Strumpy Shader Editor [Now Open Source]

here is a picture of the graph:

http://warby.bitproll.de/projects/9999_wip/warbys_uber_shader.jpg

here you can grab the shader and the graph file:

http://warby.bitproll.de/misc/uber_shader_v1.zip

there is also a "light" version included that doesnt use any normal maps in case you make a game that is more in a cartoon style like pirates of new horizons where normal-maps just look wrong. the full version clocks in at 100 instructions the light version at 58.

if you have any questions on how to use this shader ( a lot of extra care has to be taken with every asset in maya !) just post here or send me a pm !


if somebody has any optimization suggestions let me have it as well ! (i wanted to have the detail map and the blend mask be the alpha channel of the normal maps so i could reduce the total amount of textures used to 4 ... but unity doesnt seam to like normal maps that have alpha)

 

btw does anybody know if/how i can scale individual channels of a texture ?! i want to only scale the alpha by 64x64 and leave the r g and b channel at 1x1 ?!

 

Thanks a lot warby!

 

actually yeah that would do ... why didnt i come up with that its so obvious ^^


has anyone noticed that objects with custom shaders dont seam to get dynamically batched by unity ? are my shaders set up wrong or is this a known behavior from unity !?

 

Is it possible to detect the edges of objects without pro? For example I want to have many shapes and styles of windows. I want the glass to have a bit of grudge along the edges - I want to make a shader that will add that little grudge line at the edge of the window model.
example

The place where the frame meets the glass has a bit of dirt, pant, ectect. Look at your own windows and they'll darken a tad at the edges. There are 2 main ways I can think of doing this.
1: Add extra vertices to the glass and color them. This adds higher polygon count complexity on my end. This also isn't very configurable to the size of the window.
2: Texture each pane of glass. Obviously the least effective.

 

Dear Strumpy,
Thanks for the awesome editor!

I am wondering if you can give us a couple more examples on custom lighting?

Keep up the great work!
James

 

Custom lighting isn't in yet AFAIK.

 

Thanks Strumpy for an awesome editor seeing as no one on our Dev team atm knows to much about scripting shaders this should defiantly help I suppose this is one less con when it comes to the Unity vs. UDK debate...

 

Could someone please writte me shader for normal, diffuse and specular texture map. So shader should get input from three textures: diffuse, normal, specular. Also an addition with adjusting or correcting color over model would be nice ( like unity shaders already have).

Please help me i really cant get that editor working.

 

I have a shader that can do that... it is a few posts back...it is called the NI_Character_Shader... I plan on add some mask channels so i can tint the character feel free to play with it

 

@janpec

If you can't find it, I've PMed you, I'll send one to you

 

Is anyone else having issues with SSE 3.3a being extremely sluggish? Typing, for instance (such as comment and texture names) require 2 seconds per character. It's still usable, just very slow.

 

Thank you guys. Appretiate your help,

 

Hm i didnt get any respond from ayanami, Neptune can you give me link to your shader?

 

I've had the same issues with the editor (and I really really want to use this!);

I have narrowed it down to two lines; I started with the rim lighting that comes with the editor. It generates these two lines:


float4 Fresnel0=float4( 1.0 - dot( normalize( float4(IN.viewDir, 1.0).xyz), normalize( Fresnel0_1_NoInput.xyz ) ) );
float4 Pow0=pow(Fresnel0,_RimPower.xxxx);

But if I change them to this it works:

float Fresnel0=( 1.0 - dot( normalize( float4(IN.viewDir, 1.0).xyz), normalize( Fresnel0_1_NoInput.xyz ) ) );
float Pow0=pow(Fresnel0,_RimPower.x);

 

The only thing is, I am still adapting it to SSE 3.2 and I think i have it fixed

 

Neptune i dont need it to be fixed for sseditor 3.2 all i need is shader file.

 

Oh okay...i will be more than happy to share it again... i recently updated it

 

Sorry, I should have mentioned I was talking about the problem XpycT was having. To recreate the problem; open Unity, create a new Shader Graph, add a multiply, a color and a float. Link the multiple to the Albedo, link the color to Arg1 of the multiply and the float to Arg2. Update the Shader and you get an error.



I also get error messages by loading the RimLighting Shader. Here is the generated shader file: View attachment $PlanetTest.shader

I am runing on 64 bit windows 7 and using 3.2.0f4 version

 

Hello everyone, hello stramit, well I have a question I downloaded last StrumpyShaderEditor-Beta-3.3b and I create a blank project, then I imported the StrumpyShaderEditor-Beta-3.3b package but when I just import it I saw this two error messages inside TempShader.shader, does any one know how to fix it, Im using win 7 x64, unity 3.2f4 last version and Nvidia 480gtx with latest drivers, player settings for Mac and PC standalone, by the way the picture posted by dlshores above show how I see the editor with an error in the sphere,
Deferred rendering path, Last time I used was with Unity 3.0 and I remember it worked, but now I'm not sure was going on, thanks any help in advance...

Shader error in 'ShaderEditor/EditorShaderCache': Program 'frag_surf', incorrect number of arguments to numeric-type constructor (compiling for xbox360) at line 111

Shader error in 'ShaderEditor/EditorShaderCache': Program 'vert_surf', incorrect number of arguments to numeric-type constructor (compiling for xbox360) at line 111

 

Hello Stramit, just to say thanks for your quick reply, I also want to clarify, I want to build my project for PC and Mac standalone, I create a blank and clean new project and add the package and after that I saw those error messages, my player settings is set to build for windows and mac, rendering path deferred and I dont want to compile for xbox, I think it have something to do about unity 3.2 cause I use StrumpyShaderEditor before with unity 3.0 and I did the same and it works with out any error message, I imported the latest StrumpyShaderEditor package and it works then, the only difference this time is unity 3.2 maybe some else is having the same problem, or maybe is only me? what could be wrong with my unity editor....?.. appreciate any advise..

 

Any chance of this going up on the asset store so that it's easier to up date?

 

Hi, trying to create a snow accumulation shader that automatically blends two textures based on the world Y normal and the normal map combined. At first I thought I'd cracked it, but later realised that the normal map only worked when the object was aligned correctly, i.e. if you turned the object upside down the normal map contribution was upside down. Is there a simple way of converting the unpacked normal map into world space opposed to model/tangent space?



This is a stripped down version of the shader, i.e. normal and spec removed, just the albedo part of the shader

p.s. I am by no means a coder... just a lowly artist.

 

Neptune where is your link for shader?????

 

i would highly suggest against that work-flow just make your self a shader like my "uber shader" (or use my uber shader) and fade between rock and snow with your vertex alpha you will have much more control over it and i promise you it will ultimately look better !

 

The problem with that is that it's object based, not world space based. So you can't have a nice snow line or accumulation effects that can be altered at runtime.

 

I don't know if I am doing it wrong or not, but apparently the Normal Unpack node in 3.3a causes my object to be lit wrong. but if I by pass the unpack node everything would look not as bad..

@ janpec
sorry for the late reply, I've sent you the sGraph to your mail, the shader should have coloured specMap, except that unpacking oddity. So I've also included a set of disconnected nodes with unpack version, if this problem only happens in my computer, then just replace everything that goes into the normal input with the unpack version.

Cheers

 

Hi all,

Part of the shader I'm making requires emulating the way the standard Reflective/Diffuse shader works. Specifically I need to be able to use a colour swatch to adjust the amount of the Reflective Cubemap one can see. The way it drops down from 100% visible to fade down to black when you change the colour in the swatch.
The problem seems to be that I don't know how to modulate the RGBA of the TexCUBE node to make it behave like that. I've tried multiply, and add, and POW... Also, apparently adding the multiplied result to the raw RGBA was supposed to work, but it didn't.
Anyone know how to get that effect?
(and before you ask, I can't use the default shader, as I need it to do other things too...)

Ok, fixed it. Thanks to Goal in the IRC for his help.

 

I appreciate all the work that went into this, but just as a quick bit of feedback, I've been programming for over 5 years and have done cinematic work in Lightwave for over 10, but I'm still completely lost even when using something as simple as this node-based editor. Consider that my testimonial for now... lol.

I really think that without some intermediate or higher background in shader languages, it's impossible to grasp how to assemble a shader. The idea that with the introduction of a graph editor, artists can make their own shaders, is a very romantic and highly sought after idea, but in practice... I still can't make heads or tails of all this, and neither can any of the artists I've approached.

Fully understanding that this is all still beta, of course! Just trying to find ways to improve the editor (for my own sake; if this ends up failing, I'll be left with no option but to use only the default Unity shaders, and that's a scary thought!).

If this functioned more like Lightwave's node-based surface editor, I'd be overjoyed, but it would require a lot of work on your part (for instance, instead of us having to assemble an entire fresnel effect from scratch out of nodes just to create a simple visual effect, you'd have to include a kind of do-it-all fresnel node that lets us set values and maybe then includes code only for the features from it that we've decided to use, for speed's sake). Otherwise, I don't see how beginners will ever get mileage out of this. The ShaderLab/GLSL/etc. lingo, logic, and language barrier is too great for an artist (or even a 5-year programmer) to grasp how to assemble a shader to do exactly what we want it to. I don't even know where to begin with computing various values. It would help greatly if there were tooltips that taught/showed what values were being outputted by the nodes (for instance, for a View Direction node, I don't know if it's outputting a float, a Vector3, a rotation, or what, and if it is outputting say a Vector3, how do I access each individual axis of it, etc. which also means by extension I don't know what to mathematically do to the output without just slapping random operations together and hoping I get what I want). I understand that as an advanced shader programmer yourself, it might be hard to imagine why I'm having trouble with a node editor, but just the wordage used is not standard for typical programming and not intuitive.

Lastly, I was always curious, is there some sort of software restriction that would not allow Unity Free to display shader previews or was it a conscious decision? That's one of the biggest hurdles I face right now as someone trying to learn. Having to recompile, wait a few seconds, switch back to my scene and observe my surfaced object every single time I change just one little thing. At this rate, I might grasp how shaders work by the turn of the century. Wish there was a better way.

Not sure if you have any plans on making this more usable for and more directly targeted at beginners, but I would highly recommend it. I'll bet most people who want to use this in the first place have no knowledge at all of shaders or the lingo associated with it, and if you could find some way to make this accessible to these people (right now it's still pretty far out of reach for us lowly artists and game programmers), I think this could easily become a must-have add-on.

 

Jason, I'm an artist with absolutely zero coding skills. I've been using this editor since it was released to us, and I have to say that it's made it possible for me to make shaders. You're right that the shader language is not a realistic option, but I can tell you that I've used this tool many times.

Please don't assume I'm saying it's perfect. It's not (yet).

You're pretty much right about how it would be better with nodes that cover some of the more common combinations. Perhaps they'll get onto that. It would make things faster.

The thing about the free version not being able to show you the preview has to do with Unity, not this editor. (I think).

Anyway, my point is that as a known non-coder, I can say that this tool works.

 

The preview window uses render to texture which is a pro only feature.

 

Aha! I knew there was something.

Btw, I just used this tool (and some help from people who know more than I about this stuff) to make a shader that has a cubemap, 2 parallax layers, masking with an alpha and adjustable values. There's no freaking way I could have done this by hand, as I wouldn't know a function from an aubergine.

 

From my experience this interface seems pretty similar to node-based editors in general, including Maya, VJ tools, terrain generation tools, and visual programming tools. (I haven't used any of those that much, aside from 5 minutes here and there and looking at screen shots).

I'm not super fast, but I can code shaders just fine, and I don't consider myself to have been "programming for over 5 years." But I use this because I can get the job done faster for all but the most custom things.

My guess is that you have the skills needed, but you're simply in that really awkward phase of learning a new tool. The phase where you feel like you're beating your head against the wall and getting nowhere really. I'd say just keep at it until you break through. Every single time I learn a technical creative tool that's what happens to me at least. It always feels awkward and painful and ghetto at first, and then eventually you get used to it and often times grow to like it.

 

Hi!

Is there any quite acceptable workaround for worldreflection at SM2? VertexReflection would be a good start, but I'd like to use this with normalmaps. I do not need the exact same good result, but a close one would be nice. I do not want a complete solution, some ideas also fit well. Thank you in advance.

Please help.

 

im new to shader editor...

Can somebody help me to make a transparent material with reflection...

How to use cubemaps correctly???

please do help...

 

Hmm not exactly what I wanted. I have already created an "Uncharted" blend shader which is all well and good, I was just trying to create a procedural snow layer shader partly as a test of the editor.. and secondly it would be useful when working with instances, e.g. rocks that can be rotated, scaled etc in Unity without having a massive library of hand blended assets. I know the results of a hand crafted asset will always beat a procedural one, but for mass use and background objects something like this would be useful.... I know it's possible, it's just whether Strumpy can do it is another thing.

 

I tried this, it's sort of possible but you'll lose a lot of hair trying

 

I remember way back you were trying to get this working in 3.x. It's still being problematic? It worked just fine in 2.6.1 as well didn't it.

 

can we write a shader that can be used in active stereoscopy?

 

ah okay yeah i wasnt 100% sure about your application. sorry that i cant help with the tangent space -> worldspace math

 

What all things are to changed in the master node to make a shader transparent????