Cycles color node access from Material properties

Hi!

Is it possible to add a color node access to the material properties, so it is quick and easy to customize without having to edit the nodes?

Thanks for your attention.

can you elaborate !

you could write a script may be!

happy bl

Widget, bone and driver? Like a dot you can slide over color box plane and coordinates would tell what color are you up to?

Something like this:


I would do it this way, a single MixRGB node put in a group, maybe there is another way but this seems to work.


Thanks ramboblender! The thing is, unless it is close to the main shader node, it get’s lost in the node tree… I mean, if the setup is huge, then we have to click too many times before we find the color box… it takes even longer than opening the node editor and change the color nodes there.

So I guess my next cuestion would be…: is there any way promote or give display priority to certain nodes?
In Unreal or Unity we are able to say what node to show or not on a “general properties panel”, so it is very straightforward to create variations.

Why it will get lost ?, Just give it a name in upper case letters and you’ll find it easy while scrolling down.
You see in my example it says RGB and it’s always in display.

In your example the node tree is very simple, so it is obviously easy to find and change, but the more complex and deep a node tree is, the more difficult it gets to find the colors, even with upper case letters.

For me it takes 6 mouse clicks and a lot of scrolling. It should take less steps than opening the node editor and change the color there.
The idea is to make it Noob proof, so anyone can open the file and easily find the colors without getting a head ache.

Anyway, thanks again!

if you make it a group then you can add an input for color

happy bly

As people have said, a group node will allow you to have your own choice of which inputs are exposed under a name that makes sense in the context of the material (so if your node tree has a total of 100 input sockets and you expose 10, you will only see 10 inputs).

This will also be shown in the material panels, though it’s recommended to stick with changing values in the editor itself.

Silly me! I understood it now! Thanks guys!