymore...

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Dec. 11th, 2023

@Alessandro Michelazzi Something that I failed to point out in this video is that there are both the values with and without color management applied visible on inspection. The color managed ones are marked with CM but left next to them you find the original color values.

Sheryl Jean
Sheryl Jean
Oct. 23rd, 2023

I'm trying to follow along but there is no Combine RGB node in my converter category.

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Oct. 24th, 2023

@Sheryl Jean This has been recorded a few years ago, so Blender has changed a bit in the meantime. The concepts all still apply, but things might be in a different place. The node you're looking for has been renamed to Combine Color

piranha4D
piranha4D
March 10th, 2023

Hi, Simon -- when I try to download the file via the link provided, I get an "access denied" error.

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
March 13th, 2023

@piranha4D Hm, for me it is working fine. Maybe try clearing your cache or using a different browser

MOHAMMED AIMAN IZZUDDIN BIN ABD MALIK
MOHAMMED AIMAN IZZUDDIN BIN ABD MALIK
Jan. 3rd, 2023

When im use pixel sample to calculate the info of RGB value on the rendered plane with value beyond 1, i can see the the exact value which i provided.But, if i put value beyond 0 (negative value), the value always 0. Is this because pixel sample cant read negative values after rendered?

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Jan. 3rd, 2023

@MOHAMMED AIMAN IZZUDDIN BIN ABD MALIK Yes, for negative values this doesn't work, as for rendering negative values are not intended as an output.

This course is a couple of years old by now and nowadays we have Geometry Nodes in Blender. For those you can use the spreadsheet editor as well to inspect exact values so I would recommend you to try out those as well, if you are interested.

MOHAMMED AIMAN IZZUDDIN BIN ABD MALIK
MOHAMMED AIMAN IZZUDDIN BIN ABD MALIK
Jan. 4th, 2023

@Simon Thommes I see, Im planning to move to Geometry Nodes course after done with this. Thank you for all the knowledge sharing.

Samuel Gariépy
Samuel Gariépy
Dec. 3rd, 2022

The shaders in that visualization scene are insane ! I don't understand how it works at all and it makes me feel like I'm in good hands 😄

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Dec. 5th, 2022

@Samuel Gariépy Hopefully by the end of this series you'll have a better idea what's going on :) I tried to include all techniques that I usually use.

Nazim Ali Choudry
Nazim Ali Choudry
Nov. 7th, 2022

the combine RGB node doesnt show up in blender 3.3- has it been replaced by something?

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Nov. 8th, 2022

@Nazim Ali Choudry Yes, the color ones have been merged into Combine Color with different modes

John Ko
John Ko
June 20th, 2022

@ Simon Thommes Can you reupload your blned file?? I got an error message : This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.   Oh solved well thanks!

AccessDenied Access denied

Alexandros Hadjilaou
Alexandros Hadjilaou
Jan. 31st, 2022

Great intro into colors and shading! Can you add a video explaining how you created the blend file? This way we'll have the opportunity to dive into the details and get familiar with the concept.

Andreas Hoffmann
Andreas Hoffmann
Feb. 28th, 2021

Sorry, I used brackets in my question before: Is there a difference between setting Display Device to None and setting it to sRG AND View Transform to Raw ? Both combinations yield the 0.5 values for RGB in your shown set-up.

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
March 1st, 2021

@Andreas Hoffmann You're right, both of these settings give you the linear values without additional color transformation. The main differnece between changing the Display Device and the View Transform is what is affected. You can see that for example the solid viewport is not affected by the View Transform but by the Display Device.

Andreas Hoffmann
Andreas Hoffmann
Feb. 28th, 2021

Is there a difference between setting to and setting it to AND to ? Both combinations yield the 0.5 values for RGB in your shown set-up.

Theeverflare
Theeverflare
Feb. 23rd, 2021

What is weighted average value? and can you explain in a simplified version of it since i find it hard to understand the meaning behind it, even through google search.

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Feb. 24th, 2021

@Theeverflare An average in general gives you a comparable measure for a property of a group regardless of the size of that group. It is just calculated by the sum of all the properties divided by their count.

If in the measure you are looking for different elements of the group have a difference importance, you have to weigh the average in the calculation with the weights of those elements.

In the example of the RGB Color one weighted average that you can look at is the luminance which give you information over how bright a color appears. If you just were to calculate the general average with (R+G+B)/3 that would be inaccurate in terms of luminance, as a pure blue for example is much darker than a pure green.

Because of this you have to weigh the different components of red, green and blue in a way that they are more accurately represented in the average. These weights are basically a measure of how much each color component is worth in terms of luminance. The weighted average then calculates as (R*wR+G*wG+B*wB)/(wR+wG+wB) where wR, wG, wB are the weights of the components. In the case of equal weighting this is exactly the formular from above: (R*1+G*1+B*1)/(1+1+1)=(R+G+B)/3

I hope that helps understanding this :)

Emmanuel
Emmanuel
June 2nd, 2021

@Simon Thommes This class already started very well! For info our eyes percieves the luminance of a color differently depending of the channel: 0.21R + 0.72G + 0.07B

Theeverflare
Theeverflare
March 17th, 2021

@Simon Thommes Thanks i understand now

Leif Eliasson
Leif Eliasson
Feb. 1st, 2021

Great look forward to follow this

Hendra Yahya
Hendra Yahya
Nov. 26th, 2020

What the use of Values & Vectors? Can we just use base color in Principled BSDF for changing color?

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Jan. 4th, 2021

@Hendra Yahya Values and vectors are the base of all information that is passed in a nodetree and you can use them generally everywhere to inform your shader. This course goes more into depth of the node-based shading system in Blender, so having this base is important to build up on. The Principled BSDF shader specifically is topic of chapter 3.

Jean-Christophe Sekinger
Jean-Christophe Sekinger
Nov. 20th, 2020

this video is interrupted after a minute

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Jan. 4th, 2021

@Jean-Christophe Sekinger Is this still happening to you? I cannot reproduce this error.

Sathyarajkumar Krishnasamy
Sathyarajkumar Krishnasamy
Sept. 20th, 2020

I enabled the add on Node Wrangler. But not getting the “Viewer” Node. A forum suggested Ctrl + shift + LMB / Command + shift + LMB which did not help either. I’m using 2.83. Anything i’m missing?

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Sept. 21st, 2020

*@srkmail* That is exactly the shortcut that should work, which I am using as well. Are you sure that the addon is enabled correctly? You should save your preferences after enabling so Blender remembers your settings.

Do you see the Node Wrangler settings in the right property tab of your shader editor window? (shows up when pressing 'N')

Sathyarajkumar Krishnasamy
Sathyarajkumar Krishnasamy
Sept. 21st, 2020

*@Simon Thommes* Thanks a lot Simon. It is working after restart. Thanks for this wonderful tutorial.

victor p
victor p
Aug. 28th, 2020

Hi Simon, was wondering why when the vector is going to -z direction it turns to dark green, when going to -x turning to dark blue and also when going to -y it turns to dark purple?

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Aug. 28th, 2020

*@Victor Bonar Panggabean* I'm not entirely sure, I understand what you mean. On its own, negative RGB values don't affect the other color channels.

If you mean the effect, that negative color values for the base color of the Principled BSDF shader affect the color, that you see, that is exclusively due to the specular part of the shader. The negative components effectively subtract from the reflection, changing its color.

That works in the same way as you can have negative emission as absorption with lamps or emission shaders.

victor p
victor p
Sept. 4th, 2020

*@Simon Thommes* Hi Simon, sorry for my english. I mean in the blendfile that you provide for us. In the vectors scene, if i move the empty (target) to the +z direction then the arrow turns blue. But when i move the empty to the -z direction why is the arrow turns green? Just curious

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Sept. 4th, 2020

*@Victor Bonar Panggabean* Ah, I see. Thanks for pointing this out!

The reason for this effect is the same I described in my earlier comment, I did not think of it when creating the file. I updated the file. Now the behavior is accurate.

victor p
victor p
Sept. 5th, 2020

*@Simon Thommes* Thank you Simon, will try explore the file again. Anyway i think you're the only instructor in this blender cloud who replies.. Haha.. Thanks alot

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Sept. 7th, 2020

*@Victor Bonar Panggabean* I think the problem you are experiencing might be on the courses that are old training DVDs that are not uploaded by the instructors themselves, but as an archive by one of our maintainers. So those instructors don't see your comments unfortunately.

But on the courses by those of us working at the Blender Studio currently we all respond regularly as far as I know. I know that, as an example, Julien Kaspar replies to all comments in short time.

victor p
victor p
Sept. 7th, 2020

*@Simon Thommes* Yes you're right. Ah, so the old training courses was not uploaded by the instructors themselves.

Wow, that's awesome so now there's a new division developing the blender training material?

Anyway, if i can make a suggestion, it will be much helpful for the students that don't speak english well (like me) if there is a feature that can upload picture in this Q & A section. So instead explaining what is happening in my screen, i can just screenshot and send it here so the instructor will easily understand the problem and therefore will be able to help the students easily.

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Sept. 7th, 2020

*@victor p* Yes, as far as I know that feature will be supported in the future. Right now you can also do it, but you have to first upload the image and then link to it in the comment.

victor p
victor p
Sept. 7th, 2020

*@Simon Thommes* aha..yes you are right.

Blair Martin
Blair Martin
Sept. 5th, 2020

*@Victor Bonar Panggabean* That hasn't been my experience. To name one example, Julien K. responded to a question I had recently within a day or so. And my only other attempt at asking a question was also answered. Sounds like you haven't been as lucky. Still, painting everyone with one brush may not be so fair.

Jeremy Baker
Jeremy Baker
Aug. 25th, 2020

That box displaying the numbers in the Values scene is blowing my mind!

Martin Eschoyez
Martin Eschoyez
Aug. 7th, 2020

Just brilliant, well organized and necessary. Thanks for this! I'm sure i'll be playing with materials soon.

Pierpaolo Andraghetti
Pierpaolo Andraghetti
July 26th, 2020

How can i show the values at the bottom of the render window? (i'm using blender 2.83LTS and it doesn't show them by default. Thankx and btw this course is super interesting

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
July 27th, 2020

*@Pierpaolo Andraghetti* The values only show up, when you click on the image. The mouse button depends on what you use for selection. With leftclick-select you use the right mouse button and vice versa

carlos13eab
carlos13eab
July 25th, 2020

Super excited for this course! Thank you Simon!

Blair Martin
Blair Martin
July 14th, 2020

Looks like my B.C. sub just paid for itself. Thanks for making this, Simon!

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