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Advice with Learning Shader Programming

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JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
I'm sure you have all read enough questions on this kind of thing (hell, I've read enough of them trying to find answers) but I just wanted some extra input on the matter.

I am interested in learning hlsl for shader programming, but I am struggling to understand where I need to start. I am currently getting used to programming learning javascript though Codecademy, but I am mainly just doing it to get used to an object oriented language. What I really want to do is get stuck into HLSL. I have seen a lot of places saying "just look at existing shaders and have a tinker" but without knowing the basic syntax of the language, it is hard to know where to start.

Should I carry on learning JavaScript to finish the course and get to grips with things, or should I move more on to a C based language straight away? As from what I gather, to understand hlsl I really need to learn C/C++. But I don't know what book or tutorials to go for to learn enough without wasting my time knowing the ins and outs of the language if it has nothing to do with shaders, or in fact do I need to learn the whole of C++ to learn how to write good shaders?

I have been looking at getting Accelerated C++ to learn it. Also the Microsoft DirectX 9 programmable graphics pipeline, as this sounds like it would teach me more on the Mathematics behind it. Can anyone recommend these books or suggest others.

I am fortunate enough to currently be working as an artist at a studio, so I don't need to learn these things to get me a job, I just want more knowledge on the matter to hopefully move into a more technical artist position

Replies

  • Kurt Russell Fan Club
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    Kurt Russell Fan Club polycounter lvl 9
    You don't need C/C++ at all to learn CG/HLSL. CG's a much easier language than C++ though they look similar in some ways.

    The biggest hurdle for a lot of people is not having the technical background information you need to learn quickly. It's important to get an idea of 3d maths and how the rendering pipeline works if you want to do anything simple. If you don't know that well enough, you'll find it much harder to make sense of the shader code when you're just tinkering.

    I'd actually recommend getting started with a few shaders in UDK. That doesn't teach you the language, but it does teach you some of the techniques you'll need to use. Then you'll be ready to just play around and try to replicate the same UDK shaders in CG/HLSL.

    Is there anything big that's stumping you, or is it just kind of everything that you need to learn (as in, you don't really get any of it?)
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    Thanks for the reply.

    I have a basic understanding of the maths behind it, like I know about matrices, vectors, dot products etc. Although I know about them I don't fully understand them all, nor could I write and solve an equation on paper with them without much help.

    There isn't anything really big getting in the way, I am just strugglng to understand how to learn the syntax. Getting stuck into .fx files is part of what I am really interested in, so I just need to figure the best way to start learning. Just looking at files doesn't help me, because I don't understand how parenthesis etc. But using UDK is a good idea.

    So would you suggest getting started with CG tutorials to get me used to the syntax?
  • Xoliul
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    Xoliul polycounter lvl 14
    Hey man, I can give you some advice here I guess.

    Don't get scared/confused by these complicated sounding articles that try to explain the vertex-pixel shader pipeline in a lot of detail. They might make it sound like it's all about this complicated big system and how it ties into the graphics hardware. That stuff is mostly written by hardcore programmers and doesn't matter much for someone approaching it from an artist perspective. I know that's how they tried to teach me shaders at first and let's just say it never got me very excited...

    The best advice I can give is to use a node-based system that helps you practice the core logic principles behind shaders. They hide the code at first and allow you to focus on what you exactly want to do without much burden. It's also much easier to analyze an example made by someone else, as you just follow the nodes and connections.

    So to recommend you a start: get ShaderFX for max. It's a better choice than UDK, because it allows you to directly export the code and read it. UDK never allows you to move past the node stage, ShaderFX does. You can take a bare, solid color shader and export it, see what the code actually looks like for such a minimal base-frame. You can create some simple logic, like sampling and recoloring a texture, and export it to see what that looks like translated to HLSL.
    In short, it's a translator for node logic to actual code; do it enough and you won't need it anymore eventually.

    And to get back to that first point, the whole pixel-vertex-technique setup; ShaderFX generates that for you, and you could just keep working from this one "blank slate" code file for every new shader. It's kind of what I do.
  • cman2k
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    cman2k polycounter lvl 17
    ^^ What he said!

    but after that, if you still want to learn more about HLSL basics and the core syntax I highly recommend these DVDs by Ben Cloward -> https://www.cg-academy.net/es_catalog/product_info.php?products_id=64

    They're awesome and will definitely get you pointed in the right direction!
  • Xoliul
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    Xoliul polycounter lvl 14
    I've never watched those, but Ben Cloward was the co-creator of ShaderFX, so that should say enough :)

    edit, some more stuff:

    The official Microsoft HLSL reference on MSDN. Quite technical and not always easy, but the best source to find clear answers on the syntax i think.
    Basic, old article I wrote on color math. It's not really up to standard anymore, but it should help a bit for the very basics. I promise, I want to rewrite and continue this stuff this year!

    And perhaps allow me to add my opinion on HLSL: I think it's the easiest, least nonsense and effort language there is. Once you feel at home in a shader's standard structure it's really very fun and satisfying to work with (just looking at that MSDN page makes me want to write stuff again haha). No setup required of program API's, no headaches with memory management, no compile steps, just CTRL-S, core functionality relatively portable between applications, etc...
  • kodde
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    kodde polycounter lvl 18
    I agree with starting node-based.

    Here are some additional links:
    http://eat3d.com/shaders_intro
    http://vimeo.com/cgbootcamp (has some CGFX for Maya tutorials)
  • cptSwing
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    cptSwing polycounter lvl 11
    Great info in this thread, thanks guys :thumbup:
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    Hey all, thanks for all the links and info! This is awesome, I can't wait to get stuck in. I may be being a complete n00b here, but how do you get shaderFX? on the site I couldn't see a download. The store is also closed because it says Kees Rijnen now works at Autodesk so can't sell it any more. Am I allowed to go hunting for any download link I can find (As I saw that he gave it away free to individuals or companies <= 2 people) or does anyone have a link?

    Once I get that installed I shall start having a play around so I can visually see what is changing. I'm sure it wouldn't take too long to pick up the syntax and if I do have problems then I shall use the resources provided. Funnily enough I already had that colour math link bookmarked, I knew I would need it some day ;)

    I shall also look into getting those DVDs, they definitely look worth it.

    If anyone else has any more great links or info please post, I am trying to soak up as much info as I can, but what has been posted already is a fantastic start. Thanks all for helping
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    I'd actually recommend getting started with a few shaders in UDK. That doesn't teach you the language, but it does teach you some of the techniques you'll need to use. Then you'll be ready to just play around and try to replicate the same UDK shaders in CG/HLSL.

    Totally this. I often prototype shaders in the material editor simply because it's a very visual way of 'doing the maths'. You can learn a lot by fiddling with things in the material editor.
  • Xoliul
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    Xoliul polycounter lvl 14
    Oh wow, it looks like Kees decided (or maybe had to) to take down the links.
    I did however find a link that still works, from ages ago. Take note that ShaderFX was provided with a free license for personal use, so this should be OK I hope...
    http://www.lumonix.net/dlsfx385941.php
    (no 2013 support, but you should really not be using that anyway, it's completely broken in terms of tangent display on shaders)

    It might disappear, or maybe Lumonix is no longer OK with distributing it, in which case I'll remove it. Would be very unfortunate though, precisely for people like you :(
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    Thank you for finding those links. I am at work currently so was going to attempt to install it at home first. I am using 2012, will this be ok? or would it be better to use an earlier version?

    That is a shame that it has been discontinued, hopefully continued use will not be a problem.
  • Xoliul
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    Xoliul polycounter lvl 14
    2012 is fine yes. Though if you only care about doing shaders, an older version that starts and runs faster is more interesting (It's amazing how fast Max 9 starts on current machines). Keep in mind if you want shadows, these only appeared in Max 2008 and got upgraded in Max 2009. They are buggy and application specific (shader code for them only works in max), so I wouldn't recommend using them just now.

    Also, Kees visits these forums, maybe he'll pop in to tell us what's up.
  • shaderfx
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    shaderfx polycounter lvl 9
    Xoliul wrote: »
    Also, Kees visits these forums, maybe he'll pop in to tell us what's up.

    Autodesk bought ShaderFX.
    Currently working on the next real-time shader editor at Autodesk (If you are on the Maya beta you can try it out and give feedback).

    You are welcome to use the old version via the download above.
    Just keep in mind there will be no re-compiles of the old version.
    But it should still help to get started seeing how the code works.

    Eventually (I hope) Autodesk will provide something better to replace it. :)


    ** REGARDING BENS DVD: **

    Please note that it is my understanding that the person hosting those DVDs never paid the people who made the tutorials (including Ben, Paul Neale, Bobo, etc). So please check with them first before you put more money towards a person who doesn't seem to pay our respected community members.

    I am not fully up to speed on what happened there, but I recommend you contact Ben directly first.
  • haiddasalami
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    haiddasalami polycounter lvl 14
    shaderfx wrote: »

    ** REGARDING BENS DVD: **

    Please note that it is my understanding that the person hosting those DVDs never paid the people who made the tutorials (including Ben, Paul Neale, Bobo, etc). So please check with them first before you put more money towards a person who doesn't seem to pay our respected community members.

    I am not fully up to speed on what happened there, but I recommend you contact Ben directly first.

    Thats shitty to hear Kees. Thanks for the heads up. I really enjoyed the series when I was getting into shaders, shame to hear that

    Jacky: Not sure how much this will help you but I asked this question like 3 years ago haha. Though mine was kinda about how to get in as a tech artist. Shaderfx is an awesome platform to start learning about shaders. Also once you understand the basics, you can start and port one of them by writing it yourself. I learned a lot from UDK too though its pretty limited once you start to implement other shader models. Someone once told me that writing shaders is like cooking. You have your texcoords, normals etc as ingredients and depending on what you do with the cooking process you can make some awesome stuff :D
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    Oh wow, that is really interesting to hear about those DVDs, I shall contact Ben and see what the deal is first. Thank you for letting me know. Also thank you for letting there be continued use of ShaderFX, I got it installed last night on 2012 and works perfectly. Bit daunting, but exciting :D

    Thanks for that link haiddasalami! Looks like it has a lot of info that I would be interested in as well. I shall have a hunt through

    I also found this website Shadertoy. Has anybody had any experience with this? It looks like quite an interesting way to learn and test shaders if I am away from my main machines especially.
  • Xoliul
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    Xoliul polycounter lvl 14
    The documentation and videos for ShaderFX are pretty good.

    That Shadertoy website looks cool, but honestly, I wouldn't dabble with that yet, it's very different from how things work in Max with ShaderFX. It looks like it's GLSL and there's no real geometry; everything looks generated. Man, I'm having a hard time figuring out myself what's going in almost anything on that site...
  • haiddasalami
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    haiddasalami polycounter lvl 14
    I would suggest staying away from GLSL for now unless you want to pull your hair :P Or atleast on the webgl front.
  • Ace-Angel
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    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    Shadertoy is nice, but I will say something, half of those codes are insane! The Flame one is the perfect example of this, that thing is one heavy mofo that won't be used in an FPS for a LOOONG time...but would be still awesome to use :D
  • dnc
    I'm doing a little research on this topic especially. I've been looking at teaching HLSL to games artists, the best resource at the moment is the Eat 3D CGFX Shader introduction. It may be CGFX but it translates into HLSL almost word for word, but it offers the best introduction into Shader code. It nicely steps through the Vertex / Pixel shader pipeline and also goes into adding attributes and semantics to the data structs quite well.

    I definitely learnt a lot from it! :D

    http://eat3d.com/shaders_intro

    But I would also go through UDK's material editor, it will teach you a lot about shader math and all the FX's you will want to achieve. then you can lookup how to do this in the code.

    This is also a good resource, it's a bit difficult to set up. but it's quite a nice shader introduction tutorial. http://rbwhitaker.wikidot.com/hlsl-tutorials

    You could try authoring your shaders in FXComposer https://developer.nvidia.com/fx-composer
    But FX Composer is a bit 'full on' visually and it's not the most friendly program to use.

    I personally author my shaders in Notepad++ with a syntax highlighting plugin and load my shaders into Maya with the HLSL shading node plugin (comes with Maya and just needs to be loaded in the plugin manager). The Eat 3D tutorial goes through setting up lights for Maya/the shader etc...

    Anyway hope this helps, it may be a little bit of a mind dump/rant. But good luck and feel free to ask any questions here. I won't cringe and hopefully some of the others won't.
  • Xoliul
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    Xoliul polycounter lvl 14
    Again:

    UDK is a good start; but it doesn't allow straight translation to code, which is really crucial to make the step away from nodes. It's also limited since it presents you a partially fixed shader, you can't easily go and replace the lighting model for example.

    I wouldn't recommend FXComposer, never been a fan of it. Sure it may have some debugging options but it's too complicqted if you're coming at this as an artist.

    I just do the same as DNC: Notepad++ (with custom HLSL syntax highlighting) and then just load it in Max. I actually went without Notepad++ for at least two years lol.
  • haiddasalami
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    haiddasalami polycounter lvl 14
    I havent tried FXComposer but does it let you sample the render textures like RenderMonkey? Also is this possible in Max? Maya doesnt let you access any of this which is a shame as post process effects are out of the question (though might be possible with Viewport 2.0 API) Also notepad++ is amazing and really all you need to get started.
  • cw
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    cw polycounter lvl 17
    Hey, it would be a good idea to setup a bare bones shader for max and publish it on here for folks to play with.

    I know my biggest pita was actually the app-side of things & how to setup all the structs and so on. Once you have a simple framework it is more easy somehow to noodle with values etc. and get more comfortable with the meat and veg of shader programming.
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    Thanks for the advice DNC. The HLSL tutorials look pretty good, I shall have a little look through them soon. I wanted to try not to use UDK too much, I have used it quite a lot in the past (it is kind of what inspired me to learn more about shaders) but I would prefer to try and create the same things in ShaderFX and have a look at the code straight away.

    And thanks for the advice on Shadertoy, looked really nice, but will stay away from it until I can write my own flaming shader :p

    I have notepad++ installed and ready to go, I will try and learn how to easily iterate with it and max over the next few days. I was also thinking of starting a "progress thread" of my learnings. That way I can post all my horrible code for people to give me feedback on. Is this a good idea? If so, where would I post it, in Tech Talk?
  • dnc
    Here's a simple really basic shader to get you going. You should be able to load it into Max (I tested it in Maya and it works fine) use it to get familiar with the shader layouts. Then look to start adding various things into it e.g. texture lookups or Lambert lighting.

    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_bnXxEHXEanZW9BUUIyc1d5Ums/edit?usp=sharing

    Another good way to learn stuff, especially application specific things, is to look at shaders other people have made. I've used Xoliul's shaders as reference when I couldn't get cubemapping or lighting to work in Maya. But do go and try to understand what is actually happening...
  • Ben Cloward
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    Ben Cloward polycounter lvl 18
    Hey guys. I'm a little late to this thread. Thanks a lot for the kind works about ShaderFX and my DVDs. It feels really good to have made that contribution to the community and to help people who are learning.

    What Kees said about the DVDs is true. I haven't been paid by Cg Academy for several years now. I don't know if the company is still operating or not. I was never contacted by the owner to know what was going on. He just stopped replying to my emails and stopped sending my share of the proceeds.

    Since then, I've received several emails from people that are interested in getting the DVDs because they'd like to learn. I'm really conflicted about what to do to be honest. I'd like to just give them the material to help them learn - or sell them directly, but I signed a contract with Cg Academy that prevents me from doing that - and I believe in upholding my side of the bargain. I'm kinda stuck - and it's frustrating.

    Maybe if there's enough interest, I'll re-record the material and publish it on my own, or through another company.
  • Xoliul
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    Xoliul polycounter lvl 14
    Just post your stuff in here Jackyboy, you've got everyone's attention.

    And regarding "baseframe" shader, the great thing about ShaderFX is that you can generate it for multiple applications and languages from the same nodes, great to compare the differences. On that note, another very useful, free application is SourceGear Diffmerge. It compares two text files and highlights the differences in a very user-friendly way (Np++ does it too but not very well imo). You can also easily transfer code between the versions.
    What it's useful for, is seeing what the exact code changes are when you change your nodes and re-export.

    Oh and finally a tip for ShaderFX: when you export simple shaders, it will try to add lighting code to it (with things like attenuation for lights and so on). While this is a great system, in the beginning it's best to turn it off since you'll have some more advanced code in there that doesn't do anything. I'm sure there's an option to tell it to not inject that code.
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    Aah that diffmerge is exactly what I need. Looking at ShaderFX output had a lot of stuff that was just confusing me, although having the file open and letting Notepad++ update while making changes to nodes was quite interesting. But with the diffmerge I can see more of what I need. Note taken about the lights too.

    That is a shame to hear Ben. I am a bit conflicted whether to buy them or not if the payment isn't funding the right people. So I would definitely be interested in a new DVD if you did, especially as yours is what seems to get brought up over and over even after all these years.

    I shall do some studying and hopefully show off my work over the next few weeks, thanks again for the help and support :D
  • dnc
    Hi Guys,

    I've got a question about HLSL rendering in Maya and renderers in general.

    I'm intending to make a skybox for my showreel an I wish to do it in HLSL instead of UDK. I looked into using Maya but I couldn't get transparency to work properly, it renders the background but does not calculate correct transparency between two objects with HLSL shaders on them.

    I.e. I have a mesh with a solid red applied and no transparency. On top of this I have a blue mesh with 50% transparency. But when I look through the top I don't see a blend between the two meshes I just see the background colour.

    Does anyone know of a solution to this in Maya?

    If this is a known problem, does anyone know of any renderers that calculate multiple objects transparency correctly (I tried FXComposer but that didn't work as well).

    Thanks
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    Sorry, I can't help with your question dnc, hopefully one of the others will be able to.

    I have started following the Eat3D CGFX tutorial DVD and have finally got around to making my fist shader! I have created it in notepad++ C# sytax highlighting seemed to be the best. Unless anyone else has any better suggestions?

    I pretty much understand it all, early days still though.
    2lAyG
    string ParamID = "0x002"; //it said this needed to be here for Max, why?
    
    float4x4 WorldViewProjection : WORLDVIEWPROJ <string UIWidget = "None"; >;
    
    string name = "A Super Simple Shader"; //he said this was just a maya thing, I put it in anyway to see if it affected Max in any way
    
    float3 shaderColor : DIFFUSE //is "shaderColor" different to "shaderColour"?
    <
    	string UIName = "Shader Colour";
    	string UIWidget = "ColourSwatch";
    > = {1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f};
    
    struct a2v
    {
    	float4 position : POSITION;
    };
    
    struct v2f
    {
    	float4 position : POSITION;
    };
    
    v2f vShader(a2v In)
    {
    	v2f Out;
    	Out.position = mul(WorldViewProjection, In.position);
    	return Out;
    }
    
    float4 pShader(v2f In) : COLOR
    {
    	float4 outColor = float4(shaderColor, 1);
    	return outColor;
    }
    
    technique Opaque
    {
    	pass one
    	{
    		VertexShader = compile vs_3_0 vShader();
    		PixelShader = compile ps_3_0 pShader();
    	}
    }
    

    Nothing is copy and pasted, but I have essentially just followed it word for word. He says this is CGFX and not HLSL, is there anything that anybody would do differently for HLSL? or just in general?

    Also I wrote a little comment about "Colour" and "Color", for writing code should I just have to get into the habit of writing "Color" everywhere (shudder :P) so that it is universal? or is there even certain bits that HAVE to be written Color?

    I know this might be a bit boring and simple for some of you no, but if you can stick with it for a while, your knowledge will be greatly appreciated down the line! :D
  • Xoliul
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    Xoliul polycounter lvl 14
    dnc: i think that's an application thing, the transparency draw order. Shaders allow you to decide HOW your model is rendered, but not in what order. The application needs to have proper support for transparency in its draw order, but that's often not the case in DCC apps like Max or Maya.
    I'm a bit confused why you think the skybox is related? Because it's the thing that's drawing through? It's probably because your skybox was either the first or last thing created (depends on how the app sorts) that it draws it in front of the rest when transparent.

    Jacky:

    looks good. I'm not sure how useful a word-for-word copy is once you get into advanced logic instead of a baseframe like this (as in, you not thinking about WHY something is being written anymore because you're just trying to keep up with his code), it's probably more interesting to try some nodes or just dive into writing your own ideas straight away. Same with any tutorial I guess: just like I've always found it a bit weird and not so useful when people try to create the EXACT same 3d model as the guy in the tutorial is doing. But yeah for the first steps it's fine, so dont worry :)

    Regarding C# syntax: just google for Notepad++ HLSL or CGFX syntax highlighting, it's pretty easy to set up.
    And CGFX is pretty compatible with HLSL. This looks like you should only have to change the compiler ParamID to 0x003 to get DXSAS for Max, rename it to *.fx and it'll work.
    And you seem to think that parameter naming matters for the code? The compiler doesn't care what you call a parameter (as long as you dont use illegal names or reference non existing ones), so write color, colour or whatever you want.
    What does matter, is the semantic you type after those params, the " : DIFFUSE" part, those are pre-set, strict rules that need to be followed. Though on the other hand: a lot of apps don't use semantics at all (so you could just drop them) and they only really matter for your Vertex-2-Fragment struct (compiler is super-strict about proper semantics in there).
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    Ok, thanks Xoliul. Yeah, I am just copying for the time being because I am so new at it. Once I have the basics down I will start tinkering and trying slightly different things. But point taken, copying is boring, experimenting is fun. I already have a few ideas of shaders I want to create!

    Aaah ok, I wasn't sure what parts can be called whatever you want (within reason) and what needs to follow strict rules. I understand a lot more now though. What is the 0x002 and 0x003 referring to? I saved that exact code, as an .fx file, and it worked ok.
  • Xoliul
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    Xoliul polycounter lvl 14
    the 0x002 is a byte notation. It's used to determine what compiler is used. The compiler is a behind-the scenes process in max or maya that translates the high level language (like HLSL or CGFX) to compiled machinecode. It also tells you where it goes wrong if you write incorrect code.
    They use a byte notation because you just want to use the simplest possible type of variable to determine this.

    I think there's a list somewhere which compiler is which in Max, but 0x003 is the DXSAS (DirectX Script Annotation Standard) compiler, which is in short "the best one" for HLSL. I'm not too sure about CGFX, but I don't like using that because the error reporting is much worse, it barely gives you what line it's failing on. That's a tip for you too btw: CGFX and HLSL are interchangeable, but HLSL is easier to work with in Max.
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    I just tried changing the byte notation to 0x003 and the shader seems to mess up. If it is 0x002 then it just displays the sphere with a solid colour, but here is what happens with 0x003

    2nS2X

    it also seems to be a kind of plane as you can rotate it and move it about. Any ideas why this is happening?

    I also completed the next part of the tutorial, just a lambert shader. One of the steps was to display the world normals, but they weren't showing the same as his. I completed the shader just to see if the end product worked, but I wanted to know why it wasn't displaying correctly. (With the code in the PS uncommented and worldNormal deleted it does show a lambert properly, I just commented quickly to test)

    2nWWY
    string ParamID = "0x002"; //Xoliul says this is a better one to use.
    
    float4x4 WorldViewProjection	: WORLDVIEWPROJ 		< string UIWidget = "None"; >;
    float4x4 WorldInverseTranspose	: WORLDINVERSETRANSPOSE < string UIWidget = "None"; >;
    float4x4 ViewInverse          	: VIEWINVERSE           < string UIWidget = "None"; >;
    float4x4 World                	: WORLD                 < string UIWidget = "None"; >;
    
    //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    // Parameters section 
    float3 shaderColor : DIFFUSE
    <
    	string UIName = "Shader Colour";
    	string UIWidget = "ColorSwatch";
    > = {1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f}; //This is default value
    
    float3 lightDirection : DIRECTION
    <
    	string UIName = "Light Direction";
    	string Object = "TargetLight";
    	int RefID = 0;
    > = {0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f};
    
    float3 ambientColor : DIFFUSE
    <
    	string UIName = "Shader Colour";
    	string UIWidget = "ColorSwatch";
    > = {0.15f, 0.15f, 0.15f}; //This is default value
    
    //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    // Structs section 
    
    // input from application (Application 2 Vertex)
    struct a2v{
    	float4 position : POSITION;
    	float4 normal	: NORMAL; //float4 for multiplication purposes in 4x4 matrices
    };
    
    // output to fragment program (Vertex 2 Fragment)
    struct v2f
    {
    	float4 position 	: POSITION;
    	float3 worldNormal	: TEXCOORD0; //worldNormal becuase there can be different normals. TEXCOORD0 generic symantic
    };
    
    //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    // Vertex Shader
    v2f vShader(a2v In)
    {
    	v2f Out;
    	Out.position = mul(WorldViewProjection, In.position);
    	Out.worldNormal = mul(WorldInverseTranspose, In.normal).xyz; //Don't need to worry too much about what WorldIT is, just know when to use it. The .xyz part means it is just a float 3 (rgb is also valid. it just means ignore the "a" part of rgba)
    	
    	return Out;
    }
    
    //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    // Pixel Shader 
    float4 pShader(v2f In) : COLOR
    {
    	float4 outColor;
    
    	float3 worldNormal = normalize(In.worldNormal); //normalise just keeps the vectors at max length of 1
    	float3 lightDir = normalize(lightDirection);
    	
    	//float3 lambert = saturate(dot(lightDir, worldNormal));  //saturate clamps between 0 - 1
    	
    	outColor.rgb = worldNormal; //(lambert + ambientColor) * shaderColor;
    	outColor.a= 1.0f;
    	
    	return outColor;
    }
    
    //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
    // Techniques
    technique Simple
    {
    	pass one
    	{
    		VertexShader = compile vs_3_0 vShader();
    		PixelShader = compile ps_3_0 pShader();
    	}
    }
    

    Where as his looks like this

    2nX6p.

    The tutorial comes with 3dsMax versions of the files, so even though I am following him in maya, I also look at the Max source code files that are provided as some things are slightly different.
  • sinistergfx
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    sinistergfx polycounter lvl 18
    Don't have time to test it, but it's probably because Maya has a Y-up worldspace and Max has a Z-up worldspace. My guess is that you can fix it by changing this:

    outColor.rgb = worldNormal;

    to this:

    outColor.rgb = worldNormal.xzy;

    See how it's swapping the Y & Z?
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    Just tested quickly and that is exactly why it was messed up. Thank you! :D

    edit: Although saying that, I just tested the code that I posted and it appears correctly on my work pc (although swapped round). Further investigation is needed. Thanks anyway :)

    Edit again: It's because of Gamma, I didn't realise I must have it turned on at home, it is off at work, that's why it displays correctly.
  • Xoliul
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    Xoliul polycounter lvl 14
    hmm, the 0x003 is probably because some of the application inputs are not coming in correctly, or because some WorldViewProject conversions are messing up.

    If you see this sort of stuff, where the geometry is just going nuts, it means that the very basic code that converts the raw 3d-model coordinates to its screen-correct transformation (with perspective and everything applied) is not working like it should.

    If you want to dive into actually finding the problem (not too easy, but a good excercise), you should get a simple shader example that works on DXSAS / 0x003. ShaderFX can do that for you. Then compare the application input and vertex shaders, try to see what matches and what differs, and find out what you need to do to get it to work.

    Again: if you're gonna do HLSL shaders for max, you probably want to work with DXSAS, it really is the better choice.

    And regarding Gamma; it really is one of your worst enemies when doing shaders in Max ;)
  • NBLM
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    NBLM polycounter lvl 13
    I'm also very interested in shader creation. I have done some stuff with rendermonkey, glslhacker. But there are all not really artist friendly.
    ShaderFx is awesome, but it's crashing to often to experiment with it :( .

    Is there any other node based shader editor out there besides UDK ?
  • Ace-Angel
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    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    For Unity you have Commander-Keen(?) who made a node based setup plugin iirc.

    As for a 'unique' stand-alone node shader creator, nope, there isn't one, and I'm honestly surprised.
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    Thanks Xoliul, even if it is the tough method, I am always interested in finding out why stuff doesn't work correctly rather than just going "oh well, this way works, I'll use that". So I will definitely be trying that out tonight to figure out why it is doing it. Gamma will certainly be turned off for all future tests :p

    That is interesting to hear that there aren't more node based editors about. Especially as something like UDK works so well with it. It would be great for Marmoset to get a node based editor as it just seems to make everything more flexible. Maybe I could use this as my long term goal, make an Uber stand alone node editor.

    Well a man can dream!

    Oh and if anyone uses twitter, I would be grateful if people with hlsl knowledge gave me a follow. @JackyBoyII Just so I can ask little questions without having to create a forum post :)
  • Drew++
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    Drew++ polycounter lvl 14
    I made a custom HLSL/Cg user defined language for Notepad++. It's not 100% finished. Lots of FX or CgFX stuff that could be added
    UDL_HLSL_sample.png

    Get it here! https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8510078/userDefineLang_DrewsHLSL.xml
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    Thanks for that Drew, will have to give it a go!

    Also I am quite proud, I managed to figure out why 0x003 wasn't working! it was in the Vertex part, v2f:

    Originally it was

    Out.position = mul(WorldViewProjection, In.position);
    Out.worldNormal = mul(WorldInverseTranspose, In.normal);

    But needed to be:

    Out.position = mul(In.position, WorldViewProjection);
    Out.worldNormal = mul(In.normal, WorldInverseTranspose);

    Why would the multiply need to be in a certain order to work? (my simple understanding of multiplication being "4*6 = 6*4 :p)
  • The Flying Monk
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    The Flying Monk polycounter lvl 18
    The short answer is matrices.
    multiplying a vector by a matrix, returns a vector.
    I'm not sure what (matrix * vector) is but multiplying two matrices of different sizes gives you different results depending on the order.
  • Drew++
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    Drew++ polycounter lvl 14
    JackyBoy wrote: »
    Thanks for that Drew, will have to give it a go!

    Also I am quite proud, I managed to figure out why 0x003 wasn't working! it was in the Vertex part, v2f:

    Originally it was

    Out.position = mul(WorldViewProjection, In.position);
    Out.worldNormal = mul(WorldInverseTranspose, In.normal);

    But needed to be:

    Out.position = mul(In.position, WorldViewProjection);
    Out.worldNormal = mul(In.normal, WorldInverseTranspose);

    Why would the multiply need to be in a certain order to work? (my simple understanding of multiplication being "4*6 = 6*4 :p)

    This 'simply' has to do with the matrix order. The majority of engines use "Column Major" Packing/Ordering by default. If they don't it could be a programmers mistake or preference, or compiler... It's like this in HLSL and GLSL.

    This means you would do mul(Vector, Matrix); or in GLSL (Vector * Matrix)

    For Maya it would be Row-Major, so the opposite by default... You can choose to compile with DXSAS, which I believe likes Column-Major. :)

    Hope this helps! ( and isn't confusing )
    Some more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Row-major_order#Column-major_order

    edit: This is very important when you transform position of a vertex to homogeneous space. ( the semantic "POSITION" ).
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    Oh, that makes a lot of sense now, thanks for the explanations. I'm sure I'll get used to a lot of these along the way but I really appreciate the technical answers as I hate doing stuff without knowing why I have to do it in a certain way.

    Learning a bunch more of the basics atm so as I move on in tutorials I should be able to take it in a lot easier, then as Xoliul suggested, I will be able to follow a tutorial but not have to copy exactly.
  • NBLM
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    NBLM polycounter lvl 13
    btw, I've discovered that if u dont use the "apply mat. to selection ..." in shaderFX it doesn't crash anymore,
    just load the shader manually and everything works fine :-) (for max 2012 64bit)
  • NBLM
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    NBLM polycounter lvl 13
    uhm, don't want to hijack this thread but I don't know where to post this elsewhere:

    I currently want to do a simple cubemapping shader with shaderFx, but somehow it looks not the same way I was expecting it to look like (as in Xoliul's shader): Mine looks curved?

    cubemapping.jpg
  • equil
    i don't use shaderfx but i'd guess that you want your normal vector transformation to be object->world rather than tangent->world
  • NBLM
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    NBLM polycounter lvl 13
    @equil thx, I will give it a try

    Just some general information: that shaderFX download on page1 doesn't seems to be
    the free version, its a trial. Now it wants a key or it closes itself.

    Where I can get this free license key, I haven't found anything in the readme file ?
  • dnc
    @Xoliul
    I figured out a solution to my alpha sorting problem, it was application based and in Maya I couldn't think how to change the draw order (or more specifically the sort priority). But I found that you can change the Depth Bias in the technique.

    Using:
    DephBias = 0.0f;

    This needs Z testing and Z writing enabled to work, but it is the solution to the problem in Maya. I could find any Maya overrides.

    @The Flying Monk
    I also didn't realise the exact reason why the mul() function needed to be a certain way around, Thanks!

    I found some more information on it over at the HLSL MSDN page http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/windows/desktop/bb509628(v=vs.85).aspx

    @NBLM
    Did you manage to find a solution to your reflection problem, I would have agreed with equil's comment about the vector being in the wrong coordinate space,
    'object->world' or at least something very similar.

    and JackyBoy, how you getting on with Shaders???
  • JackyBoy
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    JackyBoy polycounter lvl 10
    Yeah it is coming along really well, thanks for asking.

    I stopped just following tutorials and have been learning more about the syntax and what stuff is doing. For example I didn't know what the "In" (or Out) part of everything meant. As a beginner I didn't realise that it was something called In that you had named, I thought it was a special function to put something "In" something. A lot of tutorials don't seem to explain this stuff.

    I will update soon with more interesting pictures!
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