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

[SunnySunshine]

Hi,

I have this very strange problem with ASE shader:

Here, the cube is rendered with default HDRP/Lit material. Sphere is rendered with completely blank HD/Lit ASE shader. AO is from HBAO asset. When changing the material on sphere to blank Shader graph shader, the problem goes away.

[Amplify_Support]

@ethanicus

Hey, so I have an issue.

When using the inverse-hull method to create an outline effect, you have to have smooth shaded vertex normals or else you’ll get gaps in the outline mesh. The only real ways around this are to either use the scale method (which doesn’t really work for many situations), or to use smooth shading on the model.

The thing is that for some objects I obviously don’t want smooth shading, such as cubes or the tops of cylinders. I’m wondering if there’s some way to either:

• Smooth the normals in ASE
• Un-smooth the normals in ASE

I’m aware there’s some method involving baking the smoothed normals into the vertex colors, but I actually want to use the vertex colors for the purposes of selectively enabling and disabling the outline effect. Is there any solution to this, like some ability to average out the vertex normals, or am I just going to have to find another way?

Sorry, this is not specific to ASE so there aren’t many solutions we can provide here. Consider using a Image Effect based solution.

@ethanicus

I think I misspoke, I read somewhere that you can have multiple vertex colors through UV sets, but ASE can’t seem to choose between them. That info could be incorrect though.

Can you explain this process? Are you suggesting to use a texture on UV set 3? I feel like I’m uninformed about some of these technical details.

Or are you actually suggesting I somehow use the literal UV coordinates from UV3 as data? If so I’m not sure how I’d accomplish that from Blender or however I should do that.

EDIT: Using the script from here , I’ve managed to bake smoothed normals into the vertex colors right from within Unity. This still leaves the issue of figuring out selective outlining, but at least now I can shade how I like and still have clean, connected outlines.

Anything baked into UV channels must be accessed with the Vertex or Texture Coord node; this is not specific to ASE.
https://wiki.amplify.pt/index.php?title=Unity_Products:Amplify_Shader_Editor/Vertex_TexCoord
https://wiki.amplify.pt/index.php?title=Unity_Products:Amplify_Shader_Editor/Texture_Coordinates

@gonzo98x

Is ASE abandoned?

Please don’t be “that person” just because you didn’t get an immediate reply to what you asked.

To answer your question, please post an example shot of the shader you’re using; we need details before recommending anything.

For quicker questions/chatting, use our Discord server: https://discord.gg/zVdqVSp

@SuperDanOsbourne

Hi, I’m kind of new to the Shader Editor and I’m wondering if there is a DDXY node. I just can’t seem to find it if it’s there. Any help with this would really be appreciated. Thanks!

Edit: I guess FWidth works the same?

DDX and DDY nodes are available; you can can always use a Custom Expression if that’s not what you’re looking for.

@SunnySunshine

@Amplify_Support

Hi there,

I’m wondering how you’re supposed to write your own motion vectors in an ASE shader. When enabling the motion vector option and precomputed velocity, there is no output for velocity. Compared to Shader Graph, when adding custom motion vectors you get a specific output for it in the vertex shader.

All the best.

Depends, can you show us what you’re referring to on the Shader Graph side?

Thanks!

@cajphrase

Hi, it looks like I’ve discovered an issue with ASE. I need to get an InstanceID with the ‘SV semantic’ turned on in the vertex shader stage, but when this is connected it doesn’t compile with the following error message:

Shader error in 'InstanceIDTest': 'VertexFunction': no matching 1 parameter function at line 433 (on d3d11)
Connecting the InstanceID node in the vertex stage with ‘SV semantic’ off works fine, and when connecting the node in the fragment stage with it can be toggled on and off with no issues.

We’ll double check this as it was a recent addition. (we’ll get back yo you)

@SunnySunshine

Hi,

I have this very strange problem with ASE shader:

Here, the cube is rendered with default HDRP/Lit material. Sphere is rendered with completely blank HD/Lit ASE shader. AO is from HBAO asset. When changing the material on sphere to blank Shader graph shader, the problem goes away.

That’s odd! I’m assuming you’re using an ASE opaque material, we’ll have to test it.

Please let us know what’s your current Unity and ASE version.

Thanks!

[SunnySunshine]

@Amplify_Support

Depends, can you show us what you’re referring to on the Shader Graph side?

Thanks!

@Amplify_Support

That’s odd! I’m assuming you’re using an ASE opaque material, we’ll have to test it.

Please let us know what’s your current Unity and ASE version.

Thanks!

Yes, it’s an opaque ASE material with default settings for a HD/Lit shader.

Unity 2021.3.3f1.180
ASE 1.8.9r35

Thank you for looking into this!

[SunnySunshine]

I also have a feature request - being able to set the normal space for the normals! I think right now it always assumes tangent space.

[SunnySunshine]

Found a bug with Depth Offset.

Unity 2021.3.3f1.180
ASE 1.8.9r35

All the best.

[zackblack]

Hello,
I have a simple sprite shader that is ignoring white pixels using the Compare node. Problem is, it ignores other colors that are “close to” white. Is there some way to adjust the precision or achieve the required results a different way? Thanks in advance!

[SunnySunshine]

Was the POM decal issue ever fixed? I’m having trouble getting it to work:

This is the graph (does not work):

Equivalent shader graph (works):

[Amplify_Support]

@SunnySunshine

Was the POM decal issue ever fixed? I’m having trouble getting it to work:

This is the graph (does not work):

Equivalent shader graph (works):

Which error specifically? (Old post here or bug report?)

[SunnySunshine]

@Amplify_Support

Which error specifically? (Old post here or bug report?)

https://discussions.unity.com/t/639772 page-142#post-7743039

[knas01]

I’ve looked at the skybox example and what I want to do is, instead of sampling a texture, I want to sample a specific realtime reflection probe. How can I do this in built in renderer?

[cybie]

Hi, I am using Built-in Shaders. How can I have the shadow render differently to main shader? For example, I have a shader which use Dithering for transparency effect, but I want the shadow it casts to be solid, and not with holes.

Thanks

[SunnySunshine]

@cybie

Hi, I am using Built-in Shaders. How can I have the shadow render differently to main shader? For example, I have a shader which use Dithering for transparency effect, but I want the shadow it casts to be solid, and not with holes.

Thanks

I might be wrong but I think I remember “Rendering Options > Use Default Shadow Caster” does this if you check it. Otherwise, you can always add a static switch for the “UNITY_PASS_SHADOWCASTER” #define and have it affect the dithering differently.

[SunnySunshine]

Actually, I think you have to edit the resulting shader manually and remove the “addshadow” pragma if you use the first approach (use default shadow caster).

[cybie]

@SunnySunshine

I might be wrong but I think I remember “Rendering Options > Use Default Shadow Caster” does this if you check it. Otherwise, you can always add a static switch for the “UNITY_PASS_SHADOWCASTER” #define and have it affect the dithering differently.

Thanks, being new to Amplify, can you walk me through the detail a bit? With the second approach, I know how to add static switch, but the rest is not clear to me.

[crowmaster]

I want to create Amplify shader from editor script. Is this possible?

[mjako64]

Hi there,

I’m having an issue with normal map blending. I created a shader with a trim sheet normal map mapped to UV1 and a detail normal map on UV3, which works out great except that the swizzle of the detail normal seems to be affected by the UV1 coordinates

Here are the broken normals:

I checked and double-checked that the normal map is set up correctly, and then I discovered if I went and rotated this area in UV1 180 degrees, the normals were fixed:

I’m a little confused by that because these are tangent-space normal maps and I thought the rotation of a UV shouldn’t actually have any effect on the shading. Here’s my node setup:

And the UV1 mapping (mapped to an empty area on the trim sheet):

Appreciate any and all help. Thanks!

[SunnySunshine]

@cybie

Thanks, being new to Amplify, can you walk me through the detail a bit? With the second approach, I know how to add static switch, but the rest is not clear to me.

@mjako64

You can’t rotate a tangent space map w/o affecting the lighting.

I’m wondering if one of those maps has incorrect DirectX vs OpenGL normals? Have you tried multiplying the Y-channel with -1 before blending the normals? Or just invert the green channel with levels in photoshop.

[mjako64]

@SunnySunshine

@mjako64

You can’t rotate a tangent space map w/o affecting the lighting.

I’m wondering if one of those maps has incorrect DirectX vs OpenGL normals? Have you tried multiplying the Y-channel with -1 before blending the normals? Or just invert the green channel with levels in photoshop.

Thanks for replying. That was my first guess as well, but both maps are +Y so that can’t be it.
I should’ve specified, I didn’t rotate the normal map, I rotated the UVs in UV1 and the normal map that uses UV1 is completely flat there.

[SunnySunshine]

@mjako64

Thanks for replying. That was my first guess as well, but both maps are +Y so that can’t be it.
I should’ve specified, I didn’t rotate the normal map, I rotated the UVs in UV1 and the normal map that uses UV1 is completely flat there.

That’s what I meant tho, you can’t rotate the UVs w/o it affecting the map. If you rotate the UVs you would have to rotate the tangent and bitangent the same amount, otherwise the map won’t be interpreted the same.

Not sure what is wrong with the blend normals.

[Amplify_Support]

@SunnySunshine

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@knas01

I’ve looked at the skybox example and what I want to do is, instead of sampling a texture, I want to sample a specific realtime reflection probe. How can I do this in built in renderer?

forum.unity.com/threads/best-tool-asset-store-award-amplify-shader-editor-node-based-shader-creation-tool.430959/page-142#post-7743039]( https://discussions.unity.com/t/639772 page-142#post-7743039)

Not yet, hopefully in an upcoming update. (we’re a bit behind, shorthanded)

@knas01

I’ve looked at the skybox example and what I want to do is, instead of sampling a texture, I want to sample a specific realtime reflection probe. How can I do this in built in renderer?

Depends, is this Reflection probe affecting the object that will use the shader?
You might need something custom to assign the texture to your shader; if using an Indirect Specular Light node is not feasible.

@crowmaster

I want to create Amplify shader from editor script. Is this possible?

Not necessarily, what exactly do you intend to automate?

@mjako64

Hi there,

I’m having an issue with normal map blending. I created a shader with a trim sheet normal map mapped to UV1 and a detail normal map on UV3, which works out great except that the swizzle of the detail normal seems to be affected by the UV1 coordinates

Here are the broken normals:

I checked and double-checked that the normal map is set up correctly, and then I discovered if I went and rotated this area in UV1 180 degrees, the normals were fixed:

I’m a little confused by that because these are tangent-space normal maps and I thought the rotation of a UV shouldn’t actually have any effect on the shading. Here’s my node setup:

And the UV1 mapping (mapped to an empty area on the trim sheet):

Appreciate any and all help. Thanks!

Not sure, feel free to send a sample to support@amplify.pt