The Layered MaterialThe representation of the surface or volume properties of an object. node (figure 1) constructs complex MaterialsA set of attributes or parameters that describe surface characteristics. that consist of a base layer and up to eight Material Layers using the layer nodes found in the Octane Layers category (figure 2). You can create complex materials in a physically-based manner, as opposed to manually mixing MaterialsUsed to mix any two material types. together.
Figure 1: Adding more layers to the Layered Material node
Add Layer - Adds a new Layer input to the end of the Node. You can add up to eight Layer inputs.
Remove Layer - Removes the last Layer input on the node.
Base Material - The material that sits below any additional Material Layers.
Custom AOV - Writes a mask to the specified custom AOV.
Custom AOV Channel - Determines whether the custom AOV is written to a specific color channel (R, G, or B) or to all the color channels.
Layer 1 - 8 - The Material Layer inputs.
Figure 2: Accessing the Octane Material Layer nodes.