brn
1
All versions at 1.14
Hard Surface Shaders Pro is now on the Asset Store for $50 Click Here for Link
Hard Surface Shaders Standard for $15 Click Here for Link
Hard Surface Shaders Free Click Here for Link
Thanks to every one on the Beta team for your help and feel free to keep posting suggestions or ask any questions.
I hope you find the packages good value as well as a good solution.
Look to the Video and attachments below for documentation (which I recommend you read if you are considering purchasing pro ).
Kind Regards
Brn
499226–21436–$Readme.pdf (1.89 MB)
really interesting, as i’m not a technical artist it looks really interesting ( for an artist to have as many shaders as possible is the same as for a coder to have a keyboard with all its keys). Do you think it would be usefull for creating a spectral appearence or ghost ??? with this shader … I’d love to have the right tools to make one and don’t waste my time…
Impressive thanks for your work.
brn
3
Hi rosor thanks for your kind words.
Yes I think it would handle a ghost quite well. If i were to apply it to a moving character, where there is a good chance of intersection and overlapping volumes I would do the following.
- First pass, Pre Prime the Zbuffer with the character. You can use the shader lab “colormask” function to do this.
- Draw the character with a version of the shader that doesn’t draw the back faces, over the top of the Z primed version ( sometimes you may need a slight offset to avoid Z fighting.
This way you wont get any artifacts with overlapping geometry from the same asset, and it will work properly with any depth based post effects you run after it.
I think there is a tutorial on this type of technique in the unity forums somewhere. I’ll add a link to this post if i can find it.
Kind Regards,
Bruno
@brn : thanks for your answer Bruno.
Your webplayer(in safari on Mac, Firefox as well) shows diffuse shaders on the objects…
For games, what matters is; does it look good, and does it run well? 
This is a winner. Do want. 10$ on Asset Store for what you already have, if you released it right now.
IMO the extras would pump it to 15$.
As for the ghost, I think there is something related in the wiki (2.6 version):
Where can i see the webplayer ?
First post under the images…
Thank you garyhaus
i downloaded it and look at it but i think this graphic card was not good enough, it is looking like realy simple objects with just one color, not transparent or something
brn
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Thanks for posting the feed back Guys. Screen capture of the refraction Pre Prime testbed attached. This version of the shader also handles the backfaces differently to the non refractive shader and will allow for complex shapes with intersecting geometry like characters.
@garyhaus M_Stolley. Ive been able to test the shaders on a low spec apple since you have posted. The shaders defaulted back to diffuse on that machine as well. At this point I don’t have easy access to Mac based systems but i assure you it is my first priority to get them working on apple machines. After that I’ll create some cut down versions and fall back versions.
@garyhaus, Cool portfolio site you have there!, I really like your approach to lighting.
@rosor. Ive just expanded the shader set to include multiple passes that pre prime the Zbuffer. It also does a grab pass with a simple refraction effect. This version will cover your ghost scenario. To my eye though refraction doesn’t suit a ghost like character. Looks pretty cool as a glass statue though.
@Werewraith I hope the web player worked for you at least. Are you on PC?
this looks cool ! would fits really well an octopus or a toad skin, a kind of something like ectoplasm, or jellyfish (like the first green ghost in " ghostbusters") but could you post a version of the same character you use in the picture, with the " ghost scenario" fixed. I don’t know if you’ll have many buyers, it’s a usefull tool to my mind even in its current version but nobody could guess how many sales you’ll get with this pretty feature. So maybe it’ll be too expensive for the moment, depending on the price you expect to sell it.
nice work.
Yes, it worked perfectly fine. What I was trying to say is that even if they weren’t mathematically correct, it isn’t an issue at all since they are visually correct.
One question though; do they work correctly on models regardless of UV mapping (or if there is no UV info at all)?
They look great, no doubt about that, but not sure I’d pay for them when there’s things on the wiki and around the forum that could be adapted to be the same pretty much, with a lot of effort that is. But that’s because I’m currently very poor now.
@Frank Oz
As always it is a time vs money vs skill question.
I would pay for it if it is the right price because i have enough things to do/learn that are more importent to me then shaders.
Aww, I expected realtime reflections.
brn
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@ Werewraith, The answer to your question is both yes and no. Im doing multiple versions of the shader and will format them to work like the standard unity packaged ones do. So if you want to use a normal map for extra surface detail or a diffuse and specular map, then you will have to select the variation of the shader that supports them. The simpler versions will not require any uv’s. The Images I first posted dont use any UV data.
@ 2dfxman1, I understand totally where you are coming from on this point. The tricky bit is how much of a performance cost are you willing to pay to achieve it? Because everyones answer will be different and specific to their own needs. I’m planning to implement some scripts that will set up some camera render textures, so you can assign them to the shader for real time reflections. This should be as simple as assigning a script to the object you want to uses as the origin for the reflection capture. This way you can choose how expensive and how often you want the update for the reflections, without impacting the shader side of things.
At the moment the reflection texture is a cube map, which is a highly accurate and expensive way of representing reflected data ( in terms of capturing and storing the data). I’m thinking of providing the option of a hemispherical reflection map. This would have some major performance advantages in terms of capturing the scene, but with the disadvantage of not representing reflections on the back faces of the reflective surfaces.
I personally dont think the lack of accuracy on the backfaces is an issue, because the realtime refraction Ive just implemented, more than makes up for it (Its a hemispherical approximation that uses the Grabpass functionality). What do you guys think of this solution. Is it flex-able enough for you?
It may be possible to for me to only update the forward parts of a cube map with a single capture thats warped to fit, but again this would require scripts from my side and good scene management at your end. Its also worth thinking about how depth based post effects come into play. Right now with how the standard depth based Image effects are implemented, they don’t play nicely with transparent assets. My shaders will solve most of the post effect issues but not all of them.
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@Frank Oz, I agree there are some very good examples of reflective shaders about. If my shaders don’t provide a solution thats more user friendly I wouldn’t use them either. For me thats the key factor. In my experience as a developer Ive seen some really amazing technology never realize its potential because it was just too clumsy to use effectively in a working environment. The tech that was efficient and allowed artists to iterate rapidly while providing good visual feedback would result in a better looking game. I hope with some working examples I can convince you further.
Lattest realtime refraction example.
Keep the questions and request coming guys its really helpful!
Brn
Yann
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Webplayer doesn’t work for me either (MacBook Pro CoreI5, double ATI/NVDIA video card) but the screenshots look gorgeous. As soon as you have a working Mac version with refraction and caustics, I’ll buy it. Also, realtime reflection is a very interesting option for certain scenes - like interactive product close-ups, for example.
brn
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@Yann, Thanks for your feedback Yann. Your post has made me think a bit more about how the shader pack might be used. I think architectural and interactive product developers probably appreciate a few good Cube maps / Environments that would help make their products really shine. I’ll render up a few and add them to the pack.
@)Everyone, Ive been concerned at how the shader is getting quite big. The functionality being requested is definitely needed so i wont be cutting any of it out. Heres my proposed solution. An editor version of the shader and a Game version.
The Editor version would have all the sliders, texture slots and variables exposed.
So things like a Gloss slider that multiplys a Gloss map will be available, with sliders and individual maps for Specpower, Reflection masks ect.(As long as I don’t run out of registers otherwise the masks will have to be supplied packed as well)
For the Game version I will supply a script that parses over each individual map based on the Editors version of the shader and then bakes and packs all the data into a new textures and switches shaders on the material.
This way you get all the functionality without the performance costs. With this sort of functionality and extra assets, I’m tempted to split the shaders into two packs. A Standard version and a Pro version. I’m even considering a free pack version as well so those on no budget can at least hit the ground with some basic shaders.
I’ll make sure that all versions of the shaders use the same properties so if you choose to upgrade, you can without having to do more than just point it at the new shader.
Latest Update,
More art than code today, a good bit of Zbrush action and spent some time get the scene lighting well.
Added in the ability to supply textures for Diffuse color and Alpha and Spec/Gloss/reflection masks. The Skull uses these. Created the first of the sample testbeds for the pack, all assets shown will be part of the pack and free for you to use as you wish.
Things the screen shots feature.
- Internally lit Skull, with light scattering effect.
- Asset that changes properties over its surface (Skull again)
- Asset with internal modeled detail that self sorts and self refracts (glass egg).
- Assets that are transparent and still work with depth based post effects.
this looks really good, i’m really interested in those shaders. I’ll need them in about 2 or 3 weeks to do some tests with my enemy characters. How much do you expect from this feature ? will it be available on the asset store ???
Yann
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@brn : brilliant, in all aspects !
