Hi,
Can the Material Variation node access Primvars above the instancer, or do the materials absolutely need to be created after the instancer? Currently, I create and modify my materials for my models beforehand. My Primvars are within the USD itself. So I'm not sure how to handle this. Thank you.


Alex

The Material Variation node doesn't need materials to be created at any particular point - in fact it doesn't need to know anything about the materials at all. It does try to find materials that are assigned to the instances in order to find input names and types to populate the drop down menu for the primvar names, but nothing prevents you from creating the primvars manually.

What determines whether a primvar will have an effect on the material, as long as the material has a way to read the given primvar of course, is where the primvar is authored.

On point instances, the Material Variation LOP will author the primvars on the point instancer prim. These will override inherited primvars and overwrite primvars of the same name on the point instancer.
If you have primvars authored on the prototype prims however, these will take precedence.