Old renderer
Custom GLSL shaders aren’t supported for Vulkan. Instead, use MaterialX.
How to assign assign materials and use the library of built-in materials.
Lets you assign materials to objects and primitives interactively.
Overriding material parameters and properties
How to change material parameters on individual objects or pieces of geometry.
How to customize how materials appear in the Vulkan viewport.
You can pre-compile a material as a digital asset to speed up shader compilation at render time.
How to use textures to change the look of materials.
How to use utility VOPs to modify textures in your materials.
The basics of how to create, combine, and modify materials in Houdini.
How to mix and layer two or more materials together to create a combined material.
How to build a parameter/input interface for your custom material.
Tips for working with shaders in the VOP network.
How to export extra information from the shader and save it as part of the rendered image.
Absorption and nested dielectrics
Automatically scoop out geometry with one shader from inside overlapping geometry with another shader, allowing different shading properties inside.
Material stylesheets are a highly technical solution for assigning materials and overriding material parameters on packed geometry.
Loops and conditionals in VOPs
How to create looping and conditional blocks of nodes in VOP networks.