After increasingly relying on Houdini's VEX for my work, I thought I'd apply the same mindset to my shader construction and create some OSL snippets that solve common issues I have run into.
After spending so much time using Redshift and it's integrated Maxon noise shader, I had gotten used to the flexibility its parameters allow. When working with noise in Houdini's VEX, Redshift, and Arnold, I always missed the output parameters easily made available in the Maxon noise. After a lot of experimentation, I replicated their setup's functionality and behavior.
My setup is indistinguishable from the result of the standard maxon output settings. The Cycles parameter proved to be the hardest to figure out since they use a slightly nonstandard smoothing function.
Creating the mx_Post OSL setup allowed me to apply its parameters in places that I wouldn't have otherwise been able to.
This greater flexibility allowed me to do things like animate certain aspects like a noise's contrast, as seen in the video to the right.
