Why does 'Vector to color' exist?

[bender83]

Why is VRay treating colors and vectors differently at all? This is very un-Houdini like and VERY confusing for native Houdini users...

[bdancer]

1. There is TexVectorToColor plugin, but it's not exposed to the UI.
2. All socket types are converted automatically. Why is there any confusion? If smth doesn't work just send me the scene and I'll fix it.

[bender83]

That the node exists is exactly why there is confusion. If its not needed because conversions are done automatically, why does it exist as a dropdown node?

[bender83]

The version I am on it is exposed, which is likely where the confusion is coming from.
V-Ray for Houdini number:22573 hash:3e58730 from 07 Mar 2022 18:47 (build number:22573)
V-Ray Core 5.20.20 [3ab60b40] from 8 Feb 2022

[bdancer]

We should hide it I guess. This node may appear if imported from the vrscene file though.