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

Training types
Course Documentation Production Lesson Workshop

Training categories
Animation Geometry Nodes Lighting Rendering Rigging Shading
Film Highlights
Wing It!
2023
Charge
2022
Sprite Fright
2021
Spring
2019
Project Highlights
Project DogWalk
Interactive
Gold
Showcase
BCON24 Identity
Showcase
Fighting with Grease Pencil
Article
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
Report Problem
2: Procedural Textures

Space Manipulation

You can get the visualization file for the Space Manipulation Tool here: https://cloud.blender.org/p/procedural-shading/5f075e89e9eb8ce7a48e38f5

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9 comments
Anmol Krishna
Anmol Krishna
Feb. 16th, 2023

@Simon Thommes can you give me a way to understand the math node the way you have it in your mind and how much really you spend time to have this fluency of mind to work with...!! Under the Procedural Textures...only math nodes and their sub-types are very confusing for me to grab...so any guide or practice on how we can make math nodes more perfect...!!

Boris BRESIL
Boris BRESIL
Feb. 22nd, 2022

This is incredibly dense material and at normal speed sentences don't make any sense, it is just a series of technical jumps...it would be more helpful to slowly build upon a basic use case and allow time for the knowledge to sink in instead of jumping from options to options... (I haven't finished the course so I hope it is the case later on) Nonetheless, this is one of the best course I have seen on procedural shading. Thank you !

Tighe Racicot
Tighe Racicot
Feb. 19th, 2021

This was mind blowing, and I only have a superficial understanding of what's going on here. I don't see why it's beneficial to think in terms of manipulating coordinate space, rather than thinking in terms of the visual outcome.  What is coordinate space in the first place? Is it synonymous with coordinate map or value/color/vector map? For Ping Pong for instance, I'm familiar that it will go from 0-1 then 1-0, a symmetric gradient. I don't see why I need to understand that coordinate space is being folded. Simon you said that space manipulation can be vital for specific textures. Can you give an example? Definitely need to come back to this when it's not 2 AM :D

Luis Saybe
Luis Saybe
Dec. 12th, 2020

Correct me if I am wrong but it seems a missing highlight of this tutorial is the lack of introduction of displacement. I had to go into the blender files used in this lesson to understand and see the the displacement input was being used in the material output node.

Prior to this lesson, we were only applying mathematical operating to the surface, so I was really confused as to how the object was able to deform in 3D when only the Surface input of Material Output was being used.

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Jan. 4th, 2021

@Luis Saybe The intention of this video was only to visualize the mathematical manipulation of coordinate space and not go into detail about how the demonstration file is set up. But you make a good point. It might be confusing and maybe I should have gone a simpler route than using displacement or taken more time to explain what is happening.

Pierpaolo Andraghetti
Pierpaolo Andraghetti
Sept. 15th, 2020

In blender 2.90, if i use ctrl+S to swap nodes, i can't find the "vector rotate" choice/node in the menu. But It's there with "Shift+A". Don't know if this happens only to me. Simon your course is enlightening thank you so much. i don't even know if i'm ever gonna use this but the fact is this is so fascinating...

Simon Thommes
Simon Thommes
Sept. 15th, 2020

*@Pierpaolo Andraghetti* The reason for this is that shift+s to switch is a feature of the node wrangler, which is an addon and nodes like the vector rotate node are not yet integrated in the interface for it. The maintainer of the addon has to add them manually.

I'm glad you are enjoying the course. From my experience it is very useful to integrate a lot of the tricks from the procedural workflow into your regular workflow. Even if you don't want to create purely procedural shaders. Keep in mind that a lot of the concepts can just as well be applied to the use of image textures. :)

<deleted>
<deleted>
Sept. 7th, 2020

Wow, the mix of textures was awesome, until now I was using a mix mode

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Pandian GR
Pandian GR
July 18th, 2020

Very nice and insight Tutorial Simon. Eagerly waiting upcoming chapters

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