Saving and Loading Shader Presets

 
 
 

Shader presets are files that contain values for all the settings in a shader's property editor. You can save these values and then load them to use again with another shader. Shader presets are saved to an xml file format with an .xsishaders file name extension. This format ressembles that of the shader compounds (.xsirtcompound).

Shader presets are useful if you want to select a particular shader and modify some of its attributes, save the settings, and load them as a shader preset for other objects.

When you create a preset for a shader, all of the shaders connected to it are included in the preset. Loading the preset re-establishes all of its render tree connections. The most important thing to consider when saving a render tree is which node to save. Trees are saved from right to left, following the evalution flow. For example, saving a preset for a node on the far right of the render tree saves the properties of every node downstream from it (to the left).

A

Saving from this node saves properties for this shader only.

B

Saving from this node saves properties for the render tree from this shader back to the end.

C

Saving from this node saves properties for the entire render tree structure.

Saving Shader Presets

  1. Right-click a node (on its name label) in a render tree.

  2. Choose Export Selected....

  3. Select a directory and file name for your preset in the browser that opens. Click OK.

Loading Shader Presets

After you have saved a shader preset, you can apply it to any other object in your scene. You can also apply the same preset to several objects at once if multiple objects are selected.

If your preset contains a render tree (the properties of multiple connected shaders), you can achieve more accurate results if you load a material node preset on a material node, or a surface shader preset on a surface shader, and so on.

NoteA preset is loaded as a copy, so if you make changes to it, only that instance of the preset is affected.

To apply a preset to an object

Do one of the following:

  • Open a browser and drag the preset onto a shader connection point in the explorer or render tree.

  • Drag and drop a preset from the browser to an object in a 3D view. The shader preset is immediately applied to the material node.