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Why is the new shader editor so basic?

Discussion in 'Unity 5 Pre-order Beta' started by Paniku, Feb 5, 2015.

  1. Paniku

    Paniku

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2013
    Posts:
    24
    When I heard about the new shader system I thought it would be something on par with ShaderForge/UE4's node editor. But in the end it's really just the same old system with some extra sliders.

    I'm not sure if this will change but it doesn't seem likely that it will. Unfortunately it seems like many people are content with this and are happy to fork out money for a third party asset. ShaderForge is good but a feature like that should be inbuilt into the engine. If the excuse was used to not implement major features because an asset for it already exists we wouldn't be getting anything new.

    I hope I'm not the only one who feels this way.
     
    Paniku, Feb 5, 2015
    #1

  2. Zeblote

    Zeblote

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2013
    Posts:
    1,102
    Unity should integrate shaderforge and optimize it.
     
    Zeblote, Feb 5, 2015
    #2

  3. 3agle

    3agle

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2012
    Posts:
    508
    The new shader system uses PBR, and is more accomplished than you give it credit for. It was never meant to be a shader creation system, I'm not sure where you got that impression.

    The new shader has optional slots for additional features filtering out ops where they aren't needed, something very welcome as it means you don't have to search around for another shader to do a bump effect, or add AO and it keeps performance right where it should be.

    You talk about node based editors as a 'major feature', but I don't feel that is true. It's a nice extra, one that isn't worth Unity's time for the 5.0 release in my opinion. They have stated they will look into node based shader creation, though they haven't confirmed it as a feature.

    You say we aren't getting anything new, but that's completely incorrect, it's entirely new and it's very useful. I think you need to learn what the standard shader is and how to use it before you criticise it.

    Also check out Lars' porting of Lux to U5, he's adding some much appreciated shaders to the new pipeline:
    http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/lux-wet-shaders-for-unity-5-beta-21.293596/
     
    3agle, Feb 5, 2015
    #3
    Roni92 likes this.

  4. superpig

    superpig

    Drink more water! Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2011
    Posts:
    4,659
    That's because it's not a shader editor, it's a material editor ;) you use the same shader under the hood for everything and the material editor lets you alter the settings that shader uses. If you want to actually edit shaders, we don't have any visual tools for that yet - it remains a matter of editing shader code in a text editor.

    We're aware that it's something a lot of people in the community want. Nothing to announce about it at this time though.

    We do not use the existence of asset store packages as an 'excuse' to avoid implementing things into the engine. If it makes sense for us to get a feature built into Unity, then we'll get it built into Unity.
     
    superpig, Feb 5, 2015
    #4
    Roni92 likes this.

  5. Breyer

    Breyer

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2012
    Posts:
    412
    U misunderstanded what new system supposed to be. Yes this is shame that unity still havent shader node based editor, but unity never said about node based editor in U5 context. Unity announced phsysic based shader and, indirectly, self-optimize featureset. This mean that u could write one shader with multiple variants instead of multiple shaders for every variant like in U4. this is HUGE amenity especially for massive shader like physically based shader
     
    Breyer, Feb 5, 2015
    #5
    Erind likes this.