SimplygonShadingNetwork command ​

Description ​

The SimplygonShadingNetwork command is responsible for creating shading network templates in Maya. Shading networks are usually generated automatically in the plug-in but for some material types, such as DirectX, CGFX and Stingray, the mapping has to be done manually. It is recommended to read Shading network concepts before proceeding.

Syntax ​

SimplygonShadingNetwork -<short/long flag> <arg0> <arg1> ... <argN>;

import maya.cmds as cmds
cmds.SimplygonShadingNetwork(<short/long flag>=<arg>)
cmds.SimplygonShadingNetwork(<short/long flag>=[<arg0>, <arg1>, ..., <argN>])

Flags and args ​

Examples ​

This section contains some examples on how to setup shading networks through MEL and Python. We've left out some parts of the scripts to keep things as simple as possible.

• import maya.cmds as cmds must declared at the top of each Python script.
• reductionPipeline settings-path must be declared for both MEL and Python scripts where it makes sense.
• materialName is used as a place-holder for the name of the material we are currently working on.
• a scene-selection is made before each Simplygon-command.

Create shading node ​

Creates two texture-nodes that points to the texture slots of the CGFX material's HLSL shader, in this case DiffuseSampler and NormalsSampler (as defined in the shader).

SimplygonShadingNetwork
    -cn $materialName TextureNode DiffuseSampler
    -cn $materialName TextureNode NormalsSampler;

cmds.SimplygonShadingNetwork(
    cn = [
            [materialName, 'TextureNode', 'DiffuseSampler'],
            [materialName, 'TextureNode', 'NormalsSampler']
         ])

For CGFX materials the sampler2D (DiffuseSampler) represents the texture slot. For DirectX materials the texture (DiffuseTexture) represents the texture slot. This means that we'll use the sampler2D when mapping textures from CGFX to Simplygon, and texture when mapping textures from DirectX to Simplygon.

texture DiffuseTexture : Diffuse
<
    string ResourceType = "2D";
    string UIName =  "Diffuse Texture";
>;
sampler2D DiffuseSampler = sampler_state
{
    Texture = <DiffuseTexture>;
    MinFilter = LinearMipMapLinear;
    MagFilter = Linear;
};

Set default values ​

Sets the default values of (for example) a Multiply-node. The name of the node is "multiplyNode".

SimplygonShadingNetwork
    -sd  $materialName multiplyNode 0 1.00 1.00 1.00
    -sd  $materialName multiplyNode 1 0.25 0.25 0.25
    -sd1 $materialName multiplyNode 0 3 1.00;
    -sd1 $materialName multiplyNode 1 3 1.00;

cmds.SimplygonShadingNetwork(
    sd  = [
            [materialName, 'multiplyNode', 0, 1.00, 1.00, 1.00],
            [materialName, 'multiplyNode', 1, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25],
          ],
    sd1 = [
            [materialName, 'multiplyNode', 0, 3, 1.00]
            [materialName, 'multiplyNode', 1, 3, 1.00]
          ])

Set exit node ​

Assigns a shading node to a material channel, in this case we connect as texture node (which points to DiffuseSampler in shader) to the Diffuse channel.

SimplygonShadingNetwork
    -sce $materialName Diffuse DiffuseSampler;

cmds.SimplygonShadingNetwork(
    sce = [materialName, 'Diffuse', 'DiffuseSampler'])

Set swizzle ​

Reverses the color channels (RGBA -> ABGR) using a swizzling node. The name of the node is "swizzleNode".

SimplygonShadingNetwork
    -si $materialName swizzleNode 0 DiffuseSampler
    -si $materialName swizzleNode 1 DiffuseSampler
    -si $materialName swizzleNode 2 DiffuseSampler
    -si $materialName swizzleNode 3 DiffuseSampler
    -swz $materialName swizzleNode 0 3
    -swz $materialName swizzleNode 1 2
    -swz $materialName swizzleNode 2 1
    -swz $materialName swizzleNode 3 0;

cmds.SimplygonShadingNetwork(
    si  = [
        [materialName, 'swizzleNode', 0, 'DiffuseSampler'],
        [materialName, 'swizzleNode', 1, 'DiffuseSampler'],
        [materialName, 'swizzleNode', 2, 'DiffuseSampler'],
        [materialName, 'swizzleNode', 3, 'DiffuseSampler']
    ],
    swz = [
        [materialName, 'swizzleNode', 0, 3],
        [materialName, 'swizzleNode', 1, 2],
        [materialName, 'swizzleNode', 2, 1],
        [materialName, 'swizzleNode', 3, 0]
    ])

Set vertex-color set ​

Assigns "colorSet1" (of the mesh) to a vertex-color node. Can be used to blend textures by vertex colors or bake vertex colors to texture. The name of the node is "vertexColorNode".

SimplygonShadingNetwork
    -svn $materialName vertexColorNode colorSet1;

cmds.SimplygonShadingNetwork(
    svn = [materialName, 'vertexColorNode', 'colorSet1'])

Specify geometry data field ​

Assigns a data field (of the mesh) to a geometry-field node. The node can be used to sample specific geometry fields in shading network such as Coords, TexCoords, Normals, Tangents, Bitangents, Colors, TriangleIds and MaterialIds (see EGeometryDataFieldType). In this example we will set up a geometry field node that samples from the color field 'colorSet1'.

SetGeometryFieldType (sgt) specifies which type of the field to sample from, as all colors are stored as 'Color'-fields in Simplygon we want to use the 'Color' index in EGeometryDataFieldType as the type, which is 5.

SetGeometryFieldName (sgn) and SetGeometryFieldIndex (sgi) specifies either the Name or Index of the Color field to sample from, Name har precedence over Index (index might also differ between meshes).

The name of the node is "geometryFieldNode".

SimplygonShadingNetwork
    -sgt $materialName geometryFieldNode 5
    -sgn $materialName geometryFieldNode colorSet1;

cmds.SimplygonShadingNetwork(
    sgt = [materialName, 'geometryFieldNode', 5],
    sgn = [materialName, 'geometryFieldNode', 'colorSet1'])

Override UV-set ​

Overrides a texture's UV-set (globally). The name of the texture node is "DiffuseSampler".

SimplygonShadingNetwork
    -uva DiffuseSampler map1;

cmds.SimplygonShadingNetwork(
    uva = ['DiffuseSampler', 'map1'])

Override sRGB ​

Overrides the sRGB-flag for Diffuse and Normals.

SimplygonShadingNetwork
    -sc $materialName Diffuse DiffuseSampler true
    -sc $materialName Normals NormalsSampler false;

cmds.SimplygonShadingNetwork(
    sc = [
            [materialName, 'Diffuse', 'DiffuseSampler', True],
            [materialName, 'Normals', 'NormalsSampler', False]
         ])

Override tiling/offset ​

Overrides a texture-node's tiling and offset values for the Diffuse channel. The name of the texture node is "DiffuseSampler".

SimplygonShadingNetwork
    -tmc $materialName Diffuse DiffuseSampler 2.0 2.0
    -omc $materialName Diffuse DiffuseSampler 0.5 0.5;

cmds.SimplygonShadingNetwork(
    tmc = [materialName, 'Diffuse', 'DiffuseSampler', 2.0, 2.0],
    omc = [materialName, 'Normals', 'DiffuseSampler', 0.5, 0.5])

Export Shading Network XML ​

Exports a shading network for the given material channel to XML.

SimplygonShadingNetwork
    -exf cgfx_leather Diffuse "C:/ShadingNetworksTemp/cgfx_leather_diffuse.xml";

cmds.SimplygonShadingNetwork(
    exf = ['cgfx_leather', 'Diffuse', 'C:/ShadingNetworksTemp/cgfx_leather_diffuse.xml'])

Import Shading Network XML ​

Imports shading network XML through the Simplygon command.

// specify Pipeline settings path
$reductionPipelineFilepath = "D:/Pipelines/ReductionPipelineWithBaking.json";

Simplygon
    -sf $reductionPipelineFilepath
    -asm cgfx_leather|cgfx_wood
    -ixf cgfx_leather Diffuse "C:/ShadingNetworksTemp/cgfx_leather_diffuse.xml"
    -ixf cgfx_wood Diffuse "C:/ShadingNetworksTemp/cgfx_wood_diffuse.xml";

cmds.Simplygon(
    sf = reductionPipelineFilepath,
    asm = 'cgfx_leather|cgfx_wood',
    ixf = [
            'cgfx_leather', 'Diffuse', 'C:/ShadingNetworksTemp/cgfx_leather_diffuse.xml'
          ],
    ixf = [
            'cgfx_wood', 'Diffuse', 'C:/ShadingNetworksTemp/cgfx_wood_diffuse.xml'
          ])