Simple shaders that give great results are what the software should deliver. All that complexity was there to fix problems.

caisson posted at 1:07PM Fri, 15 January 2021 - #4410320

The shader is very simple. Using the Cycles root plus Principled BSDF means no preview, but the results are more than worth it in my opinion. I had a thread with a bunch of examples, but that seems to have disappeared, so I’ll add my notes here (note that I am perfectly capable of making mistakes!).

Where did that thread go? It was great.

But regarding Cycles plus PrincipledBSDF, that has some advantages if you want to layer or mask different shaders, create two-sided materials, etc. But you aren't doing any of those things here. In a really simple case like the one you just showed, is there any advantage of Cycles plus PrincipledBSDF vs PhysicalSurface? The PhysicalSurface root node seems to have the same functionality, plus the preview actually works.