Works for me, both of you. I guess what I was referring to, CobaltDream, was my predisposition to primarily trust what I see, above and beyond everything else. This was driven home in the case of hyper-colors, where I was coming up with materials that were going to be bogus, particularly if I tried to mix them with other materials.

On another note, every time I think I might be getting closer to understanding something - like how these dad-blamed nodes interact - working with it knocks my confidence galley-west.

Recreating your VR1 shader tree in Matmatic is a good exercise in learning how things connect and everything, Bill, but I think I'll still have to isolate areas and play with them to see what that particular group of nodes do.

So far, this bit:

**def altDif():
  # Plugs into the Alt_Diffuse
  clrPow = Color_Pow(1,1)
  clrAdd = Color_Add(1,1)
  mthDiv = Div(1,1)
  clrPow.Value_1 = clrAdd
  clrPow.Value_2 = mthDiv
  
  # Plugs into Color_Add
  mthMul = Mul(.7,1)
  setDif = Diffuse(1,.7)
  clrAdd.Value_1 = mthMul * RED
  clrAdd.Value_2 = setDif
  
  #Plugs into Multiply
  setCmp = Comp(0,1,"value")
  mthsSt = SmoothStep(1,0)
  mthMul.Value_1 = mthsSt
  mthMul.Value_2 = setCmp
  
  # Plugs into SmoothStep
  mthSub = Sub(1,1)
  mthsSt.Value_1 = mthSub
  
  #Plug into Subtract
  mthClp = Clamp(2,0)
  mthSub.Value_2 = mthClp
  
  #Plug into Clamp
  mthClp.Value_1 = setCmp
  
  fnlMath = clrPow
  return fnlMath

def makeSurface():
  s = Surface(1,0,0,0)
  s.Diffuse_Color = WHITE
  s.Specular_Color = WHITE
  s.Diffuse_Value = Add(0,0)
  s.Highlight_Size = .02
  s.Bump = Sub(ImageMap(Image_Source = "HeaFaceB.jpg", Background = Turbulence(.05,.05,.05,8,0,.5,.15)),.5) .03
  s.Alternate_Diffuse = altDif()
  return s
 
makeSurface()*

creates this much of that above shader:

which is kinda working backwards to what I want to be achieving, which is sorting out WHY. I know, the code is very pedestrian, but mostly it reflects a lack of understanding about the maths behind this shader. I'd need to first set some base materials, and then use maths (which then create the nodes) to make the shader, as opposed to this
bang... add this
bang... add that
approach.

Never mind. Still worthwhile.

Monterey/Mint21.x/Win10 - Blender3.x - PP11.3(cm) - Musescore3.6.2

Wir sind gewohnt, daß die Menschen verhöhnen was sie nicht verstehen
[it is clear that humans have contempt for that which they do not understand] 

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