Open Shading Language for Blender

Learn how to program Blender's scripted shader nodes in Open Shading Language to get the most out of Blender's Cycles rendering engine. Using practical examples and clear illustrations this book will take you from simple patterns all the way to complex materials in small and gentle steps.

Scripted shader nodes in Blender's Cycles rendering engine give you unlimited possibilities when it comes to creating materials far surpassing any built-in nodes. Scripted shaders are programmed in Open Shading Language and this book will get you up to speed quickly with this easy to learn yet powerful programming language. Each section introduces new concepts while focusing on real shaders, keeping the learning curve gentle even for people with little programming experience.

In each section we will present a ready to use shader that is analyzed in detail. The concepts are illustrated with images and diagrams and for each shader and example node setup is presented that shows how the shader could be used in Blender's node editor. The source code for the examples and ready to use .blend files are freely available on GitHub so you can experiment with the shader before delving into the code.

Multiple formats

Formatting books with program listings is always a challenge but the .zip file that you can download when purchasing this e-book contains an .epub version of the book (readable by most e-readers), a .mobi version (readable by Kindles) and a .pdf version.

Sample

A sample of the book in pdf format is available from this link:

Open Shading Language for Blender - Michel Anders sample

Intro
- What are OSL shaders good for?
- Reading hints
- Code availability
A very simple shader
Data types
Control structures
Points, vectors and normals
Mapping vectors
Patterns
Polka dots
Leopard shader
Diamondplate
Symmetry operations
Victorian era cast iron covers
Ripples
Concrete shader
Citrus peel
Ceiling plaster
A mountain shader
Lots of pretty pictures
Hedge shader
Grid displays
Debugging OSL code
The OSL preprocessor
Additional information

Open Shading Language for Blender

Multiple formats

Sample

Table of contents

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