Overlaying a plugin on an existing shader

I still don't know to what extent this will be possible given the range of possible shader constructs, but I'm optimistic that a lot can be achieved.

Behind the scenes, EZMat already does a lot of analysis of shaders. It will be enhanced to analyse a shader and identify so far as is possible the nodes in a shader where a blender needs to be inserted so that the new shader can be modulated with a mask, for:

• Diffuse
• Specular
• Bump
• Displacement
• Transparency
• Reflection

The EZMat API already has a function to insert a blender node and do all the necessary checks and reattachments.

For EZMat plugins there is the possibility that the algorithms for achieving this could be given a helping hand by adopting an agreed naming convention for the key nodes, but because that won't always be possible (e.g. when using Matmatic) it is important to me that the analysis is as robust as I can make it.

I realise that not all shaders will lend themselves to this approach. For example, I don't have a strategy yet for dealing with multiple speculars in a shader...

I'd welcome your thoughts and input on this, of course :-)

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