SHADER SWAP – OVERVIEW

Shader Swap is a simple tool that swaps shader assignments by shader name suffixes.

The tool is useful for managing both renderer and viewport shaders on scenes and animation rigs .

Animators can use viewport shaders and see textures in the viewport, and then at render time, the shaders can be swapped to the final raytraced shaders.

This tool supports all shader types and renderers. You can use our predefined shader suffix names or type in your own suffix names.

THE PROBLEM

Shaders from renderers such as Redshift or Renderman often don’t match the viewport.

So it’s common to use different shaders for viewport rendering and another set for final rendering. That way the animators can see a better representation of the final result while working.

It’s time-consuming to switch between two sets of shaders.

Setups such as connecting a shader override into the shading group can be cumbersome to manage.

THE SOLUTION

Shader Swap will instantly swap between all viewport shaders and the final shaders.

Name your shaders with any suffix, and the tool will swap shaders based on their suffixes.

All shaders and renderers are supported; the renderer and shader type does not matter.

USING THE TOOL

Name your shaders appropriately. For example, a scene may have Redshift (or Arnold/Renderman/VRay) and your Viewport shaders.

– faceShader_RS (Redshift shader – raytraced)
– faceShader_STRD (Maya SurfaceStandard shader – viewport)

– bodyShader_RS (Redshift shader – raytraced)
– bodyShader_STRD (Maya SurfaceStandard shader – viewport)

– clothesShader_RS (Redshift shader – raytraced)
– clothesShader_STRD (Maya SurfaceStandard shader – viewport)

The tool will toggle shader assignments for all scene shaders with matching suffixes. Press the tool again and it will toggle back and forth.

RIG REFERENCING AND SHADER SWAP

In the case of character rigs, the shaders can be swapped back and forth quickly for the riggers while saving and updating their rigs.

Two rig files can be saved and maintained by the rigger, for example, in Redshift.

– rig_redshift.ma
– rig_viewport.ma

Animators can use the viewport rig referenced into their scene, and at render time, the Redshift rig can be replaced with Reference Editor > Reference > Replace Reference.

SETTINGS

Quick Suffix Drop Downs
Use the drop-down menus to set quick preset suffix names in the text boxes.

Suffix One & Two Text Boxes
Enter the suffixes into the text boxes to swap between shader assignments; the order does not matter. The tool will find the first shader suffix and switch all assignments to the opposite suffix.

The suffix names are not limited; you can use any suffix.

Shader Swap Toggle Button
Press the Shader Swap toggle button, and the tool will swap all shaders to the opposite suffix.

Press it again, and it will return all the original suffixes.