The Blender Creative Series: 3D Modelling for Beginners
Procedural Materials In Blender
You will be able to use and navigate the Shading workspace, have a deep understanding of several key nodes, and will be able to create shaders both from existing textures as well as from scratch using maths!
1 Setup Blender for Shader Work
- How to enable the Node Wrangler addon.
2 Introduction to the Shader Editor
- How to navigate the Shader Editor.
- What node types are available.
- What different socket colours mean.
3 Useful Shader Shortcuts
- Basic actions in the shader editor. > + Pan with
MMB > + Zoom with Scroll Wheel > + Add new nodes with CTRL + A > + Duplicate nodes with SHIFT + D or CTRL + SHIFT + D
- Some common Node Wrangler shortcuts. > + View a node with
CTRL + SHIFT + LMB > + Lazy Connect two nodes with ALT + RMB > + Cut noodles with CTRL + RMB > + Create a reroute with SHIFT + RMB
- And more..
4 A First Material
- How to create and edit a shader in the Shader Editor.
- How to modify a texture using the ColorRamp node.
5 Understanding Values in Shaders
- How values are represented as colour and the limitation of colour (especially with negative values).
6 The Texture Coordinate Node
- Understanding what each socket of the Texture Coordinate node offers.
7 The Math Node Part 1
- How the Math node works.
- Understanding specific functions: > +
Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide > + Absolute
8 The Math Node Part 2
- How the Math node works.
- Understanding specific functions: > +
Minimum, Maximum > + Greater Than, Less Than > + Fraction, Modulo, Ping-Pong> + Snap
9 A Screentone Shader
- How to manipulate texture coordinates with a Mapping node.
- How to use a Shader to RGB node to introduce lighting information into a shader.
10 The MixRGB Node
- How the MixRGB node works.
- Understanding specific blend modes: > +
Mix > + Darken, Multiply, Color Burn > + Lighten, Color Dodge, Add > + Linear Light > + Difference
11 Introduction to the Kitchen Scene
- How a non-destructive workflow has been used to create the scene using modifiers.
12 Creating PBR Shaders
- How to set up a PBR material with multiple image maps.
- How to manipulate values such as roughness inside the shader.
13 Manipulating Procedural Textures
- How to use a Map Range node.
- How to use a Constant falloff with the ColorRamp node.
14 The Bump Node
- How to set up the Bump Node.
- How to assign materials with the Solidify Modifier.
- How to link materials and modifiers with
CTRL + L.
15 Randomising Colour per Object
- How to get a random value with the Object Info node.
- How to create a palette with a ColorRamp node.
- How to randomise values with a White Noise node.
16 Assigning Materials
- How to assign multiple materials to a single object.
17 Liquid Inside a Glass
- How to create a custom glass shader that allows for liquid inside a container with Eevee.
- How to use the Fresnel and RGB Curve nodes.
18 Creating a Tile Pattern
- How to create our own patterns from scratch.
- How to work with the Vector Math node.
- How to build useful controls into your procedural shader.
19 Making the Tile Shader
- How to go from a greyscale pattern to a full shader.
- How to use RGB Curves to create custom tile profiles.
- How to build randomness into a procedural shader.
20 Creating Group Nodes
- How to create and navigate Group Nodes.
- How to generate and manage sockets.
21 Baking Textures
- How to optimise the baking process: > + Set Render Samples to 1 unless specifically baking lighting information. > + Set the Tile Size to match your texture resolution. > + Ensure the texture you bake to is the active node.
22 Extra Challenges and Wrap Up
- Well done on getting this far!
- Extra challenges to help consolidate the lessons so far.
- If you haven't yet, I'd love to see your progress.
- Any feedback? Let us know.