Add a 2d checkerboard pattern node #1328
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Add a 2d checkerboard pattern node.
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Thanks for this proposal, @crydalch, and it seems like a very natural node to include in MaterialX. I had just one suggestion below on the name of the node.
libraries/stdlib/stdlib_defs.mtlx
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| Node: <checkerboard> | ||
| A 2D checkerboard pattern. | ||
| --> | ||
| <nodedef name="ND_checkerboard_float" node="checkerboard" nodegroup="procedural2d"> |
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@crydalch The design of this node seems very reasonable to me, though it seems worthwhile to consider the idea of returning a color3 value instead of a float, with the two colors of the checkerboard specified as color1 and color2 inputs (defaulting to white and black).
I don't have a strong opinion on which design is better for MaterialX, but for reference here are a few examples of checkerboard nodes that use the color1/color2 approach:
https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/[email protected]/manual/Checkerboard-Node.html
https://learn.foundry.com/mari/Content/reference_guide/nodes/Checkerboard.html
https://help.autodesk.com/view/ARNOL/ENU/?guid=arnold_user_guide_ac_texture_shaders_ac_texture_checkerboard_html
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It would be nice to cover a reasonable "maximum" possible flexibility (which seems to be Arnold) and anything that supports less can restrict what inputs are modifiable / exposed. e.g. frequency in u and v allows for "stripe" textures to be created. A "customized" version of this would sync u and v values. Does this sound reasonable?
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I like this idea @jstone-lucasfilm
An early version of the node did have color inputs/outputs, but I don't recall why I went away from that... but regardless, I'll make that change. Thank you for the suggestion and references.
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The color1/color2 output approach and parameterization looks good to me. Just thinking aloud, I am wondering if there is any use for the originally-proposed "float" output variant, which would output exactly a 0 or a 1, which the color1/color2 variant would call? I'm generally a fan of breaking larger more full-featured nodes into atomic pieces when some of the sub-pieces could be useful outside the full-featured node, and it feels to me like the "generate a checkerboard pattern" portion could fall into that category. But if the only reasonable use of a 0/1 float output checkerboard would be to drive the color1/color2 color type node, then this is fine as-is. |
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@dbsmythe Looking at similar nodes in DCC tools, my thinking is that the current color-based approach is the most general-purpose, and artists can extract a single channel from the output color when they need scalar results. Here are some of the DCC examples that we were looking at earlier in the thread: https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/[email protected]/manual/Checkerboard-Node.html |
Add a 2d checkerboard pattern node.