Shader Tool Apps for Hapless Artists
by Jerane Alleyne · in Technical Issues · 06/04/2004 (8:16 am) · 5 replies
With my new purchase of TSE, I'm taking a serious look at some of the shader tools out there. One I've been looking at, RT/Shader, looks pretty good. It seems extremely artist friendly, but the price is another matter (nearly $2000). I've also been glancing at Rendermonkey, as well as Shaderworks, which says its comparable to tools like Rendermonkey or Composer FX. I haven't looked at these in depth yet, but I'm getting the impression that these require a bit more of an understanding of HLSL than RT/Shader.
I wanted to ask if anyone has had any experience with any of these or other shader tools. RT/Shader has a free trial which I plan to check out when my work slows down, but if I can find one comparable to it that is free, that would be much nicer :D
Appreciate any words of wisdom!
Thx
I wanted to ask if anyone has had any experience with any of these or other shader tools. RT/Shader has a free trial which I plan to check out when my work slows down, but if I can find one comparable to it that is free, that would be much nicer :D
Appreciate any words of wisdom!
Thx
#2
So you can use those sorts of tools to help the artist have an easier workflow but they're probably going to have to get their hands dirty at some point to get it working in-game.
We do want to get easy shader integration into TSE but it's not our highest priority at the moment. The existing materials system is already pretty powerful and easy to work with (even for artists), so it's hard to justify spending a huge amount of time to make stuff like RT/Shader be totally drop-in.
06/04/2004 (9:47 am)
Be aware that TSE doesn't use the Direct3D FX framework, so shaders generated with automated tools aren't likely to be a drop-in solution.So you can use those sorts of tools to help the artist have an easier workflow but they're probably going to have to get their hands dirty at some point to get it working in-game.
We do want to get easy shader integration into TSE but it's not our highest priority at the moment. The existing materials system is already pretty powerful and easy to work with (even for artists), so it's hard to justify spending a huge amount of time to make stuff like RT/Shader be totally drop-in.
#3
06/04/2004 (10:16 am)
You can drop in new shaders using CustomMaterials, but they do have to be set up with our framework. It's pretty easy if you are familiar with shaders. 
#4
AFAIK the shader information that it generated would be usable in an engine such as TSE.
Logan
06/04/2004 (1:12 pm)
I was playing with RTZen back when it was in beta before GDC. It is a cool little program but it's not as artist friendly as one would like, especially for $2000. It definately takes some time to play with it to get a result that you want or need.AFAIK the shader information that it generated would be usable in an engine such as TSE.
Logan
#5
Don't think I'll be able to get RT/Shader at the moment, as I don't appear to have the video card minimum to support it :P No problem, I'll look at ShaderWorks and RenderMonkey in the meantime
Thanks again!
06/06/2004 (12:23 pm)
Thanks a lot guys, that was all very helpful :DDon't think I'll be able to get RT/Shader at the moment, as I don't appear to have the video card minimum to support it :P No problem, I'll look at ShaderWorks and RenderMonkey in the meantime
Thanks again!
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