which node inputs work with which?

[andy.engelkemier]

I've been finding this incredibly frustrating. Nodes that I expect Should work with something like Bump, don't. Is there a list of which ones do?

It would be pretty slick if they were color coded or something. In blender maybe? They have color coded inputs. When you click on the input, it tells you what it's expecting. Then you know how you convert the value, if needed. I think Unreal engine might have that also.

I'm just trying to blend two procedural maps together using one as a mask, but I can't for the life of me get it into the bump slot.

[Esben Oxholm]

Hi Andy.
For some reason the bump input only allow a single map or maps combined via the 'bump add' node.

If you want to use one texture as a map for the other one, plug main texture into 'bump 1' and texture you want to use as the mask into 'weight 1'.

See attached setup and ksp.
Hope it helps.

[andy.engelkemier]

wow, that's Really limiting. I just wanted to increase the contrast on noise a second ago. But that requires two maps. And anything labelled as bump only accepts the one map directly?

Well, thanks for the tip. I'll probably just stick to compositing those maps in photoshop and using an image for now, just for time's sake.

I thought of a nice way to create maps. It would be cool, if you click on an in point, it would show you the compatible maps that you could input ONLY. Instead of me creating a bunch of nodes just to see if it will accept it.

[mattjgerard]

Esben's solution works, I just used it for a mask and bump for some dirty tires.

But, yes s more comprehensive documentation would be nice. Bump seems to be the most finicky of them all.

[andy.engelkemier]

I know, it works. But that only works for a mask, not changing bump. For noise, you can't change the contrast. I ended up settling on cellular to get a similar look just because I didn't want to mess around with it much longer. It looks ok. Just not quite what I was after.
It worked great for masking.
Now that I think about it, you could Probably put the same noise as the mask, through a composite node to effect contrast. But this sort of sucks, because you can't preview an add bump node either. It's just black.

[mattjgerard]

wow, that's Really limiting. I just wanted to increase the contrast on noise a second ago. But that requires two maps. And anything labelled as bump only accepts the one map directly?

Well, thanks for the tip. I'll probably just stick to compositing those maps in photoshop and using an image for now, just for time's sake.

I thought of a nice way to create maps. It would be cool, if you click on an in point, it would show you the compatible maps that you could input ONLY. Instead of me creating a bunch of nodes just to see if it will accept it.

There is the Brightness/Contrast sliders in the texture node itself, but sometimes that isn't enough to get the results. Bump inputs will only accept the Bump Add node and a texture node. And the bump add node won't accept any of the other utility nodes either.  I'v long wondered why it won't take any of the utility nodes like the specular and roughness channels will. Bump is just looking for a black and white image, so using the Color to Number node would seem like it should work but it doesn't.

Edit: Yeah, you are right, no easy way to control contrast in the simple noise generator.