Shader Tool

[Thirsty Panther]

Just came across this on Steam http://store.steampowered.com/app/314720/

 

Sound interesting.

 

Has anyone used or heard of this before?

[gamecreator]

Shadmar's the official judge, jury and executioner.

[shadmar]

Lol.. I have no idea what this does, looks like you write shader code and see results, as you can already in LE

[macklebee]

eh its a fun little tool but nothing that you could not do with the current LE Shader Editor. stating the obvious but don't expect to be able to plug the shader code directly from this into LE and expect it to work without modifications.

[gamecreator]

Assuming this program makes some sales, it's interesting to be able to say that just the shader editor in Leadwerks is worth more than $30.

[macklebee]

...the shader editor in Leadwerks is worth more than $30.

The LE shader editor was a major selling point for me to return to LE as shader editing/creation was a painful process in LE2. I find myself spending more time playing with the shader editor than anything else - just too bad the script/shader editor is not standalone from the world editor itself.

[Thirsty Panther]

Funny, the same company has a terrain creator as well http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=252282921

 

It's like they have taken the different parts of Leadwerks and sold them off as separate programs. Maybe they will release a model editor next

[nick.ace]

I think it also has a node system if I'm not mistaken. Idk how it works, but I think it's supposed to support shader creation without the need for coding? Or, at the very least, it allows you to easily combine shader effects.

 

Anyway, it seems overpriced for what it offers because there are shader programs for free like it (without the node system of course, which is sort of the selling point of this software). But I might try it out once it goes on a bigger sale.

[shadmar]

Funny, the same company has a terrain creator as well http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=252282921

 

It's like they have taken the different parts of Leadwerks and sold them off as separate programs. Maybe they will release a model editor next

 

That is GeoControl2 (which I've used) but probably the sucessor.

[Thirsty Panther]

 

 

That is GeoControl2 (which I've used) but probably the sucessor.

 

I remember you posting some terrain pics in the past. Didn't realise it was the same program.

[SlipperyBrick]

ShaderTool actually looks very good! For someone like me who can't really code and wants to learn how to make shaders I think I will be picking this up. Unless somebody has already tried and tested and thinks it isn't worth it?

 

An honest opinion would be great!

 

I can see it is OpenGL compatible which is perfect for LE and they are raving about it having the latest 'shader models'. This looks promising

[macklebee]

http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/topic/10914-shader-tool/#entry79827

[Josh]

I actually talked to the author and he is interested in adding Leadwerks .shader export. I gave him all the info on our system, and it sounds like the two applications will work well together. You would modify the shader with ShaderTool and then it would automatically reload in Leadwerks whenever you save. Feel free to request Leadwerks support on their forum.

[macklebee]

I actually talked to the author and he is interested in adding Leadwerks .shader export. I gave him all the info on our system, and it sounds like the two applications will work well together. You would modify the shader with ShaderTool and then it would automatically reload in Leadwerks whenever you save. Feel free to request Leadwerks support on their forum.

Good news as I have this, but still unclear where the benefit of having to write the shader code in their system versus just writing it in the LE shader editor. But in any case, I and others would like to have the LE system info as well - preferably explanation of all the default uniforms.

 

http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/topic/10926-question-about-matrix-conversion-to-leadwerks-shaders/

[Josh]

http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/topic/8203-internal-shader-uniforms/

[Einlander]

I bought shader tool. For a complete noob at shading it is a godsend. I don't have to set up a scene in a game engine. I don't need to create a lua script to handle the uniforms. It takes Leadwerks flow graph and applies it to shaders. You create your uniforms, write the shader logic and there are nodes that handle all the background stuff like loading models, rendering, cameras and more. It is simply a just a simple and visual way to create and test a shader. The hard part is adapting it to us leadwerks uniforms.

[SlipperyBrick]

I actually talked to the author and he is interested in adding Leadwerks .shader export. I gave him all the info on our system, and it sounds like the two applications will work well together. You would modify the shader with ShaderTool and then it would automatically reload in Leadwerks whenever you save. Feel free to request Leadwerks support on their forum.

 

Oh my lord! This is exciting. Everyone here is their forum http://www.cloddy.com/forum/index.php?page=Board&boardID=17.

 

Get posting!!!

 

I am waiting for admin approval for signing up

[macklebee]

I bought shader tool. For a complete noob at shading it is a godsend. I don't have to set up a scene in a game engine. I don't need to create a lua script to handle the uniforms. It takes Leadwerks flow graph and applies it to shaders. You create your uniforms, write the shader logic and there are nodes that handle all the background stuff like loading models, rendering, cameras and more. It is simply a just a simple and visual way to create and test a shader. The hard part is adapting it to us leadwerks uniforms.

 

Thats what i am trying to understand why people are thinking this is a godsend? Instead of just using a default App script to create the context/buffer, or load a model, render, etc, you have to learn how to use their node system to do the same thing. Again the only thing that would transfer over is the vert/frag due to Josh working with their developer. Its nice that there is a future possibility that its vert/frag will be converted to a useable LE shader, but it will still require you guys to learn how to implement the shader in LE. And with this program you still have to write shader code.. so what feature am I missing that is getting people excited? <--serious question, not condescending.

[SlipperyBrick]

@macklebee. For me its the visual side of it. Working with the nodes seeing how they are all hooked up just makes more sense to me than code. I understand coding is still required but this seems an easier way for me to get into making shaders rather than jumping straight into the deep end.

 

I have no knowledge of how to make shaders so I'll be hitting the tuts hard very soon, but this just seems more appealing than staring at words and numbers, these seems like a nice 'entry level' program

[macklebee]

@macklebee. For me its the visual side of it. Working with the nodes seeing how they are all hooked up just makes more sense to me than code. I understand coding is still required but this seems an easier way for me to get into making shaders rather than jumping straight into the deep end.

 

I have no knowledge of how to make shaders so I'll be hitting the tuts hard very soon, but this just seems more appealing than staring at words and numbers

 

But that is my point - majority of the nodes are just for recreating the context/buffers, setting colors, rendering, etc... yes there are two nodes available for the vert/frag but it still requires you to write the shader code into those vert/frag nodes.

 

Edit- eh whatever floats your boat, i guess... just seems for someone wanting to learn shaders for use in LE, you are doubling your required learning to get to the same point.

[SlipperyBrick]

But that is my point - majority of the nodes are just for recreating the context/buffers, setting colors, rendering, etc... yes there are two nodes available for the vert/frag but it still requires you to write the shader code into those vert/frag nodes.

 

I'll be honest I have no idea what that all means, so I got a ton of learning ahead of me haha. Where would be the best place to start with learning about the shader code?

[Einlander]

The point for me is speed and ease. I don't have to create contexts I don't have to create lua scripts that pass values to the shader, I don't have to do any setup. I write the code for the shader and that's all. I can see visually what shader is doing and the output result. At anytime I can change the render pipeline without having to change the code. I like being able to see the flow of the program as if they were building blocks. With shadertool I can do this as with the leadwerks shader editor I have an ide and then I have the.lua to pass values then I have the viewport to look at the result. Shadertool is compartmentalized into a nice small package that is engine and platform agnostic and can be shared.

[macklebee]

@Scrot - Dont get me wrong - i like the shadertool - its a fun to play around with - makes me wish the LE shader editor was standalone. I just want to make sure people actually understand what shadertool is actually doing for you.

 

For shader learning - suggest looking at the inherent LE shaders, looking at shadertoy.com, googling glsl, playing around with the shadertool inherent shaders if you buy, downloading the old defunct RenderMonkey app, etc... posting questions here in the forum...

 

@Einlander - and that is understandable - as you can jump from directx to opengl in the same app and also see a realtime effect by changing node properties (whereas in LE you have to press the RUN button). I like the layout as well - but I think some here were thinking this negated having to write shader code at all and it was just dragging and dropping existing nodes to handle the shader itself. In reality you still have to write the shader code. You are just using visual nodes to replace similar LE commands like Model:Load, context:Render, context:SetColor, etc...

[Einlander]

Completely correct Macklebee. But I doesn't help that people think.it works the same as some of the unity extensions where you have prebuilt modules that you drag and drop to make shaders. I think ray supreme, and blender have that too

 

[SlipperyBrick]

It's confirmed

 

http://steamcommunity.com/app/314720/discussions/0/619568793965056914/