Use a surface material shader to calculate a point attribute.

[iFight4theUser]

I've run into this issue a few times now.

I have a shader that generates several output variables for extra image planes. The variables that are generated would be really useful in SOPs.

The only thing I can think of that would allow me to run the same calculation on each point, is to collapse the SHOP network into an OTL that I could also exist inside a VOP. But the parameters are being driven on the shader and it seems a bit messy to channel reference all the ramps and other parameters. 

Is there some way to apply the shop_materialpath and then compute and export a variable on a per point basis?

Thanks!

[konstantin magnus]

Usually I would just copy-paste the nodes from a material network and reconnect their global inputs and outputs.

As shaders work on pixels and not on points I don't think there is a direct way of exporting its calculations to points, but you could try baking out pixel maps and then import them with attribfrommap.

[iFight4theUser]

Thanks Konstantin, 

I pretty much ended up doing that. I just encapsulated the network into a VOP OTL so that they will both pickup changes. The only trouble now is that I have a ramp parameter on my shader and on my point vop and I can't get them to stay in sync. 
 

Edited May 12, 2017 by iFight4theUser

[konstantin magnus]

Works for me. Did you right-click on the parameters name and say "copy parameter" and then go to the other ramps name and say "paste relative references"?

[iFight4theUser]

Hey, yeah that totally works.  I don't know why I thought that didn't work in the past. Thanks!