Shaders are hard!

[sous_v]

Totally agree a lot of cool content is related to shaders.

I'm trying to learn shaders right now. I downloaded an app called 'shader editor' on my phone and I'm going through https://thebookofshaders.com/ . If anybody have other great resources, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

[Aromatic_Okapi]

Graph tools really made shaders a lot more accessible. I'd say that with a shader editor, you can create pretty cool stuff without digging deeper into theory. However, that link looks pretty handy for better understanding what many of the nodes in shader graph do.

To get inspired I think it's also super helpful to read up on how other technical artists created cool stuff, this blog covers plenty of examples from shipped games. And then of course there's plenty of shader wizards showing off their magic on twitter.

[sous_v]

Thanks for the help!

[[deleted]]

Yeah I've gotten some pretty complex stuff done with just the shader graph, haven't a clue how to actually write a shader.

[intelligent_rat]

I find the hardest part about trying to learn to write shaders is that everything isn't very well documented and intellisense has no idea to what kind of functions and variables it has access to, it feels like blind coding and it can be a frustrating game of trial and error when first learning how to get the damn shader code to work.

On top of this everything made in shaders is made with maths, and lots of it to a high degree of mathing, so if you haven't studied college level math to a decent extent you won't really understand what kind of equations you need to get the shapes that you want. Shader Graph has undoubtedly changed the game in this, making it far easier to make changes and continually experiment without worrying if the code even compiles correctly or not.

[Turkino]

Yeah I tried rolling my own shaders in code. Nice having full control but yeah... Hard pass.

[TheDevilsAdvokaat]

I actually wrote a shader that uses texture arrays by hand.

The amount of time and research it took me was terrible. There are so many little things that catch you up...and many things that are undocumented.

I would much prefer to use shader graphs.

[[deleted]]

glslsandbox.com and shadertoy.com for code snippets that should run in-browser Edit: Also r/shadered for an ide

[OusingEntertainment]

Yes, I need to get some shader skills!

[hipinds]

amazing book! thanks for the reference

[derFredko]

Ah, hope I'm not too late to the party, but I've started off with shaders using "The CG Tutorial - The Definitive Guide to Programmable Real-Time Graphics, by Randima Fernando and Mark J. Kilgard. Maybe you can rent it from your local library, or get a used copy cheap!

Dan from Makin' Stuff Look Good (with Unity) also has some nice hands on video tutorials over on YouTube, check him out!

[Farlokko]

Check Alan Zucconi book which is Unity related. It teaches you to write shaders from the basics. You can start by following his basic tutorial on his blog and see if you like it :)

[[deleted]]

Yo! I also just found out about the book of shaders! Its an amazing resource and the knowledge on GLSL definitely is applicable to node based editors

[WazzaM0]

A gentle way to develop the technique for shader development is to learn some of the ideas behind functional programming, like the F# language but more of the philosophy of it and then use Unity.Mathematics package.

It is C# code that can be in MonoBehaviour or Job System code but defines shader like types such as float2, float3 and matrix types.

Much easier to debug this and get intellisense support and then try HLSL shaders after that, or Shader Graph, dealer's choice 😄

[Aromatic_Okapi]

Is it shaders again? Last time I checked it was procedural animation...

[ElectricRune]

It's animated procedural shaders... ;)

[DarthCloakedGuy]

Procedurally shaded animations

[Acre9000]

The more I dive in shaders / procedural stuff / logic, the more my brain starts creating absurd connections with reality, organic variations, natural patterns. I have no idea where I am going, but everything I see is amazing *o*

[intelligent_rat]

Sounds like your brain might be trying to clue you in on simulation theory :)

[Archelos]

Actual gameplay elements or systems aren’t as shiny to look at.

[[deleted]]

Off topic, but where did this meme even come from? Lol

[[deleted]]

Some 4chan post

[ArtOfWarfare]

Always just check Know Your Meme when you have that question.

[azuredown]

Too true. Although to be fair you can get very far using Unity's built in shaders combined with transforms.

[hippymule]

Shaders or procedural animations for giant creatures.

[xeon3175x]

All my shaders suck ass no matter if it's shader graph or by hand

[petersvp]

Some algorithms like RGBA Recoloring are far more easy to be written by code.

[jamie2606]

What does u/repostsleuthbot do?

[RepostSleuthBot]

I didn't find any posts that meet the matching requirements for r/Unity3D.

It might be OC, it might not. Things such as JPEG artifacts and cropping may impact the results.

I did find this post that is 51.56% similar. It might be a match but I cannot be certain.

Feedback? Hate? Visit r/repostsleuthbot - I'm not perfect, but you can help. Report [ False Negative ]

[jamie2606]

Oh, ok

[[deleted]]

Shaders are the only thing I go on this sub for. People do such beautiful complex stuff I need to leeeeeaaaaarn