Material Graph

The Material Graph allows for the authoring of custom material shade graphs. The graph is composed of shading nodes connected together and stored as UsdShade within the stage.

Provided with the Material Graph is a comprehensive list of MDL BSDFs and functions. Materials and functions are represented as drag and droppable nodes in the Material Graph Node List.

To add a node to your graph, drag and place a node into the Material Graph Canvas.

To create a material graph, nodes must be connected to a USD material primative. You can create new material primatives or import an existing material primatives from the canvas.

To construct a valid graph one or more MDL nodes must added to the graph and connected to the material primatives MDL output surface port.

Nodes have both input and output ports that are connected by data type. Port data types are color coded to provide visual clues to compatibility. Notice that material primative’s output surface port is of type “material”.

MDL BSDF nodes have outpus of type “material” and therefore the next node in the graph chain. To complete and construct a valid material graph, connect the material output port of a BSDF material node to the material primavtive’s output MDL surface port.

Additional nodes can be connected to your graph to build complex layered materials and behavior.