BUILDING QUALITY SHADERS FOR UNITY 2021 : using shader graphs and hlsl shaders

Understand what shaders are and what they're used for: Shaders are often seen as mystical and difficult to develop, even by skilled programmers, artists, and developers from other game design disciplines. This book dispels that idea by building up your shader knowledge in stages, starting with fundamental shader mathematics and how shader development mindset differs from other types of art and programming, and slowly delves into topics such as vertex and fragment shaders, lighting, depth-based effects, texture mapping, and Shader Graph. This book presents each of these topics with a comprehensive breakdown, the required theory, and some practical applications for the techniques learned during each chapter. The HLSL (High Level Shading Language) code and Shader Graphs will be provided for each relevant section, as well as plenty of screenshots. By the end of this book, you will have a good understanding of the shader development pipeline and you will be fully equipped to start making your own aesthetic and performant shader effects for your own games! You Will Learn To • Use shaders across Unity's rendering pipelines • Write shaders and modify their behavior with C# scripting • Use Shader Graph for codeless development • Understand the important math behind shaders, particularly space transformations • Profile the performance of shaders to identify optimization targets Who Is This Book For This book is intended for beginners to shader development, or readers who may want to make the jump from shader code to Shader Graph. It will also include a section on shader examples for those who already know the fundamentals of shaders and are looking for specific use cases Table of Contents About the Author About the Technical Reviewer Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: Introduction to Shaders in Unity Rendering Game Data The Vertex Shader The Fragment Shader Unity’s Render Pipelines Shader Graph Summary Chapter 2: Math for Shader Development Vectors Position and Direction Vectors Vector Addition and Subtraction Scalar Multiplication Vector Magnitude Vector Normalization Basis Vectors and Linear Combinations Dot Product Cross Product Matrices Matrix Addition and Subtraction Scalar Multiplication Square, Diagonal, and Identity Matrices Matrix Transpose Matrix Determinant Matrix Multiplication Matrix Inverse Matrix Transformations Scaling Matrices Rotation Matrices Translation Matrices Homogeneous Coordinates Space Transformations Object-to-World Space Transformation World-to-View Space Transformation View-to-Clip Space Transformation Perspective Divide Summary Chapter 3: Your Very First Shader Project Setup Creating a Project Setting Up the Scene Writing a Shader in Unity Writing ShaderLab Code Adding a SubShader SubShader Tags Adding a Pass Pragma Directives and Includes Controlling Data Flow with Structs The appdata Struct The v2f Struct Variables in HLSL The Vertex Shader The Fragment Shader The SRP Batcher and Constant Buffers Common Shader Syntax Scalar Types Vector Types Matrix Types Included Variables Transformation Matrices Time-Based Variables Summary Chapter 4: Shader Graph Shader Graph Overview Creating a Basic Shader in Shader Graph Scene Setup The Shader Graph Interface The Toolbar Togglable Windows The Graph Environment Adding Properties Property Naming Common Property Options Color Property Options Building the Graph Shader Graph Features Adding Blocks to the Master Stack Redirect Node Preview Node Color Mode Shader Path Node Groups Sticky Notes Node Snapping Sub Graphs Color Invert Sub Graph Custom Function Node Color Invert Custom Function Custom Function String Mode Custom Function File Mode Summary Chapter 5: Textures and UV Coordinates Basic Texturing Texture Support in HLSL Adding Texture Properties Texture Coordinates Texture Sampling Texture Support in Shader Graph Applying Tiling and Offset Vectors Sampling Textures Mipmaps and Level of Detail Level of Detail Texture LOD in HLSL Texture LOD in Shader Graph Sampling Options Wrap Mode Filter Mode Sampler States Sampler States in HLSL Sampler States in Shader Graph Summary Chapter 6: Advanced Texturing Base Shader in HLSL Modifying Texture Coordinates UV Rotation UV Rotation in HLSL UV Rotation in Shader Graph Flipbook Mapping Flipbooks in HLSL Flipbooks in Shader Graph Polar Coordinate Mapping Polar Coordinates in HLSL Polar Coordinates in Shader Graph Triplanar Mapping Triplanar Mapping in HLSL Triplanar Node in Shader Graph UV Shear Shear in HLSL Shear in Shader Graph Texture3D Importing 3D Textures from 2D Textures Blended Particles Using Texture3D Blended Particles in HLSL Blended Particles in Shader Graph Cubemaps Importing Cubemaps from 2D Textures Using Cubemaps in HLSL Sampling a Cubemap in HLSL Sampling a Reflected Cubemap in HLSL Using Cubemaps in Shader Graph Sampling a Cubemap in Shader Graph Sampling a Reflected Cubemap in Shader Graph Summary Chapter 7: The Depth Buffer How Rendering Opaque Objects Works How the Depth Buffer Works Render Queues Depth Testing and Writing The ZTest Keyword The ZWrite Keyword Depth Settings with Shader Graph Early Depth Testing Z-Fighting Shader Effects Using Depth Silhouette Silhouette Effect in HLSL Preparing the Depth Texture Camera Depth Texture Reading Depth Values Converting Depth Values Silhouette Effect in Shader Graph Writing to the Depth Texture Using a Depth-Only Pass Depth-Only Pass in the Built-In Pipeline Depth-Only Pass in URP Scene Intersections Scene Intersections in HLSL Scene Intersections in Shader Graph The Stencil Buffer Stencil Testing in HLSL Stencil Mask Shader Reading the Stencil Buffer URP Renderer Features Render Objects X-Ray Effect Using Depth X-Ray Effect with HLSL X-Ray Effect with HLSL in the Built-in Pipeline Textured Pass X-Ray Pass X-Ray Effect with HLSL in URP X-Ray Effect with URP Render Objects (No Code) Rendering Objects Behind Walls Rendering Unobstructed Objects Impossible Room Effect Using Stencils Impossible Room Effect with HLSL Impossible Room Effect with Render Objects Summary Chapter 8: Transparency and Alpha How Rendering Transparent Objects Works How Alpha Blending Works Alpha Blending in HLSL Premultiplied Blending Additive Blending Multiplicative Blending Blend Mode Properties Alpha Blending in Shader Graph Other Blend Modes Alpha Clipping Alpha Cutout in HLSL Alpha Cutout in Shader Graph Dithered Transparency with Alpha Clip Dithered Transparency in HLSL Dithered Transparency in Shader Graph Dissolve Effect with Alpha Clip Dissolve Effect in HLSL Dissolve Effect in Shader Graph Summary Chapter 9: More Shader Fundamentals Interacting with C# Code Cycling Colors with the HelloWorld Shader World-Space Dissolve World-Space Dissolve in HLSL World-Space Dissolve in Shader Graph World-Space Dissolve Scripting Controlling Shaders with Animations Shader Keywords Shader Keywords in HLSL Declaring Keyword Properties Using Keywords Shader Keywords in Shader Graph Modifying Keywords Using C# Scripting UsePass in ShaderLab GrabPass in ShaderLab Sepia Tone Effect Using GrabPass in the Built-in Pipeline Sepia Tone Effect Using Camera Opaque Texture in URP Sepia Tone Effect Using the Scene Color Node in Shader Graph Summary Chapter 10: Lighting and Shadows Lighting Models Ambient Light Diffuse Light Specular Light Fresnel Light Blinn-Phong Reflection Model Flat Shading Flat Shading in HLSL Accessing Lights in the Built-In Pipeline Accessing Lights in URP Flat Shading in Shader Graph Gouraud Shading Gouraud Shading in HLSL Gouraud Vertex Shader in the Built-In Pipeline Gouraud Vertex Shader in URP Gouraud Shading in Shader Graph GetMainLight Sub Graph GetAmbientLight Sub Graph Gouraud Shading with Custom Interpolators Phong Shading Phong Shading in HLSL Phong Shading in the Built-In Pipeline Phong Shading in URP Fresnel Light Modification Phong Shading in Shader Graph Physically Based Rendering Smoothness Metallic Mode Specular Mode Normal Mapping Ambient Occlusion Emission PBR in the Built-In Pipeline PBR in URP PBR in Shader Graph Shadow Casting Shadow Casting in the Built-In Pipeline Shadow Casting in URP Shadow Casting in Shader Graph Summary Chapter 11: Image Effects and Post-Processing Render Textures Post-Processing Effects Grayscale Image Effect Post-Processing in the Built-In Pipeline Grayscale C# Scripting in the Built-In Pipeline Grayscale Shader in the Built-In Pipeline Post-Processing in URP Grayscale C# Scripting in URP The GrayscaleSettings C# Script The GrayscaleRenderPass C# Script The GrayscaleFeature C# Script The Grayscale Shader Using Volumes with Grayscale in URP Post-Processing in HDRP Grayscale C# Scripting in HDRP Grayscale Shader in HDRP Using Volumes with Grayscale in HDRP Gaussian Blur Image Effect Gaussian Blur in the Built-In Pipeline Gaussian Blur C# Scripting in the Built-In Pipeline Gaussian Blur Shader in the Built-In Pipeline Gaussian Blur in URP Gaussian Blur C# Scripting in URP The GaussianBlurSettings C# Script The GaussianBlurRenderPass C# Script The GaussianBlurFeature C# Script Gaussian Blur Shader in URP Gaussian Blur in HDRP Gaussian Blur C# Scripting in HDRP Gaussian Blur Shader in HDRP Summary Chapter 12: Advanced Shaders Tessellation Shaders Water Wave Effect with Tessellation Wave Tessellation in Shader Code Wave Vertex Shader Wave Tessellation Control (Hull) Shader Wave Tessellation Evaluation (Domain) Shader Wave Tessellation tessVert Function and Fragment Shader Wave Tessellation in Shader Graph Level of Detail Using Tessellation Level of Detail Tessellation in Shader Code Level of Detail Tessellation in Shader Graph Geometry Shaders Visualizing Normals with Geometry Shaders Compute Shaders Grass Mesh Instancing The ProceduralGrass C# Script ProceduralGrass Properties ProceduralGrass Start Method ProceduralGrass RunComputeShader Method ProceduralGrass Script Update Method ProceduralGrass Script OnDestroy Method The ProceduralGrass Compute Shader The Grass Blade Shader Summary Chapter 13: Profiling and Optimization Profiling Shaders FPS or Milliseconds? The Frame Debugger Identifying Problems with the Frame Debugger Common Pitfalls and How to Fix Them Overdraw Expensive Fragment Shaders Moving Calculations to the Vertex Shader Moving Calculations in Shader Code Moving Calculations in Shader Graph Branching Logic Texture Packing Summary Chapter 14: Shader Recipes for Your Games World-Space Scan Post-Process World-Space Scan in the Built-In Pipeline World-Space Scan C# Scripting in the Built-In Pipeline World-Space Scan Shader in the Built-In Pipeline World-Space Scan in URP World-Space Scan C# Scripting in URP The WorldScanSettings C# Script The WorldScanRenderPass C# Script The WorldScanFeature C# Script The Scanner C# Script World-Space Scan Shader in URP World-Space Scan in HDRP World-Space Scan C# Scripting in HDRP The WorldScanVolume C# Script The Scanner C# Script World-Space Scan Shader in HDRP Cel-Shaded Lighting Cel-Shaded Lighting in HLSL Cel-Shaded Lighting in Shader Graph Interactive Snow Layers Interactive Snow C# Scripting The SnowActor C# Script The InteractiveSnow C# Script Interactive Snow Compute Shader Interactive Snow Mesh Shader Snow Shader in HLSL Snow Shader in Shader Graph Holograms Holograms in HLSL Holograms in Shader Graph Sprite Effects Sprite Pixelation Sprite Pixelation in HLSL Sprite Pixelation in Shader Graph Sprite Ripples Sprite Ripples in HLSL Sprite Ripples in Shader Graph Summary Index