I downloaded a Model from BlendSwap and when I was looking through materials, I these nodes which I have never seen before.
Examples:
How do I create one of these custom nodes?
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4$\begingroup$ Hi, Those are called node groups, I made a post about that a while ago, and above it is another good post by Gandalf: blender.stackexchange.com/a/32989/8262 $\endgroup$– TARDIS MakerNov 21, 2015 at 13:50
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2$\begingroup$ maybe this Question can be marked as duplicate, because all info is covered in the linked post. $\endgroup$– zeffiiNov 21, 2015 at 14:07
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2$\begingroup$ @zeffii See this meta post. $\endgroup$– PGmathNov 21, 2015 at 15:02
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1$\begingroup$ @PGmath don't forget this meta post either $\endgroup$– zeffiiNov 21, 2015 at 18:21
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$\begingroup$ are "custom nodes" already a thing with the new blender version 3.1 or 3.2? or are they still group nodes? coz in this thread someone's trying to make custom nodes, not sure if what he's doing is even possible? $\endgroup$– Harry McKenzieJul 6, 2022 at 5:29
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2 Answers
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Group Nodes
Those "custom nodes" are really called Group Nodes. You can create a group node by selecting a group of nodes and hitting Ctrl+G. You can see and edit the contents of a group node by selecting it and pressing Tab. Once created, you can add a group node with the Shift+A add menu under Group.
When editing a group node there are two special nodes. The Group Input node allows you to pass information into the group node by plugging its sockets into nodes in the group. Likewise, the Group Output node allows information to pass out of the group node by plugging nodes in the group into its sockets.
You can quickly add inputs and outputs by plugging other nodes into the the empty circle node sockets at the bottom of the input/output nodes.
Click to enlarge. This is a simple fake light group node I have created.
You can also add inputs and outputs (as well as remove them, change their names, default values, adjust minimum and maximum values, and change their order) in the N toolbar under the Interface rollout.
Group nodes are very useful for grouping specific node trees you use a lot. I have created a few node groups I use frequently and included them in the startup file (with fake users) so I have them whenever I need to use them in any project.
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In Blender nomenclature these nodes are called Node Groups, the symbol below is used to show that. You can think of them as Custom Nodes but that term may lead to some confusion because Blender also has Custom PyNodes (which are nodes defined in Python).
Groups of nodes that form a cohesive feature can be placed into a group (a container) and you can give this group inputs and outputs. This lets you abstract the inner-workings of the node group and keep your main node tree less cluttered.
How to make these node groups is already extensively covered in this answer , and here.
