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Houdini 20.5 Karma MaterialX Normals/displacement

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stu
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Hey all,

Just getting my head around some of the Solaris/Karma/MaterialX workflows.

Having a devil of a time trying to figure out how I'm meant to wire normal/displacement maps, in the latest mtlxstandard surface implementation - anywhere I can grab a working example? Nothing I see online seems to have what I'm seeing here in terms of the parameters setup...

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materialx_normals_displacement.png (30.8 KB)

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freshbaked
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Plug your displacement map into the mtlxdisplacement node.
Plug your normal map into the mtlxstandard_surface, under geometry > normals.
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stu
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Not seeing an input under geometry/normals… ?
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stu
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The other thing - my displacement is centered at .5 (typical), but inflates the geo - not seeing a way to "centre" the displacement...?
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stu
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Tried going back to the VEX principled_shader for Karma CPU, get some very broken looking results (despite Karma CPU compatibility with Vex principled shader...?)
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freshbaked
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stu
Not seeing an input under geometry/normals… ?


stu
The other thing - my displacement is centered at .5 (typical), but inflates the geo - not seeing a way to "centre" the displacement...?
There's a mtlx remap node.

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normals.jpg (48.4 KB)

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Mario_Leone
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Hi Stu, wiring Normal maps and Dispacement maps can be a little tricky using MaterialX.

1 - Import your images with a MtlX Tiled Image
2 - For the displacement map, change the signature to "Float"
3 - For the Normal map, change the signature to "vector3"
4 - While you can plug the Displacement already, the Normal map needs a MtlX Normal Map Node.

Check the attached image, I really hope this helps!
Edited by Mario_Leone - May 31, 2025 07:51:25

Attachments:
Example_001.png (60.2 KB)

Mario Leone

Hey I have a YouTube Channel, maybe it's helpful, check it out :)

YT - https://www.youtube.com/@nodeflowhoudini?sub_confirmation=1
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stu
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Thanks all, very much appreciated! I’ll give it a try! Apart from the usual growing pains when one undertakes such a drastic workflow adjustment, I can definitely see the advantages!

@Mario: already sub'd, great stuff!
Edited by stu - May 31, 2025 12:40:28
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