Arnold Data Type colors on Houdini Nodes


When connecting the same data types together in a shading network the line will appear solid to indicate there is no conversion as in the 'string' connection below. If the data types are different, like in RGBA > Vector or RGB > RGBA below then the line appears as a broken line.
 

Solid line (between user_data_string and image) and a broken line between standard_surface and OUT_material)

 

Shader output components are displayed on the VOP node, allowing component connections without the need for a conversion shader.
However, the following shaders allow more complicated conversions between data types: 

Float To Int

Converts a float into an integer value.

  • Round: Rounds the input to the closest integer.
  • Trunc: If the input is negative, this returns ceil(x), otherwise it returns floor(x).
  • Floor: Returns the largest integer less than or equal to the input
  • Ceil:  Returns the smallest integer greater than or equal to the input.
Float To Matrix

Compose a 4x4 matrix from 16 input components.

Float To RGB

Combine 3 floats into an RGB.

Float To RGBA

Combine 4 floats into an RGBA.

Matrix To Float

Extracts a component at the given column and row.

Int To Float

Converts an integer into a float value.

RGB To Float

Converts an RGB input to a float using the following modes

  • min: Minimum component.
  • max: Maximum component.
  • average: Average of the RGB components.
  • sum: Sum of the RGB components.
  • luminance: Perceptual gray scale value as defined by Rec.709.
RGB To RGBA

Combine RGB and alpha inputs into an RGBA.

RGB To Vector
  • raw: Passes the input through, does nothing.
  • canonical: Converts the input from [0, 1] range to [-1, 1].
RGBA To Float

Combine an RGBA input to a float using the following modes

  • min: Minimum component.
  • max: Maximum component.
  • average: Average of the RGB components.
  • sum: Sum of the RGB components.
  • luminance: Perceptual gray scale value as defined by Rec.709.
Vector To RGB
  • raw: Passes the input through, does nothing.
  • normalized: Normalizes the vector before converting the input from [0, 1] range to [-1, 1].
  • canonical: Converts the input from [0, 1] range to [-1, 1].

 

Arnold Data Type Conversions

The following table shows how data types are converted within Arnold itself.

Key:

(empty)conversion is disallowed/ignored
copycopy (no need to convert)
expandall components set to the same source value
shallow copyfor pointer types (pointer, node, array, matrix), copy the pointer, not the actual value
boolean castzero means false, non-zero means true, and vice-versa
upcastsmaller integer type just gets stuffed into a larger integer type
downcastlarger integer type gets truncated into a smaller integer type
averagethe average of the components are taken

      TARGET     
SOURCEenumbooleanbyteintuintfloatRGBRGBAvectorpointpoint2
enumcopy          
boolean copyboolean
cast		boolean
cast		boolean
cast		      
byte 

boolean
cast

copyupcastupcast      
int boolean
cast		downcastcopycopy      
uint boolean
cast		downcastcopycopy      
float     copy

r = flt
g = flt
b = flt

r = flt
g = flt
b = flt
a = 1

x = flt
y = flt
z = flt

x = flt
y = flt
z = flt

x = flt
y = flt

RGB     average(rgb)copy

r = r
g = g
b = b
a = 1

x = r
y = g
z = b

x = r
y = g
z = b

x = r
y = g

RGBA     average(rgb)

r = r
g = g
b = b

copy

x = r
y = g
z = b

x = r
y = g
z = b

x = r
y = g

vector     vector.x

r = x
g = y
b = z

r = x
g = y
b = z
a = 1

copy

x = x
y = y
z = z

 
point     pnt.x

r = x
g = y
b = z

r = x
g = y
b = z
a = 1

x = x
y = y
z = z		copy 
point2     pnt2.x

r = x
g = y
b = 0

r = x
g = y
b = 0
a = 1

x = x
y = y
z = 0

x = x
y = y
z = 0

copy
string           
node           
pointer           
array           
matrix           

 

 

    TARGET 
SOURCEstringnodepointerarraymatrix
enum     
boolean     
byte     
int     
uint     
float     
RGB     
RGBA     
vector     
point     
point2     
stringcopy    
node  shallow copy  
pointer  shallow copy  
array   shallow copy 
matrix    shallow copy

 

 

A few notes:

  • The node type (AI_TYPE_NODE) is currently resolved at scene creation time, and node-to-node shader connections are not formally allowed since they internally are turned into a connection based on the output type of the shader node. However, whenever one wants to pass a node along, they can pass it as a generic pointer type instead of using other mechanisms such as shader message passing. The vast majority of the time, if you are using pointer passing inside of your shaders, however, you should re-think your design.
  • No automatic conversions exist between integer types and floating-point types.
  • No automatic conversions exist between enumerations and any other type.

 

 

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