@3Rton See that’s the thing, usually node groups are distributed as just .blend files but I feel that it’s very important to have these be in Blender somehow. Split Lighting especially is as important in NPR as Mix Shader and Add Shader are for PBR. Without it people will just use the ramp node which is a pain to use.
@brecht What do you think is the best way?
I don’t really disagree with the importance but if they say they won’t accept it in master than what can one do. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ I’ve only been stalking the mailing list and bug tracker and I don’t really understand why not just add them to the master but they probably have a fair reason.
I think NPR shader node groups would fit well in the asset manager, and we would like to have it in Blender 2.8 and ship assets along with Blender. That would also let us include a wider variety of NPR shaders, not just a basic split shader.
The only problem is that it’s not 100% certain the asset manager will be finished in time for the first released 2.8 version. I think it’s likely and if not it should happen soon after.
In that case I will make a simple .blend file that has the two node groups (and perhaps include some completed shaders that use them) and distribute it. And when the asset system is done I will contribute it there.
Also just to explain, the Split Lighting node is not just a basic split shader, it’s more like one ‘peg’ of a ramp node. You can chain them together to create a full shader, change the blur, and plug in textures to affect the split point and blur. It’s better than the ramp node because it allows you to wrap up a toon shader completely in a node group, among other things. The ramp node is great for certain things but as the backbone of an NPR shader it’s very cumbersome and limited. This is why I originally wanted to get it in as a proper node.
I hope this topic fits in here as it is about NPR with EEVEE in Blender 2.8 and future versions.
We did some intensive work with advanced toon shaders that included the use of Freestyle for outlining. Unfortunately this didn’t work in Cycles using a panoramic equirectangular camera for VR rendering.
Are there plans to include Freestyle in EEVEE without the restriction regarding panoramic cameras? Or would there be another way to create freestyle like effects in EEVEE without freestyle (which also allow panoramic renders?) Could this be part of the 2.8 Code Quest as well?
Thanks for your feedback.
EEVEE itself doesn’t support panoramic renders, so it is a bit early to talk about that. And definitively not something we can afford to prioritize during the code quest.
Sigh… Thanks for the reply Dalai. … So patience is our ally.
What I’ve seen so far from all the video updates from code quest you are all doing an amazing job and I can’t wait to get Blender 2.8 for my art.
Keep up the great work and have fun!