Newbie question about shaders and nodes

[FlyLaika]

Hi people.

I just started learning T2 and I want to figure out something. Imagine a simple scene with nodes:

heightfield->crater->compute terrain->base colors

I am trying to assign a new shader EXCLUSIVELY to a crater displacement without affecting heightfield shader and base colors (not a shared shader with altitude restriction etc). As I imagine, there could be possibly different branches with couple of merging/mixing nodes with heightfield and base colors.

To summarize: is it possible to assign a shader to a child displacement shader without affecting a parent shader? Maybe I misunderstand the concept (I am an object-oriented guy).

[Tangled-Universe]

I find it hard to understand what you want.
I'd say yes, it is possible, but I can't give you any explanation without a clear context and clear example of what you really want.

Your example does not have any childs/parents, so I'm not sure what you mean.

[rcallicotte]

It's easier to answer if you submit an example of what you think in TGD form.

[Henry Blewer]

You'll need to make you crater in a separate node group, with all the shaders linked to it. Then connect this to the child layer input of a surface layer. I would also use a camera for controlling a distance shader. The camera would be centered over the crater. The cone of the camera should constrain the shaders to the crater area. The shaders linked into the crater need to use the Blend by input from the distance shader.

It's very complicated to explain. But not too difficult with experience. At least this gives a beginning to work with.

[FlyLaika]

Sorry guys, Looks like I need to learn how to explain things first 
Njeneb, thanks for the direction!

[Henry Blewer]

I have difficulty getting my ideas from brain to mouth (fingers) often. It's easier just to do something than explain how and what you are doing.