Advanced Surface Shaders - RELEASED

Version 2.1.0 of the Advanced Surface Shaders package is now available on the Asset Store!

Volumetric Objects Demo

Version 1.5 - Volumetric Zones Triplanar Texturing

The Advanced Surface Shaders package features a number of unique shaders and a tool to generate any shader you need for your project using an increasing library of effects.
Whether your project is for high end next-gen systems or for mobiles, there's no simpler option to access optimised shaders with effects like those found in the latest games and engines.


The shader generator allows for thousands of possible shaders optimised for desktop or mobile with more effects added every version.

The current shader effect types include:

• DX11 Tessellation Effects (Smoothing and Displacement)
• Realistic Skin Shading
• Relaxed Cone Stepped Relief Mapping
• Parallax Occlusion Mapping
• Volumetric Zones
• Triplanar Texturing
• Rim Lighting
• Color Specular Mapping
• Emissive Mapping
• Lighting Ramp (Stylised Lighting)
• Gloss/Spec Mapping
• Triplanar Running Water

By simply ticking boxes and hitting a button, you can combine these effects as you desire into the shaders you need for you project. Need a reflective shader that has elements that glow even in the dark with Mario Galaxy style rim lighting and smoothed by DX11 tessellation? That's 4 ticks and a button. Then tweak all elements of the shader in the Inspector.

Those already experienced with shader development will appreciate the additional options in the Shader Generator such as the ability to modify the Render Queue of a shader. Also featured is extensive preprocessor shader code branching so all possible generated shaders compile without warning or error for different platoforms and shader models (including D3D11 and D3D11_9x in Unity 4).

The package will be regularly updated with new shaders and combinations. Post any new shader requests here and we’ll endeavour to include them in a future version.

All shaders are developed in the style of Unity’s built-in shaders and utilise existing shader properties to make swapping between regular shaders and Advanced Surface Shaders painless.

Click for higher resolution image



Click for higher resolution image



Click for higher resolution image



Click for higher resolution image



Click for higher resolution image



Click for higher resolution image
​

Asset Store Link

Please post any feedback here or email us at support@southeastgames.com.

 

I'm interested, what algorithm do u use for parallax occlusion mapping? Looks pretty good.

 

Is this written manually? Looks good.

 

Nice shaders! For the parallax occlusion mapping I think he used the fabio policarpo algorithm....

 

Well from the image i can't tell. Could be relaxed cone stepping or even linear search with a high iteration count, interval mapping... i simply don't know Thats why i asked.

 

Thanks for the interest. The current Parallax Occlusion Mapping implementation is based on the Tatarchuk ATI demos from 2006, except I've developed a separate OpenGL variant in the shaders to work around issues found on some Macs due to their OpenGL feature implementations. I've also included a material property to alter the sample count. Obviously the screenshot and video contains a fairly high iteration count.

I have relaxed cone stepped relief mapping shaders I'll probably include in the next version as an alternative. As long as they're properly categorised in the shader list, I see no reason to not include both.

I've included combinations of all shaders including combinations with existing Unity shader effects. For example: EmissiveRimParallaxOcclusionSpecMap, EmissiveDiffuse, RimBumpedSpecular, etc, and the next version will also include alpha variations of all shaders. That version will be submitted in the next couple of days

 

Version 1.1 of the Advanced Surface Shaders has been submitted and should be available shortly. Of course all current owners can update through the Asset Store window upon release.

This version adds Relaxed Cone Stepped Relief Mapping shaders.



More additions to the package are in the works with more variations of current shader types and new shader types including ambient occlusion maps, specular gloss maps and skin shading.

 

this shaders is a must if you ask me
got them and they look so good .
good job .

 

Shaders look good. One question - how does the "specular shader" differ from the default specular shader (which I believe you can modulate the specularity by the alpha channel). Can it take a separate specular map?

 

yes

 

As you can see in the video, the spec map shaders use a color spec map which differs from Unity's gloss channel. It will also work the same in the transparent versions of the shaders allowing the base textures alpha channel to entirely be for transparency.

Also, in an upcoming version I'll be adding another spec map variation that will instead provide a channel to spec and a channel to gloss. Many artists prefer that style as it gives them more control and specular color is often not required.

 

I have just submitted version 1.2 of Advanced Surface Shaders to the Asset Store and it should be available shortly. This version adds transparent and transparent cutout variations of many shaders alongside a new skin shader.

​

The shader is based on elements of Real-Time Skin Rendering in GPU Gems 3 and Fast Skin Shading in ShaderX7. The shader works with standard diffuse and normal maps and utilises blended normals ala Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

 

Hi Matt
please tell me if your relief shader supports shadows
as that was the problem with Fabio´s implementation Thread!

 

whats up,man?
no activity since July!

 

It casts and receives shadows if that's what you'e asking, but the shadows cast aren't based on the surface bump information, just the base geometry at this stage.

I apologise for not having updated this package recently or being active on the forum. My main development laptop was stolen (amongst many other things) from my house and I've been resolving issues related to that. I am now back to the stage where I can continue development of this package and my others.

I'll be releasing an update shortly that will add some of the previously planned shaders and if anyone has any others they'd like to see please let me know here. Also if there are any 3.4.1 related issues I'll look into that and fix those for the next release too.

 

Excited about this - and btw thanks for the prompt reply to support request

 

This shaders pack looks really promising, can't wait to try them out... but they seem to have vanished from the assetstore. The link in the OP doesn't work either.

 

Yes they seem to have dissapeard... So I emailed the guy to see whats up >.<

 

How are you generating maps for relaxed coned mapping? How expensive (speed) is this shader?

 

Nice work with the relief mapping. Any chance that you'd consider mixing in triplanar support with that? I've implemented triplanar w/ normal and specular mapping for my upcoming Voxelform 2.0, and was considering taking a look at this too, but would be happy to direct folks your way for anything interesting with triplanar or volumetric support.

 

@larvantholos: thanks, keep us posted if you hear any..

 

Can you provide a working link?
The link doesn't work, and i can't find it on the asset store.
Advanced Surface Shader does bring up anything in the search.

B

 

The Asset Store link is down?

 

Hello what happened to the shaders in the store. They are broken under 3.5 and are no longer listed in the store? Any help or update would be a big help.

Thanks,

 

This sounds like an awesome shader set... I have a question though... do you think you can PM me? I have a very nice shader request or two... I plan on buying this asset soon... Thanks

 

Version 1.5 of the Advanced Surface Shaders package is in processing and will soon be available on the Asset Store.

The major new features of version 1.5 are Volumetric Zones and Triplanar Texturing.

There was a large chunk of time following version 1.31 where I was working 80+ hours a week for months at a time and was not able to properly follow this thread and I apologise for that. If you've been watching recent episodes of Every Semicolon then you'll know that South East Games is now what I'm doing full time and I'm very committed to supporting and adding to the Advanced Surface Shaders package. I really appreciate how many people have purchased and utilised it and I'd like to help fill in the gaps in Unity's shader line up and provide some really cool stuff (e.g. Volumetric Zone in version 1.5).

 

nice
best shaders in unity

 

Thanks, I appreciate that. There's a lot more on the way in future updates though . We'll also be supporting Unity 4 during the pre-release beta onwards and with conditional compiling to ensure backwards compatibility on shaders that will work in Unity 3 just like we do now to support Flash and Mobile.

 

Is the rim effect in these shaders being calculated per pixel or per vertex?

 

Tell me all your secretz....... PPPPLLLLLZZZZZZ

 

Hey man, thanks for your support, I love your work

One question though, about the RIM lighting
Have you played (or seen videos) of super mario galaxy? I think they're using RIM lighting too, can you please confirm that or the possibility? Can I achieve that effect with this package? Does the RIM lighting also work on mobile?

So many question '

 

Sorry about the late replies, for some reason even though I'm subscribed to this thread it's the only one on the forum that I don't get notifications for.

The rim effect in all the current rim shaders in the package is per pixel.

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/12...o-capture-of-a-game-made-from-start-to-finish

I have played SM Galaxy and yeah, they're using a form of rim lighting that you can achieve similar effects with with these shaders.

Here's a quick example with just a basic grass texture and the Specular Rim shader in Advanced Surface Shaders.



In fact in the next update to the package you'll have access to Triplanar+Rim Lighting shaders so you could essentially recreate the Super Mario Galaxy style 3D islands without any complicated UV Mapping of the surfaces. For example, here's a torus knot with no UV mapping work done with a Triplanar + Rim Lighting shader applied.

Click for higher resolution


The rim lighting shaders work on mobile. Almost all shaders in the package do with the exception of a couple of effects like Parallax Occlusion Mapping.

 

Are there really silhouettes on this shader? How does that work without being modeled?

 

These shaders are so gorgeous I almost want to spend the $1500 to upgrade to Pro just to use them. Especially that rim light one.

 

I'm guessing you're referring to the wall in the background. It works similar to how transparent cutout shaders work. Essentially the pixels outside the wall's space are being clipped early in the pixel shader (i.e. not drawn). So as you can see on the left side of the wall, nothing too the left of the left edge of the 3D model is drawn, but the pixels that are raised just to the right of the left edge are still drawn and from that perspective go past the left edge of the wall in screen space creating the silhouette.

No need for Unity Pro, they will work fine with Unity free . Non-Pro features that you see in the screens and videos like shadows obviously won't work, but the shader effects themselves will.

Edit: Clarification on the above, the only shaders that require Pro in the package are the volumetric effects as camera depth textures aren't accessible in shaders in Unity Free.

 

I'll throw my credit card at my monitor when I load it up tomorrow then! Great to know!

 

Really cool. I believe Crysis 2 did this? Some people say it was tessellation but every single brick and every objects bumps had silhouettes.

 

Just a quick clarification to this. The volumetric effects are the only shaders that won't work in the free version because of a lack of depth texture support.

Let me know if there are any more shader effects you'd like to see added in future updates.

I'm not sure. Crysis 1 made use of Parallax Occlusion Mapping and they added DX11 tessellation support in Crysis 2 on PC. I'm sure their POM shaders would have included similar silhouette capability.

 

Tnx for the heads up man
I have a request, can you please attach a rim lighting shader with the following capabilities in a future update?
A rim lighting that doesn't calculate lighting (so that it can be very fast on mobile devices)
A transparent and double sided version? (with and w/o lighting)

That would be great, tnx again.

 

I demand a web player demo of the awesome 3d wall texture thingy!

 

Sure, I'll look into those for an upcoming update. Version 1.5.1 is pretty much almost locked down and ready for submission so it will probably be the version after that which should be submitted later this week.

Here's a quick build of the main demo scene from the project. It's not an optimal demo in terms of file size or optimisation, but it should give a look at some of the shaders available in the package. You'll also be able to see some of the new features of 1.5.1 such as the cloudy effects in the volumetric zones and the triplanar texturing with rim lighting.

I'll post some better (smaller, faster, more focused) demos soon showing off the main features of the package. I'll also soon be adding a video showing off the possibilities with the volumetric effects as I feel they're on of the most exciting features of the package for developers looking to achieve a high level of visual fidelity in their projects.

Additionally, I'll be making a video showing the strengths of the package on mobile platforms as this is another key area of the package that I'll be continuing to advance.

 

Hi MattCarr,

It's really a nice shader package, and the most active one in unity asset store, so I'm thinking in buying it.

However I have a couple of question:
1- Is there a pdf manual or some video tutorial explain how to use this pack? I want to make sure that i can use it to the max before I buy
2- Regarding the stylised character lightning "Warped Diffuse + rim light" is it the same as the "Team Fortress 2" shader? because I want to have something mixed between toon and relaistic so can this be help?

Team Fortress 2 shader: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/93194-Team-Fortress-2-Toon-Shader-in-Unity-Free-Version

Thanks in advance.

 

There is no manual included in the current version although I will be providing more details for owners and prospective owners soon on a new web site along with more demo scenes and videos. That said, the shaders in the package are very easy to use. They use the same property names and styles where applicable as the Unity built-in shaders and if you can apply a shader to a material in Unity already then that's all you need to know for 90% of the shaders in this package.

Volumetric shape objects can be created through the "GameObject > Create Other" menu like you would to create lights, particle systems, etc.

The current warped diffuse shader is quite similar to the Team Fortress 2 shader. It's not a direct copy and is not entirely the same, but it shares enough of the core elements to allow you to create similarly shaded characters. TF2 character shading was the primary inspiration for the shader in this package.

Thanks for your interest. It's important to me that the package continues to be updated with new shaders and features so that it's always improving for those that have bought it. If you do require any support for the package then please contact me any time.

 

Hi MattCarr,

thanks for your reply, however I was wondering how good you package on mobile platfrom? I have seen in previous posts that your package is working on mobile, but what about performance?

Also what about hard surface shaders? are you support them?

(Sorry I'm still new in shaders)

 

All the shaders are well optimised and run well on mobile platforms. OpenGL ES 2.0 is a requirement on mobile for many of the shaders which has been the norm for mobile devices for the past 3+ years.

Version 1.5.2 of the package will be a mobile focused update and will come with a set of shader specifically optimised for mobile. It should be submitted to the store within the next week.

Advanced Surface Shaders has no compatibility issues with any other package available on the Asset Store, including Hard Surface Shaders. They can coexist in a project without issue. Hard Surface Shaders (created by a fellow Aussie ) primarily focuses on reflection and refraction based effects to create nice looking metallic or glass surfaces using techniques like z-priming and screen space reflections. We have similar techniques used for other shaders which we'll be incorporating into a future version of Advanced Surface Shaders that I'll talk about after the release of 1.5.2.

 

I'm interested in the volumetric shader and possibly the rim shader. However, would you consider posting some profiler graphs ( say for a single volumetric cube and a single sphere with rim shader ) regarding ms time per frame and allocations. See this thread for more information.

These shaders look great, but I need to know if they perform great too based on profiler metrics.

 

It's refreshing to see someone that cares about that sort of thing as much as I do .

There's no relevant data I could show for the rim shader, it has no script and is purely a shader effect (quite a fast one too).

The Box Volume (and all other volume shapes) are built to be optimised both in and other of the editor which is a little tricky because they need to update in editor and display correctly in the scene view as well as game view. Because of the numerous ways a Unity editor layout can be affected and scene view cameras changed, while in the editor I regularly force the scene cameras to create depth textures and that is the only repeated allocation you'll see. It won't occur in the built application, the volumes allocate nothing.



Beyond that the only allocation is on initialisation or if the settings of the volume are changed at run-time which doesn't happen in any use case I've had, but I can imagine people might choose to write scripts to make that happen. Currently in a frame where there is a change/init, it allocates only 120 bytes, but that is something I can look at reducing or removing entirely if I foresee that becoming something people might regularly do.

 

Excellent, thanks for that. Have you given cone or trapezoid based volumes with attenuation any thought?

Think I'll grab a copy in the asset store now.

 

Absolutely. Cone shapes will be in the next version and there's a possibility support will be added for more or any convex geometry.

Thanks for the support. Let me know if you have any more thoughts on future additions you might need.

Also, I put together a new video showing some uses of the current volumetric objects:

Click here to watch on Youtube

 

Purchased.

I'm sure I'll have a few ideas once I've had chance to play this afternoon. The video is what caught my initial attention. Just noticed a mention of triplanar water, and we have rivers in Folk Tale, so I'm intrigued as to what possibilities there might be.

Will no doubt be in touch. Thanks.