@Pendraia I was initially thinking that way, that I could simply replace the existing RSL nodes by their MDL equivalents, but what happened was that I didn't recognize anything on Iray bricks because they seem to use a different method for building shaders. That sort of makes sense, since MDL on its own is a different shader programming language. RSL was relatively simpler because I immediately recognized the RSL binary math nodes when I saw their inputs/outputs and internal properties - they look very similar to the Renderman equivalents in Poser. It's just different implementations of the same shader programming language, so even though the bricks are different, the general structure is familiar. RSL is even similar in structure to other completely different shader languages like V-Ray and Octane, so I can reuse the same ideas in all of them.
We don't have that with MDL because it has a different way of doing things. I didn't recognize the terms used to define a shader, like "tops" and "coatings". If I don't understand the terms, I will not be able to create shaders with it. It was so bad that I couldn't even recognize what bricks could hold a texture or bump map. I also couldn't recognize the parameters on root nodes, so I am setting Iray aside until some documentation is presented. Otherwise I am just wasting my time, for as it stands I couldn't make heads or tails with it.
@RAMWolff In the vague and fragmented documentation, DAZ has mentioned that Iray implements low level MDL bricks in a "higher level" interface, which is a contradiction right there. Anyone who has already played with the existing Renderman RSL shaders in DS can tell this is pretty low level, even more the MDL bricks. Properties are named "value1", "value2", etc, as if people already know what they are and don't need proper names. The only reason I could build EZ-MAT shaders rather quickly in ShaderMixer was because I have years of experience working with Renderman RSL nodes, so I already knew what those properties were even if they won't show their actual names in the bricks. That's why I will not try to figure out MDL shaders just by playing with them at random, because shader languages require us to first understand the nodes structure - or else your guess is as good as mine.
I would also like to say that I didn't just figured out Renderman RSL out of nowhere. I have 2 degrees in computer science with major in 3DCG, so I had previous experience writing 3D applications from scratch, and my Masters degree dissertation was on the field of discreet 3D shader projections. Renderman RSL is more of less from that period, but MDL is something completely new from nVidia. So 3Delight and Iray are apples and oranges.
But here's the thing - Renderman (Firefly) and Cycles (Superfly) are ALSO apples and oranges, but SMS did a wonderful job making them blend seamlessly in Poser. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to accomplish that. The integration is so great that shaders we create in Poser can be shared with the Blender3D community, which over time can make Poser and Blender3D shaders to be integrated into the software for all to share and use. Conversely, DS is given away for free, and DAZ didn't want to spend that kind of time and money integrating the two sets of shaders together for us. Like it says in the disclaimer, we get the software "as is", and we are not entitled to complain about it. They also didn't care to write documentation on how to use MDL in DS. Instead, they point us to the nVidia website to read white papers on MDL shader programming language technical mambo-jumbo.
Nonetheless, I saw DAZ vendors creating MDL shaders, so there must be another source they are getting the information from.
We don't have that with MDL because it has a different way of doing things. I didn't recognize the terms used to define a shader, like "tops" and "coatings". If I don't understand the terms, I will not be able to create shaders with it. It was so bad that I couldn't even recognize what bricks could hold a texture or bump map. I also couldn't recognize the parameters on root nodes, so I am setting Iray aside until some documentation is presented. Otherwise I am just wasting my time, for as it stands I couldn't make heads or tails with it.
@RAMWolff In the vague and fragmented documentation, DAZ has mentioned that Iray implements low level MDL bricks in a "higher level" interface, which is a contradiction right there. Anyone who has already played with the existing Renderman RSL shaders in DS can tell this is pretty low level, even more the MDL bricks. Properties are named "value1", "value2", etc, as if people already know what they are and don't need proper names. The only reason I could build EZ-MAT shaders rather quickly in ShaderMixer was because I have years of experience working with Renderman RSL nodes, so I already knew what those properties were even if they won't show their actual names in the bricks. That's why I will not try to figure out MDL shaders just by playing with them at random, because shader languages require us to first understand the nodes structure - or else your guess is as good as mine.
I would also like to say that I didn't just figured out Renderman RSL out of nowhere. I have 2 degrees in computer science with major in 3DCG, so I had previous experience writing 3D applications from scratch, and my Masters degree dissertation was on the field of discreet 3D shader projections. Renderman RSL is more of less from that period, but MDL is something completely new from nVidia. So 3Delight and Iray are apples and oranges.
But here's the thing - Renderman (Firefly) and Cycles (Superfly) are ALSO apples and oranges, but SMS did a wonderful job making them blend seamlessly in Poser. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to accomplish that. The integration is so great that shaders we create in Poser can be shared with the Blender3D community, which over time can make Poser and Blender3D shaders to be integrated into the software for all to share and use. Conversely, DS is given away for free, and DAZ didn't want to spend that kind of time and money integrating the two sets of shaders together for us. Like it says in the disclaimer, we get the software "as is", and we are not entitled to complain about it. They also didn't care to write documentation on how to use MDL in DS. Instead, they point us to the nVidia website to read white papers on MDL shader programming language technical mambo-jumbo.
Nonetheless, I saw DAZ vendors creating MDL shaders, so there must be another source they are getting the information from.
