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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
Sprite Fright
2021
Spring
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

Coordinate Types

Get the visualization file here:

Blender File · 768.3 KB · CC-BY Coordinates.blend
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25 comments
De Etta L Ewing
De Etta L Ewing
Feb. 19th, 2023

i found this quite informative.  Transcripts of these and your Geometry Nodes lessons would be helpful for review-

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Feb. 20th, 2023

@De Etta L Ewing Yes, the drawback of presenting this in video for is that it is less easy to look something up quickly. I tried to organize these lessons well and make them as short and concise as possible to allow rewatching specific parts easily for that reason.

De Etta L Ewing
De Etta L Ewing
Feb. 22nd, 2023

Your efforts paid off.  I have re-watched several already, second time around the know how fell into place-thx!

Min Li
Min Li
Jan. 3rd, 2021

Thanks, it is very helpful.

I am new to these concepts. I rewatch it multiple times and discuss it with friends, finally understand it. It might be helpful when talking about Generated / Normal / Object, choose some points to talk about the output. So that we can know the value range, and how these numbers calculated.

So, Generate value range [0,1], normal value range [-1, 1], Object value range [-∞, +∞] which based on vertices position.

When I search about nodes color: "Yellow is a tuple containing 3 values; the red, green, and blue channels of a color. Purple is a tuple containing 3 values. Used for vector/coordinate information."

And I notice I can use Separate GRB, Separate XYZ interchangeable.

My question is: Is the value range is the only difference between Yellow and Purple nodes? The yellow node for color range is [0,1], purple node when in Object can be [-∞, +∞]

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Jan. 4th, 2021

@Min Li This question is related to chapter 1-1 where I talk about the difference of vectors and colors. I short, Blender nodes don't make an intrinsic distinction between colors and vectors as objects. The difference is only important once they are being interpreted. In that sense, yes, the difference is their range. But the sockets and nodes can usually be used interchangeably between colors and vectors.

Min Li
Min Li
Jan. 5th, 2021

@Simon Thommes   Thank you ~

AntoineFortin
AntoineFortin
Dec. 28th, 2020

Nice

aneeqtariq.5710
aneeqtariq.5710
Nov. 11th, 2020

can we say that the camera projects three dimensions as two with, viewport display being coordinated of that 2. z being anything in the bottom left, y upwards, and x towards right?

Abhirama Gopala Dasa
Abhirama Gopala Dasa
Sept. 12th, 2020

I wanted to know the difference between generated and Object coordinates. You said Generated is tied to the mesh and object coordinates is tied to the Object, but my mind is not albe to go deeper

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Sept. 14th, 2020

*@Abhirama Gopala Dasa* The mesh and pbject are separate things. Basically the object is what you can edit in object mode with location, rotation and scale. And the mesh is what you edit in edit mode with all the individual vertices.

Generated coordinates stretch along the mesh, no matter what the object scale is. And object coordinates are linked to the object transformation, no matter what the contained mesh is. I hope this helps.

victor p
victor p
Sept. 7th, 2020

Hi Simon, can you tell me why the suzanne in my viewport doesn't have colors like you? I'm using the files you provide in the Files and Tools folder

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oqE2xJh1yqBld_0flQD4Qc_epzntEGgl/view?usp=sharing

Well i think i got it, i notice that the node group is used by 4 objects. So i just view the suzannes each in local view. Is this correct?

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Sept. 7th, 2020

*@victor p* Yes, that's correct. If you just used the file from this video though, it should just work.

Tighe Racicot
Tighe Racicot
Feb. 7th, 2021

@Simon Thommes I'm still trying to figure out why each local view displays differently. I see that they are all separate objects, parented to the main suzanne, and that each child has a different material. I can't actually change the material in my shader editor for some reason to see what's going on. Why does local view affect the material display? ... ohhh... cause they're in the same location. Heh. So then why can't I select a different mat in the shader? Everytthing is greyed out.

Tighe Racicot
Tighe Racicot
Feb. 7th, 2021

Edit: Got it. For some reason I couldn't pick a different mat in the shader editor in Layout workspace. Switching to Shading workspace fixed it. Seems like a bug? Anyway, now I see what I'm looking at—separate channels. I couldn't read the material setup in the Material Properties as well as reading the nodes.

Tighe Racicot
Tighe Racicot
Feb. 7th, 2021

Edit again: I discovered it's the Pinned feature that prevents changing a material. Learning a lot about shading/editor already!

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Feb. 8th, 2021

@Tighe Racicot Yep, you figured it all out! :D Sorry that I didn't explain this in the video, but I wanted to focus on the subject matter itself and use the file only as a tool for showcasing.

Tighe Racicot
Tighe Racicot
Feb. 11th, 2021

@Simon Thommes No problem. Totally understand. I like to really experiment, question, and break my (limited) understanding of things, so I had to dig a little deeper.

victor p
victor p
Sept. 7th, 2020

*@Simon Thommes* Thank you

Huân Lê-Vương
Huân Lê-Vương
Aug. 30th, 2020

Hello,

Can you explain why we use UV instead of Generated in the Example 4 please?

(Sorry I commented in the wrong video while I was looking back at this video).

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Aug. 31st, 2020

*@Huân Lê-Vương* You're right, I could have used generated coordinates as well. The reason I didn't is mainly that for a plane the Z-component is irrelevant and with generated coordinates gives redundant and sometimes problematic information. Also for the orientation of an actual pattern like this it is usually nice to be able to manually define its proportions. For example, if the room was not a perfect square, generated coordinates would result in stretching, while the UVs can easily be adjusted.

Huân Lê-Vương
Huân Lê-Vương
Sept. 1st, 2020

*@Simon Thommes* thanks! that makes sense

Gabriel Montagné
Gabriel Montagné
Aug. 9th, 2020

This video really hits it out of the stadium in the usefulness dimension -- I've waited like 10 years to find anything like it! Thanks so much : )

Huân Lê-Vương
Huân Lê-Vương
Aug. 7th, 2020

hello, how do you make a viewer to see a specific "color" like those 3 at the bottom?

Huân Lê-Vương
Huân Lê-Vương
Aug. 7th, 2020

(i think i know how now)

Show more replies
Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Aug. 7th, 2020

*@Huân Lê-Vương* I am using a hack by using separate parented objects with separate shaders that are using the same nodegroup and then going into local view for the individual views.

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