[Best Tool Asset Store Award] Amplify Shader Editor - Node-based Shader Creation Tool

Community Showcases
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Hey everyone,

You’ve probably noticed that this thread has slowed down quite a bit since the early days. However, our community is still thriving! We’re very active over on Discord and would love for you to join us there if you haven’t already, especially with the forums being officially discontinued by Unity.

While we’ll be keeping an eye on the new Unity Discussions platform, we hope to see you on Discord where the conversation continues.

__**Join us on the Amplify Creations Server (nearing 7,000 members): Discord - Group Chat That’s All Fun & Games

Hope to see you there!

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Thank you!
You helped us make the best out of ASE, we would not be here without your support. We’re very happy and humbled to be part of the Unity community, this award is for all of you.

* Built-in renderer, HD, Lightweight, and URP Support! *

Amplify Shader Editor now supports the creation of Lightweight and High Definition SRP compatible shaders. From a creation standpoint, it’s as simple as selecting a shader type such as Standard, Custom Lighting, or any other type currently available.

Be it for beginners or advanced users, ASE is the go-to solution for flexible shader development. With over 40 varied free shader samples, Shader Functions, a Custom Node API, an innovative Template System, extensive wiki references, community contributions, and an ongoing tutorial series.

Amplify Shader Editor is a node-based shader creation tool inspired by industry leading editors. An open and tightly integrated solution, it provides a familiar and consistent development environment that seamlessly blends with Unity’s UI conventions and Shader use. AAA quality and flexibility at an indie affordable cost with the responsive customer support and short iteration times that you can always expect from Amplify Creations.

Among many distinguishing workflow enhancing features, the editor offers Shader Templates for custom shader types, Shader Functions for reusable node networks, a Custom Node API, and Full Source Code.

Asset Store Page - Manual - Wiki - Discord
Download Latest Version

NEW! Canvas Screenshot button
NEW! Shader Templates
NEW! Shader Functions
NEW! Easy graph share through Share button
NEW! SRP packages auto-importer
NEW! Compatibility with Unity 2019
NEW! Support for Post-Processing Stack shaders
NEW! Compatible with Substance in Unity plugin
NEW! Support for Custom Render Textures
NEW! Support for HD, URP, and Lightweight SRP
NEW! Multi-Pass on Templates
NEW! Xbox One/PS4/Switch Support
NEW! Terrain support
NEW! Shader Templates

New Tool

  • Post-Processing Stack Tool

New Samples

  • Scale Independent Tile
  • Volumetric Pixelize by Raphael Ernaelsten
  • SRP HD Omni Decal
  • Mosaic Effect
  • Unlit With Lightmap

Latest Improvements

  • • Added templates specifically for the new Universal Rendering Pipeline
    • Added new HD Lit template compatible with Unity’s HDRP shader inspector
    • Infinite loop detection is now faster, reducing hit when connecting nodes on large graphs.
    • Improved nodes preview rendering refresh behavior
    • New tag system created to improve node search
    • Take a screenshot of your whole canvas by simply hitting the Screenshot button
    • Easily share selected portions of the graph through the Share button
    • Added new post-processing stack tool which generates a cs script with a PPS Renderer and Settings from a given shader.
    • Amplify Shader Editor supports both HD and Lightweight SRP v6.x.x via templates.
    • Legacy HD and Lightweight SRP v3.x.x/v4.x.x/v5.x.x templates are also supplied via Legacy packages.
    • Support for Custom Render Texture usage on Unity 2017 and above via Custom RT templates.
    • Substances can now also be used on ASE canvas with Unity 2018 and above through the Substance in Unity plugin.
    • Can now access 8 UV channels when on Unity 2018.2 and above.
    • Can Pan and Zoom ASE canvas camera through keyboard directional keys.
    • Support for Material Types into HD PBR SRP template.
    • Support for Specular workflow into Lightweight PBR SRP template.
    • Custom Options can now be added directly over templates.

Notable Features

ASE will continue to be improved throughout 2020, we have a lot planned for this year! You can currently create and extend Surface Shaders, create your own shader types via Shader Templates, use Custom Lighting, or even create your own Custom Nodes using the ASE Node API.

SHADER TEMPLATES

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You can finally break free from standard surface shaders. No longer will you be limited to default shader types, it’s the ideal solution for custom shader pipeline requirements that take advantage of node-based shader authoring. Templates are just as regular Unity shaders but with special ASE tags placed at key points. Be sure to check the official wiki page for additional information. The current ASE package includes Particles, UI, Sprites and Image Effects templates.

SHADER FUNCTIONS

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SF for short, are reusable node networks condensed into a single node with custom output and input ports. Easy to setup and extremely flexible, they work by receiving input values directly from your shader, processing that information and outputting them back for further alterations or direct use. SF assets are not bound to any shader, you can use them multiple times throughout your project, in the same shader, inside other Shader Functions, or even share them with other users.

Intuitive

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Focused on UX, the workspace is intuitive and familiar, clean, and flexible. Dock it, or use it in a second monitor, it’s prepared to fit your layout requirements.

Minimalist

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The toolbars and menus have been optimized in order to maximize the workspace area. Creating nodes or new Shaders is as intuitive as creating a new Unity Material in the Project Explorer window.

Responsive

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Smooth interaction with fast response times, you are in control. Double-click an ASE Shader and it will instantly open it in the editor, double-click a Material using an ASE Shader and will automatically load both.

Real-Time

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One-click shader and material updates, a LIVE mode is also available. Material adjustments are immediately visible directly in the viewport or inspector preview area.

Open

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Fully customizable, it includes full source code and it’s open to user submissions. Nodes, improvements, fixes, or even plugins, your contribution and feedback is very valuable to us.

Nodes

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ASE has a varied and growing node library. In addition to common nodes, it also includes several dedicated composite nodes. It’s a great way to easily achieve complex operations using less nodes. The node collection will continue to grow, more complex and advanced will be added in upcoming updates. A full Node list is available in the Amplify Creations Wiki.

Samples

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The ASE package includes several examples to get you started. You are free to modify and use any of the available shaders in your own projects, we will add more samples in future updates. We are open to user submissions, contribute today and your work could be featured in our site, Asset Store page or even the official package!

We want your feedback!
Help us shape your editor.

Visit our website for additional information on all our products. Be sure to contact us if you run into any problems or if you have any questions regarding our products, we would be happy to help. You are all premium users to us, stay in touch, we would love to hear more about your work.

Join us on Discord: Official Channel

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180+ Samples for HDRP, URP, and BiRP
FREE for all Amplify Shader Editor users!

We’re separating ASE samples from the main package. It’s always been a struggle to keep multiple versions or to include higher resolution content. This way we can now offer more samples, models, higher resolution textures on future samples and better demo scenes. It’s completely FREE to all ASE owners, just checkout at no cost. (be sure to be on the account that owns ASE) You can also pick it up on our site once you redeem it via the Asset Store: Amplify Creations » Download

You may already know most of these shaders but now you have Built-in, URP and HDRP versions.

Learn more: Asset Store

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Hi,
Sorry for bringing in a competitor right away but for peolple who already own shaderforge, can you explain which new features/advantages the amplify shader editor brings to the table?

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Could I create multiple passes per shader with it?

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I added to my wish list this morning and then succumbed to peer pressure from my Skype group and jumped on the bandwagon of a few of us who went ahead and picked it up. Definitely looks like an awesome tool… With the Amplify team behind it, I have confidence that you guys are going to do great things with it. Can’t wait to see what is yet to come!

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For ASE we are aiming to provide a more intuitive workflow to create shaders that seamlessly blends with Unity native UI. More importantly we aim to develop a community driven plugin

This beta will grow according to the customer needs. During its process we will shape the plugin according to all the feedback.

Also we provide full source-code all the way. Everyone will see what is being done, play with it and modify it.

On this Beta 1 we can only create a single pass per shader

3 Likes
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My apologies, I should have been asking about the future instead of asking about the current beta.

  • Is the framework capable of having multiple passes implemented? I believe that my all-time favorite shader tool has this limitation.
  • Is there some way to create/append the pipeline stages (vertex, hull, domain, etc) or at least the VS and PS?
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Just to add to what Rick said - there are many core differences in our editor. I like to describe it as an alternative, instead of a competitor. We want to make something different, open, and affordable. In a sense, it provides similar technical features but with our own implementation, improvements and additions. In BETA 1, we want to offer a solid, intuitive, and seamless integrated experience. Future updates will focus more on technical improvements or additions, we have a lot in development.

ASE was a bit born out of necessity, we needed a tool that could fill our own requirements for our game, Decay of Logos. Reliable, fully open and with fast iteration times. Our developers are extremely experienced with advanced shader development, it feels like the next logical step to take.

Stay tuned, this is just the beginning!

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Thanks, you wont be disappointed!

1 Like
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Hi,

  1. We can definitely extend the framework to be able to support multiple passes. We have a multiple canvas via tabs feature on our roadmap which will help this feature to be implemented.

  2. For now you can only have access to the standard surface shader ( and do fragment operations ) and only do extrusion operations on the vertex shaders.

Thanks!

11

Just bought it ! I think it has a really good place in the AssetStore, and I like your philosophy about the open source and stuff. Can’t wait to see new things integrated by you or the community.

Do you plane to create a feeback website ? maybe http://feathub.com/ ?

My feedback quickly (more to come in the future I guess):

  • Will you add the possibility to create group ?
  • Can you add a fresnel node ?

Thanks

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I’m a huge fan of Shader Forge, so naturally this peaks my curiosity. For a first beta version it already looks very extensive and I’m sure we can expect more to come! Small things like being able to add a frame around nodes inspired a lot of confidence in its usability :slight_smile:

I do have one burning question: are Substance generated outputs supported as bitmap inputs?

1 Like
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Amplify developers are most present on the forum to support their products.
My 2 cents.

On my buying list. Of course :sunglasses:

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Purchased!

15

Are you planning on integrating distance-based dynamic phong tessellation and subsurface scatter in the future? Thanks.

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This is a really great idea.

Yes, we plan to add groups. You will be able to group simple native nodes into big compound ones.
Concerning the Fresnel node, we have a list of requested nodes and will register this node on it and will definitely add it in a future update.

Substance is on the table but only on later iterations.

It’s not planned but it might be something interesting to explore.

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This looks interesting. Is there some sort of Roadmap you can share? What kind of shaders are we able to make with the current version and what can we create down the road?

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Olá pessoal :wink:

So, I played with it for an hour or so and I have a few notes to make.

I decided to start with some easy stuff and tried to re-create a shader I created a few weeks ago that simply does some refractive effect with chomatic aberration. Unfortunately I couldn’t even create a refraction effect since you don’t have any node that gives us the screen color, or in other words, that adds the screen grab pass to the shader. You do have the screen position stuff for the uvs but without any way to get the screen current frame it’s impossible to do anything refractive.

I then proceeded to something else and tried a simple rim effect. In the process I noticed some things not doing what I expected, it was hard to tell if it was error in my part or not because shaders are hard to debug but I just wasn’t able to invert a simple fresnel effect in the [0-1] range. At first I thought you did’t have any invert node so I simply did a subtraction (1-myValue) and since my clamp wasn’t working either for some reason I finally gave up and opened your example with the rim light and I noticed you do have the invert node (One Minus). Maybe it’s force of habit but i wasn’t getting there just by searching the name. Either way, when I finally put the node in, it worked, including the clamp, but the funny part is that the subtraction node still didn’t :eyes:? I opened the generated code and the float constant value that I set to one was being generated as a zero, so it was doing (0-myValue), seems like a bug.

A few bugs I found were all about the window, so I didn’t dock it. One of them happens when you click in the title of the shader and you drag down, it mouse starts doing the box selection but the content starts moving down as well. Another one happens when you select a node and the you select the unity window and bring it outside windows screen position, if you do that the selected node starts moving when it’s outside of view, it does this indefinitely, I even managed to have a node somewhere into the infinity and it’s a pain to bring it back.

other stuff:
Whats the “dirty” property that the editor generates?

I did get disappointed that I couldn’t generate custom shaders, it only generates surface shaders and thats a deal breaker to many people and putting everything into emission does breaks some stuff if you are using screen shaders so I would put that somewhere at the top of your priority list.

I do like the editor so far but while I understand the parity you are trying to achieve with the unreal shader editor I do prefer the visual icons that shader forge gives us (I hope you don’t mind the comparisons)

The shader settings are still barebones and I believe it will get better with time but one thing I miss is the material preview.

All in all, it’s a really good start but I’m not sure if it’s production ready yet. But I still think you did well to release it early in beta to get feedback. I’ll keep trying new things and specially porting some stuff from unreal to battle test it :stuck_out_tongue:

edit: forgot to say that I like the tooltips, they helped me a couple of times since there’s a initial learning curve to your editor, keep them up

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Awesome Thanks.

I used it a little more.

It would be very handy to have debug value above the nodes. For instance, for mathematics expression or for time.

Can’t wait to see what happens next

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Wondered if the shader output is readible for further manual editing and optimisation, and what kind of performance do these shaders have? optimisations and so on?