Downloaded the python script from the Pastebin link provided in the blog post. Then installed the add-on through Blender Preferences.
The Shader Library is accessed through the 3D View. If you don’t see the tabs on the right, hover over the 3D View and hit the “N” key on the keyboard.
There are several shader types and options to choose from.
The add-on creates the node tree for the shader. This is a great way to quickly see what node trees can do without creating them from scratch.
I added some compositing to get a nice glow in Cycles.
Have to separate out the Environment (background as set up in “World” panel) and blur foreground alpha separately from the image to get that nice glow.
I always look for a Cycles way to make things glowy since I ultimately use fisheye for use in the dome. Eevee is super fast and that bloom is wonderful, but it’s a no-go when rendering straight to fisheye.
So I spent my morning digging into a tutorial by Chris P on YouTube building a lovely Plexus Effect using Blender and Animation Nodes. There were a few stumbling points due to the tutorial being for slightly older versions of both, but they weren’t so different as to be a huge problem. And if I were more practiced with Animation Nodes it would have been much easier to figure out those differences.
My resulting video isn’t a super high quality because it was rendered for upload to Odysee/Lbry. I don’t know if there is a way to embed as there is with the other video players out there.
Just watched nice YouTube video from YouTuber Steven Scott, titled “Blender Blasphemy, outliner on the left?” and it got me rethinking my workflow, since I increasingly use the numpad keys with my left hand so my right hand can stay on the mouse. (especially since I’m using USB numpads with laptops more and more)
Too much going on this year for me to dive into Nodevember, but I’m looking forward to seeing what other Blender peeps come up with. Rock on, node nerds!
I don’t know if I will keep up this year, but for me the learning is never wasted. The prompts aren’t up yet as of this writing, but they will be here: http://nodevember.io/
The host, Jason van Gumster, is one of those folks I’ve seen for years on the online Blender communities. He’s an author, a creator, and an all-around interesting character.
I first discovered his podcast back when I was thinking of starting my own podcast but his is much better than what I’d had in mind.
Find the audio in your favorite podcast player. Or visit the website directly. Some episodes are also in video format on the Open Source Creative YouTube Channel.
