We all know about the power of procedural shaders for 3d objects, but what about using procedural shaders for 2D images? This tutorial will show you how to include procedural shaders in Photoshop™ composites.

This tutorial requires:

Launch ShaderMaker Pro
For this tutorial I decided to create a rockish shader. I chose ShaderMakerPro for ease of use, although ShaderMaker could also be used. Launch ShaderMakerPro and lets get started. We will use the plane primitive for our shaded preview. To change preview primitives, click and hold in the preview window. Select "Plane" from the pop-up menu.

Create the Primary Form
Create a Math Function node, a Granite node and a Spots node. Set the Math Function to Multiply. Plug Granite into Math Function - Value 1. Plug Spots into Math Function - Value 2 and the Bump input on our surface shader (below). Set all values as shown.
Create the Secondary Form
As in the previous step, we'll start with a Math Function node and link out to one Wood and one Marble Node (as shown). Again, set the Math Function to Multiply. Set all values as shown.

Tip: to quickly create a node and link a specific input to that node, Control + click on the input, then select the new node from the pop-up menu. The node will be created and the link established automatically.

 
Blending the Primary and Secondary Forms
Although we could use a Blender node to blend these 2 groups, I wanted more contrast than a Blend node provides. Using another Math Function node, set to Multiply, can provide that crisp contrast we want (try using a blender node to see the difference). Create a Math Function node and link as shown. Set all values as shown.
Adding Colour
Create a User Defined node. Set the Color Space to rgb. Link the output of our last Math Function node to all 3 inputs of the User Defined node. Double-click on the preview color swatch inside the User Defined node to invoke the Apple® Color Picker. Select any shade of colour, and click OK. Notice how the math node inputs affect your colour. Finally, link the User Defined node to the Diffuse Colour of our Surface Shader. Save the shader.

Using the newly created shader inside PiXELS 3D
Launch PiXELS 3D 3.7b8 or higher. Note: 3.7b7 or below will not properly load Math Functions from SMP.

Create a Mesh
Click on the Shape icon in the PiXELS 3D Tool Palette. Select the Mesh tool. Set the Width to 40.00 and the Height to 30.00 (4:3 ratio typical with most monitors or h = (3 x w) / 4).
Add the Shader to our Mesh
With our Mesh still selected, open the Shader Manager ( CMD-W ). Click on an empty slot in the Shader Manager palette to load our shader into PiXELS 3D. Locate and select the shader you created. Click Open to load the shader.

Note: If your shaders aren't being properly loaded from SMP, you may send your file to techsupport@pixels.net

Pixels3D 3.7b8 and 3.7b9
Because of the differences between the renderer used in SMP (Tempest) and the PiXELS renderer, you must change the Bump setting inside ShaderMaker to about 100.
Setting up our Camera
Select our Camera in any view and open the Object Manager ( CMD- I ). Set the Camera Position as shown.

This should place our Mesh directly in front of the camera.

Render
After some Quick Rendering testing we are ready to render our final settings as a PICT and then load the Picture into Photoshop. Remember to size your Render Output to a 4:3 ratio (h = (3 x w) / 4) like 640x480.