Glass,Chrome Reflective material shader assets pack

Hi brn great work ive going to try it out more on my current project and get back too you with feedback. It will for sure sell alot there is nothing like this in the asset store.

 

Ive been getting quite a few private messages and emails requesting the shader before the Unity Asset Store release. I'm very grateful that the level of interest has been so high. To help those that are waiting and the general community Ive put together the Hard Surface Free pack for you to download and use.

You can download it via this link

http://wtrns.fr/GPogqMawxUSYaV

The link will be available for 2 weeks which should cover the time it takes for the Asset Store submitions of all three packs to become available.

Thanks again,
Brn

 

just read through your documentation, looks amazing, can't wait to use this in a project I'm working on!

 

Congratulations Bruno

The free pack alone is great. We are really interested in the Pro-pack.

 

Fantastic ! Wooh Thx for this...

 

Really a great job, thanks for sharing!

I am really interested in pro version. what is the price?

 

Million Thanks, I need it

 

These look great Bruno. Looking forward to the Pro version on the store

 

I'm happy to say Hard Surface Shaders Pro is now on the Asset Store for $50 Click Here for Link
Hard Surface Shaders Standard I'm yet to submit but will be $15
Hard Surface Shaders Free is pending approval and is well, Free! Temp Link

Im creating Video's of example scenes and usage over the next few days, so those that were not beta testers can get a better idea of how it all works. Thanks to every one on the Beta team for your help and feel free to keep posting suggestions or ask any questions.

I hope you find the packages good value and also a good solution.

Kind Regards
Brn

 

Great news!

We have purchased the Pro package. Thank you.

 

Was really excited to import your shader package. Just downloaded it and the shaders I assigned in the scene were disabled. Does anyone know of a work around for this.

 

Hi Joel this dosen't sound good, Was it the Pro or the free pack and what version of Unity are you running?
Also what method did you use to apply the shaders to your materials ?

Quickly here are some things that are required by the shaders for them to work.

Hard surface pro requires Unity Pro version 3.3+ ( if you are on a earlier 3.0 - 3.2 build) I'll send you the shaders with the 3.3 specific optimizations removed.

Hard Surface Free requires Unity 3.3+ as well. I can do the same for these.

To run on Unity 2.6 or earlier would require a complete rewrite.

Feel free to Private message me and we can work this out via skype or something similar if you like and Im sure we can work out why its not working for you.


Kind regards,
Bruno

 

I'm happy to say Hard Surface Shaders Pro is now on the Asset Store for $50 Click Here for Link
Hard Surface Shaders Free has also been released! Click Here for Link
Hard Surface Shaders Standard I'm yet to submit but will be $15

Thanks to every one on the Beta team for your help and feel free to keep posting suggestions or ask any questions.

I hope you find the packages good value as well as a good solution.

Look to the Video and attachments below for documentation (which I recommend you read if you are considering purchasing pro ).

Kind Regards
Brn

 

Hi there,
Just bought the pro package from the asset store and I'm really happy with it
I was wondering if you could include some car paint materials for the next update? I mean the window glasses, the metal color of the body, RIM effect (Fresnel, not the fresnel cubemap reflection already in your package), Half Lambert shading, maybe some sparkling (The old ATI car paint), etc. Could you do that please?

Take a look, they're offline renders but good to see
http://www.cebas.com/index.php?pid=product&prd_id=140&feature=1193

I think the best car paint shader requires HDR rendering, right? Don't know how to overcome this one

Thank you buddy, very high quality package

 

Hi Curious,

Im glad you like the package, and I will do some periodical updates.

The shader additions I have in mind so far are:

CutOut / Alpha masked versions.

Ability to Over bright , Specular / Fresnel / reflection and Gloss ( This will cover your rim lighting and to some extent the HDR Indirectly)

Possibly Combining the Reflection and Gloss mask, So the current Spec (r) Gloss (g) reflection (b) can be used as spec(r) gloss/reflection(b) metallics (g) density? (a)

You can do the sparkle effect on the paint now if you have a high enough resolution for your gloss mask. If I were to do specific car shader metallic paint Id make its a separate shader from the others so I don't add any overheads to the existing shaders in terms of performance. I can include it in the same package though.

The Half Lambert is a tricky one to integrate into the existing shaders. Im already doing some transitioning on the lighting, Id have to look into it before i can commit to that request as it probably will conflict with the existing lighting algorithm and make it too expensive to implement practically. It would probably have to be a completely different branch of shaders.

Keep the suggestions coming if i get a few of the same types of request i'll prioritize them.

 

This is great Can't wait for an update XD

I thought I'd upload an image here, just so that you know that people (like me) are using your great product in their work



It's been made within a few hours (Including learning the package features) (not the model!) and the ease of the tweaking process was quite impressive

It needs a lot of tweaking here and there. I'm quite happy with it so far, but a pro like you could definitely tell why I asked for special car paint shaders

The image quality is great, the draw call and frame rates are gonna have to rely on hardware power for now

I'm sure you're planning a lot of optimizations for the updates

[EDIT]
Oh, and could you please add another slider for bumpiness please?
[/EDIT]

Good luck with the sales man

 

Hi Curious
Awsome work, looks great.

The biggest impact on the speed are the draw calls because the shaders are forward lit. Anything you do to minimize draw calls will make a huge difference. If you would like some help doing that send me a Private Message and we can have a look at your scene to find some optimizations.

Theres a little trick I can do, that could result in a significant speed increase, but theres a catch. At the moment I do a grab pass capture for every object that uses the Pro Screen Space techniques. An alternative is to do a single grab pass at the end of the frame which is then used by the shaders on the following frame. The catch being if your frame rate drops to anything lower than 25fps it becomes noticeable that the reflections are one frame behind the scene. It also throws the editor out now and then and you will see one frame glitches when changing focus between windows.

If you need a way to exaggerate the normals on your normal map this method works well for me and doesn't cost you any performance ( the slider and the extra code to go with it unfortunately would).

1) duplicate your normal map in PS/GIMP and set the duplicate layer to Overlay.
2) Use the opacity on that layer or multiple layers to tweak the exaggeration of the normals.
3) Flatten the result and run a normalize normals filter over it ( Nvida plugin or Xnormal will do the trick)

This will give you a stronger Bump effect. Often if you use this technique with a slight Gaussian blur on the overlays you will get a smoother result from your normal map and reduce aliasing.

Cant wait to see more pics,
Brn

 

Yeah, sure, will do
Let me clear up things a bit, I sure would love to do that ASAP

And thanks for the tip

Yeah, me too, I'm working on some other implementations but I also would love to see other people's work

Come on people

 

I have downloaded the free Hard Surface Shaders and dropped them onto a model I have been working on.
Of course this probably isn't the shiniest model with a lot of reflection and best way to show off these shaders.
Im eagerly awaiting the cutout material to mask the wheels and tracks details.
Still trying the free shaders out at home.
Will definitely be purchasing these Hard Surface Pro shaders this week for work. A good price for a fistful of shaders.
G

 

is it working for ipad/iphone?????

 

Hi radheshyam,

I sorry but I don't have the hardware or the unity license to test if they work on mobile platforms.
However the shaders are Shader model 2 compatible.

Im currently working with another unity dev to test the shaders on more hardware.

Kind regards,
Brn

 

iPad/iPhone doesn't support Cube maps, only tricks with sphere maps. They use shader model 3, however the real-time reflections were quite a bit too expensive to render on my iPad 2 when I tested.

 

Hi Aron,

Thanks for the feedback. My guess is that the grabpass functionality is pretty slow on the Ipad, If that is the case i can get around it but it would require the reflections to have a one frame lag. which is not noticeable at high frame rates but pretty ugly at say 17fps or less.
This would also require a separate branch of shaders, rather than an extension of how Im doing it now. Which Im willing to look into.

If I were to do mobile shaders I would probably bias more towards performance over visuals. What are the key features Mobile Devs would want?

Would you drop zpriming for less drawcalls ect?

Cheers
Brn

 

Hi Brn,

Very impressive package. I've tried out the free version (because I don't have Unity Pro) and that already looks great. Would love to have a look at the Pro features you've showed in your videos and test how it's performing on my own hardware.
Have you got anything planed? Like a webplayer/standalone demonstration?

I will probably buy the standard version once it's released for I am looking at possible ice shaders for a future project. Since it's for mobile devices I'm also very interested in a more performance oriented approach.
But because mobile devices are evolving very rappadly at the moment and some tablets and phones already bring enough performance and screen sizes so that generally reducing the quality to much would probably not be the best solution. What I would like to see is a possibitly to adjust the quality on the fly for different devices or for scenes that only have one object and one shader in view.

My scene for example is just one close up of an object with an ice material (reflaction, refraction) and the quality of the visuals could be pushed to use the devices hardware as much as possible. So I would like to see advanced features such as zpriming in a mobile version as well. (and sign up for possible testing on Android devices)

Greetz,
Marv

 

I just started working with your shaders and I am impressed! The work perfectly and are gorgeous. Very useful.

I am mainly interested in shaders for the iOS so a workaround for the no cube map requirement would be welcome.

 

Performance almost always seems to be the highest concern for shaders in mobile development. In my opinion, the best approach for creating mobile shaders using what you are using, would be to take what you have going in your current shader set, and create a mobile set, with each shader being more stripped down that the previous. It could range all the way from how you shaders currently are (with a few mobile tweaks ie spheremap instead of cubemap) to a simple vertex lit reflective material kind of like this one: Cheap Glass Shader.

A spectrum like this would give developers a choice in what their processor can afford in their specific scene; to have full control to push their visuals as far as they can. You'd be surprised at how slow some things get (even on the iPhone 4); not all of the mobile shaders in this spectrum would be able to be used right away. As phones get faster though (maybe even on the Tegra2 phones), people would gradually be able to use them all.

 

@ Marv , Thanks for the kind comments. Im considering releasing a webplayer, unfortunately its not a clear cut decision because of the webplayers security issues with content. Still the greater exposure this would give could be well worth the risk. I'm looking into the logistics of the mobile shaders now. I'll defiantly do something along the lines of what you have suggested.

@ henkdawson, Im glad you like the shaders and Im on to the IOS shaders.

@Aron, Hi Aron would you want to use the LOD fallback system that Shaderlab provides or would you prefer separate shaders that you switch between with your own management systems?

Just a quick thought though its quite possible that with all the combinations of IOS and DX and Mac shaders that the shader list could blow out to over a hundred variations

@glnhrrs, Cut out shaders are on thier way to you and will be available to everyone else in the next release (very soon).

@Everyone, Feel free to send me a PM if you want any tips on getting the effect you are after. I'll see what i can do to help. If you are willing to put up some screenshots on this post, I might even be able to help tune your assets for you.

Kind regards,
Bruno

 

I was so stoked when I saw this thread and watched the Youtube demos. Then I read that it wasn't for IOS ... (yet). Are there any shader options for getting this sort of look even without the realtime reflections? I mean, I like the metal shaders a lot. Even if it were a blurred trick of the light type effect when a chrome object moved.

The other thing I wish Vendos would do in the Asset Store / Forum would be in the initial post, mention if their product is IOS ready. This would be a huge help to the gaggles of folk who never intend to release to the desktop.

Beautiful shaders though. Look forward to whatever you come up with for mobile.. Have a pending project that would be perfect for them.

B

 

I think separate shaders would be ideal. Even if the hardware can support the highest quality shader, developers might still need to step down the quality due to other factors hogging the processor (complex geometry, physics calculations, etc). It depends entirely on the scene and will differ from project to project. Everything revolves around performance on mobile. That being said, LOD fallback might still be nice either way though to take it down to a vertex lit base material.

 

I've downloaded the Hard Surface Shaders Free for a test...

but apparently when i import into the project files, it appear to be only scripting files and im unsure how can i put it as material/shader into my objects...

currently im using PC, window 7, 64 bit. unity pro 3.3...

can anyone enlighten me how can i use them?
im very new to unity world... >_<

 

ah... i think i figure it out already....
by selecting the material script, and click on create>material.
it will pop out material with the scripting settings...

cheers~

 

Just bought the Hard Surface Shader 1.02 and am puzzled by the fact that it says:
"No subsurface shaders can run on this graphics card".
Wow, I don't get it, I have a GTX 580 with the latest driver and using Unity 3.30f4.
Anyone have a solution?
This is disappointing to say the least.

 

Just spent about 45 minutes on Skype with Bruno and the problem seems to be resolved now
(didn't take 45 minutes, he was kind enough to help me with a number of other things).
I'll let him explain what he wants to say on the matter.

Thanks for the time, Bruno!

 

@ Don Gray, No problems Don, glad to help and thank you for purchasing the shaders.

The good news is that with Dons help we have been able to come closer to working out what causes the "No subsurface shaders can run on this graphics card" issue. This Issue has occurred to a few others and I believe it caused by the following two situations.

1) A project with the free shaders imported is then followed by an import of the PRO Shaders.

2) When the Pro shader pack is Imported with the "Hard Surface Pro/Standard" Assets folder included into a project that all ready has the unity image effects imported.

In both these cases it results in shaders of the same name existing in two different locations within the same project. This then makes the compiler fail with the "No subsurface shaders can run on this graphics card" error message.

The quick solution is to remove the free shaders before Importing Pro and when importing Pro into an existing project with Image effects to un-check the "Hard Surface Pro/Standard" folder from your Import package window.

My apologies to anyone who has encountered this problem. I'm working on a solution that will avoid this in the future.

 

Great support, Bruno... Holding out for the IOS shaders to pull the trigger. Can't wait.

 

Definitely an example for other Asset Store providers.

 

Hi,

I've just finished the latest updates to the pack and have it available to be sent directly to Pro users who can provide an Invoice number. Email me the Number and I'll send it to that address via We transfer.

Ive focused mostly on performance enhancements and some new features.

New Features

• Cutout shader variations.
• Full multi shadow support for Omnis and Spotlights and directionals in Forward lighting.
• Ability to over-bright Fresnel reflections.( A nicer way of doing Rim lighting)

Improvements

• Improved refractions. Will now invert on spheres if density is high, also magnifies better.
• Improved Chromatic aberrations, better splitting based on density and angle.
• Improved Reflections. Screen space reflections are better defined and are generally more visible .

Optimizations

• Moved some calculations from the fragment shader to the vertex shader.
• Reduced ALU usage on most fragment shaders
• Reduced TexCoord usage on reflection and refraction passes.
• Removed second grab pass from Pro Transparent Shaders. ( Can be commented back in if you are after the extra quality. looks great in, but the general improvements to the reflections make up of it being removed)

A couple of general notes.

The new refraction code takes different input values. Materials created for earlier versions will need a slight adjustment of the density property to look as they were, or even better : )

The new reflection code gives clearer results. you might find you want to tone down reflections slightly to maintain the same levels as the previous version. The example scene materials were mostly left unchanged.

To re add the second Grab Pass in the Pro Transparent Shaders do a search and replace for "//ReflectGrab//" and remove it to un-comment the pass. If you do this you will get self reflection of the front faces on your surface. I'll leave the judgement on the Performance/Visual trade up to you.

Screenshot of the Cut out example scene below.



Kind regards,
Bruno

 

Hey, do you have a fully transparent shader with specular?
Unity's stock shaders reduce spec to 0 when main colour is 0 alpha :/

Thanks

 

Hi kinetiknz,

The Hard Surface shaders allow for fully transparent surfaces with specular and reflection. Also the Fresnel reflection property in the shader pack will boost the specular highlight as well. There is a free version of the shaders available on the asset store and a Pro version as well for creating complex surfaces.

 

Thanks brn. I will download it asap, and look at the pro pack too.

I don't want to bore you too much with my project drama's but I have been trying to bake my entire static scene with beast for an architectural project and still have specular on the materials. I can't find a solution for that, so I'm thinking of duplicating all objects in the scene which should be shiny and putting transparent/spec shader on them, then figuring out how to render them with priority (so there is no z fighting) over the baked objects.

If this doesn't work then it's lambert all the way...

 

hi kinetiknz,

I haven't tried it myself but from the documentation provided by unity it sounds like the Dual light map approach will give you what you want.
If you set the Near light map range to be reasonably far ( shadow distance) you should get the secondary bounce lighting you are after and specular highlights ect.

http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/Components/class-LightMapping.html

I would try and avoid rendering the scene twice to get the specular highlights.

kind regards,
Bruno

 

While the submission process is underway , heres a link to the Free pack with a few additions and improvements.
Wetransfer Link to Free v1.1

Release Notes for all Versions 1.1

Additions:

• Cutout shader variations.
• Full multi shadow support for Omnis and Spotlights and directionals in Forward lighting.
• Ability to over-bright Fresnel reflections.

Improvements:

• Improved refractions. Will now invert on spheres if density is high, also magnifies better, Look to the Glass example scene and Diamond material for an example.
• Improved Chromatic aberrations, better splitting based on density and angle.
• Improved Reflections. Screen space reflections are better defined and will show at a larger range of angles.

Optimizations:

• Moved some calculations from the fragment shader to the vertex shader.
• Reduced ALU usage on most fragment shaders
• Reduced TexCoord usage on reflection and refraction passes.
• Removed second grab pass from Pro Transparent Shaders. ( Can be commented back in if you are after the extra quality. looks great in, but the general improvements to the reflections make up of it being removed )

Notes:

• The new refraction code takes different input values. Materials created for earlier versions will need a slight adjustment of the density property to look as they were, or even better : )
• The new reflection code gives clearer results. you might find you want to tone down reflections slightly to maintain the same levels as the previous version. The example scene materials were mostly left unchanged.
• To re add the second Grab Pass to the Pro Transparent Shaders, do a search and replace for "//ReflectGrab//" and remove it . This will enable self reflection of the front faces on your surface. I'll leave the judgment on the performance/visual trade up to you.

Kind regards,
Bruno

 

Looks good Bruno, Awesome pack
I'm going to buy your pro pack today.

Does the Pro pack come with a free subscription/update plan?

 

Hi kinetiknz,

I'm making a presumption here but the way I think the Asset store works is that once you have purchased a version, every update from that point onwards is available to you. As an asset contributer I have seen no options to allow or block updates. Considering the iterative nature of most developers it would be strange if access to updates were not the norm. I'll like to get this confirmed first and I'll let you know what i find out.

 

Ive had a request to put depth checking into the shaders for refraction and reflection.
Although this opens up many possibilities its also very expensive.

Id defiantly have to make it a separate branch of shaders.
Let me know what you think.

Kind regards,
Bruno

 

This is great man, I'm really glad that I bought your package ;-)
And thanks for the Fresnel/RIM effect ;-)

Good luck with the sales man... keep the updates coming

[EDIT]
Can't wait for the update to get approved by UT X-)

I'm gonna upload another screenshot as soon as I get the update from the asset store

 

Thanks Curious and your welcome

All Three packs are up on the Asset store now with price points for everyone Pro $50, Standard $15, and of Course Free!
All updated with the latest fixes and additions v1.121

Hard Surface Shaders Pro Click Here for Link
Hard Surface Shaders Standard Click Here for Link
Hard Surface Shaders Free Click Here for Link

Cheers,
Brn

 

Now that v1.121 is out I'm going to start on the Mobile shaders. Id like to take work with a few beta testers . If anyone wants to take up the offer let me know. Im going to limit it around 6 people. Anyone in the beta group will get free updates up to version 1.1

Kind regards,
Brn

 

No mobile devices here...

 

Hmm, this beta thing sounds interesting, fun and rewarding
Is it going to be in the same package or a separate new pack?
I'm in, I have iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4, iPad 1, HTC Desire Z, Samsung Galaxy S

I'll be available in July and afterwards