WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:05.680 The shading editor is a node editor specifically used for editing shader nodes. 2 00:00:05.680 --> 00:00:12.400 This may seem intimidating at first, but nodes are very powerful tools that allow for flexible customization. 3 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:16.720 Keep in mind that many of the basic functions of how to navigate the shader editor will 4 00:00:16.720 --> 00:00:21.240 also apply to the compositor, Blender's other node editor. 5 00:00:21.240 --> 00:00:25.600 So first things first, navigating in the node editors is very similar to navigation 6 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:30.640 in the viewport. Middle click drag to pan your view and scroll to zoom in and out. 7 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:35.200 Moving your nodes is simple as you can simply left click drag a node over. 8 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:42.480 However, you can also use the G, R, and S hotkeys to grab, rotate, and scale your nodes respectively. 9 00:00:42.480 --> 00:00:46.160 Now that we got that out of the way, let's explain how nodes work. 10 00:00:46.160 --> 00:00:51.600 There is typically a starting node, or several starting nodes, that then combine using other nodes 11 00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:56.000 until they all converge into a single ending point, which is the output. 12 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:01.200 As you can see here, the default material already has a shader node and an output node. 13 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:07.040 In this case, the shader node is a starting point and the output node is our ending point. 14 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:11.120 It should be noted that it is possible to have more than one output node, 15 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:14.320 but only one output can be displayed at a time. 16 00:01:14.320 --> 00:01:20.320 This depends on which one was last selected, which will highlight the top of the node red. 17 00:01:20.320 --> 00:01:24.000 So, let's pretend we want to add an image texture to our shader, 18 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:28.480 but maybe we also want to add a gradient to that texture at the same time. 19 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:32.880 Simply navigate to the image file you want to use in the file browser panel. 20 00:01:32.880 --> 00:01:36.320 Left click drag your texture file into the node editor. 21 00:01:36.320 --> 00:01:39.120 This will create an image texture node for you. 22 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:46.160 You can then left click drag the color output of this node into the base color input of our shader. 23 00:01:46.160 --> 00:01:50.880 You might notice that the yellow circular connection receivers are the same color as each other, 24 00:01:50.880 --> 00:01:54.640 telling you that they are indeed the same data type. 25 00:01:54.640 --> 00:02:00.080 Another way to quickly connect two nodes is to select them both, go to the node menu, 26 00:02:00.080 --> 00:02:02.560 and select make links. 27 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:05.920 This forms a connection of matching type between the two nodes, 28 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:09.120 prioritizing the uppermost connection slots. 29 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:15.280 For hotkey users, simply press F, as in fill, to do the same thing. 30 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:20.160 Now, this looks great, but I did say I wanted to add a gradient to this texture. 31 00:02:20.160 --> 00:02:23.840 So, let's go ahead and go into the add menu above the shader editor, 32 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:27.280 and go to textures, gradient texture. 33 00:02:27.280 --> 00:02:32.800 For hotkey users, simply press shift A to access the add menu at any time. 34 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:36.960 After you select a node from the add menu, you can right click to cancel the add, 35 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:39.920 or left click to confirm its placement. 36 00:02:39.920 --> 00:02:44.480 Let's put it to the side underneath our other texture we want to mix it with. 37 00:02:44.480 --> 00:02:48.240 Now that we have our gradient texture, we can test what it looks like by simply 38 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:51.360 plugging it into our shader base color node. 39 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:54.880 One way to do this is to move the outgoing connection from our image texture 40 00:02:54.880 --> 00:02:58.000 to stem from our gradient texture node instead. 41 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:02.320 If you ever want to do this, simply control left click drag the connection. 42 00:03:02.320 --> 00:03:07.680 This will allow you to pick up the outgoing connection and connect it to a different output source. 43 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:13.760 Quick note, holding control is not necessary for picking up existing incoming connections. 44 00:03:13.760 --> 00:03:18.240 Let's go ahead and connect this now to our gradient texture output. 45 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:22.480 As we can see, it is indeed a black and white gradient texture. 46 00:03:22.480 --> 00:03:28.080 Cool! Now we can reconnect our image texture and figure out how to combine these two textures. 47 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:32.480 Because these two outputs are color outputs, we want to manipulate these values with a 48 00:03:32.480 --> 00:03:39.040 color node of some sort. This is a great way to get hints on what nodes to use in certain situations. 49 00:03:39.040 --> 00:03:43.680 Let's go back into our add menu and take a look under the color category. 50 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:46.320 We see that there is a node called mixRGB. 51 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:51.280 Well, we do want to mix our textures in some way, so I think it sounds like something we want. 52 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:55.360 Let's add it in. You might notice that before you confirm the node's placement, 53 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:58.960 if you hover over an existing connection, it will highlight that connection. 54 00:03:59.600 --> 00:04:02.640 Placing the node over an existing highlighted connection 55 00:04:02.640 --> 00:04:05.360 will automatically sandwich it between the two connected nodes. 56 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:08.800 Let's do this for our new mixRGB node. 57 00:04:09.600 --> 00:04:14.560 Now that we have our mix node connected, you'll see that our texture has gone a bit gray. 58 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:19.840 That's because the mix node currently is using a default gray color as the secondary input to mix 59 00:04:19.840 --> 00:04:25.040 our texture with. Let's simply connect our gradient texture node into the bottom half of 60 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:30.400 this mix editor to replace the default gray color. As you can see, we're already getting there. 61 00:04:30.400 --> 00:04:34.080 The gradient texture is now mixing with our image texture. 62 00:04:34.080 --> 00:04:39.120 Okay, but let's say I want to quickly compare the difference between having the gradient mixed 63 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:44.320 and having nothing mixed at all. To do that, Blender allows you to mute nodes. 64 00:04:44.880 --> 00:04:50.880 Simply select a node and right click for the context menu. Then select toggle node mute. 65 00:04:51.440 --> 00:04:58.560 You can then select it again to unmute the node. For hockey users, simply press M as in mute to do 66 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:04.560 the same thing. As you can see, muting a node allows the connection to bypass the effects of 67 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:11.280 the node. The gradient is no longer being shown. Keep in mind that muting a node will choose the 68 00:05:11.280 --> 00:05:18.400 uppermost input to bypass as the output, ignoring all other inputs. So let's say I toggle between 69 00:05:18.400 --> 00:05:24.320 my options, gradient or no gradient, and I decide that I prefer it with no gradient at all. 70 00:05:25.200 --> 00:05:32.080 Well, for that, we might as well delete the mix node. There are a few ways to delete a node. 71 00:05:32.080 --> 00:05:36.160 Most forms of deletion work here in the same way as they do in the 3D viewport. 72 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:42.720 Let's select the mix node and press X or the delete key to delete it. However, as you can see, 73 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:47.440 this forces us to manually reconnect the image texture node back to our shader node. 74 00:05:48.320 --> 00:05:53.360 This is a bit tedious, but luckily there's a way to avoid it. Let's go ahead and hit 75 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:59.040 undo until we have our mix node back. Now we can right click our mix node and select 76 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:05.360 delete with reconnect. As you can see, the mix node has been deleted but keeps the connection 77 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:13.920 intact. For hockey users, you can simply press control X. Another trick you can use is to simply 78 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:19.360 alt click drag the node away. This will disconnect the node without disrupting the existing 79 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:26.320 connection. Wonderful, now my shader looks exactly the way I want it. Or does it? What if 80 00:06:26.320 --> 00:06:32.400 I changed my mind and decided that I wanted no image texture at all? How do we completely disconnect 81 00:06:32.400 --> 00:06:37.760 our image texture from our shader? One way we can do that is to simply click and drag the 82 00:06:37.760 --> 00:06:44.160 endpoint of the connection off of our shader node and release. This is intuitive but can be very 83 00:06:44.160 --> 00:06:50.560 tedious. A faster way is to cut the connections with the links cut tool. You can select the links 84 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:55.760 cut tool in the quick tools menu on the left. Once you select it, you can use this tool by 85 00:06:55.760 --> 00:07:01.360 left click dragging over the line of a connection or connections. This will break any intersecting 86 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:07.200 connections immediately. For hockey users, simply hold control and right click drag. 87 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:12.880 I hope this gives you a good introduction on how to navigate the node editors as well as how to 88 00:07:12.880 --> 00:07:14.480 manipulate nodes.