Layered Material without Material Functions

Development Rendering
1

Hello All,

I would like to put together a layered material without the use of material functions. I would like to create a master material with parameter nodes to create instances later. It should be easy to just use linear interpolate nodes with a mask to add various layers, but what I am most interested in is having the ability to turn on and off layers. For example, I would like to set up a base layer with diffuse, roughness/metal/ao, and normal control via texture maps, then layer on another set of textures (for dirt or rust, or ware, etc) using a mask. Is it possible to use a static switch parameter (or another node) to turn on or off the usability of an entire set of nodes? I can only figure out how to use a static switch parameter node for turning on and off the use of one map at a time, If true, use “dirt layer” diffuse, but I can’t figure out how to set up my material in a way to “use dirt layer”. Please let me know if that makes sense, or if I need to elaborate more.

Thank you for the help!

2
  1. Put your scalar parameter into the switch.
  2. Create instance of material.
  3. Select the layers you want.

You’ll have to create a new instance for each variant you want. For example- one instance with the dirty switch off, and another instance with the dirty switch on. They will both reference the master material.

3

Great! I think this will work. Thank you for the suggestion!