Shader Sandwich is a layer based shader editor for Unity that allows you to create in an intuitive yet powerful environment, designed for artists rather than programmers.
Clean and streamlined interface similar to an image editor (Layers, blending modes etc).
Choose from a multitude of layer types, such as textures, cubemaps, gradients, real-time noise (of many kinds), vertex colors and tons more.
Add effects that - for example - let you blur, hue-shift, convert height-maps to normal-maps and many other cool things!
Layer different lighting ingredients like Diffuse or Sub Surface Scattering with ease to create either normal shaders - like Unity’s PBR shader - or custom ones like cartoon, skin, or water shaders.
Use and mix complex systems like Parallax Occlusion mapping and Tessellation easily, without having to worry about anything breaking.
Use transparency with the option to z-write in a variety of ways, allowing transparent objects to appear correct in image effects and not overlap as often.
Create inputs that let almost any setting be editable in the material inspector; link multiple settings to the same input, animate them and do a variety of other things to make your shader incredibly dynamic.
Check out real-time 2D previews in the editor with no re-compile time, and another 3D previewer to get a more accurate look at your shader
Image of the layer editor
To see other images and find more information, just see the Asset Store Page
Anyway, Shader Sandwich already has a ton of features, but as it turns out I’m a masochist! If you have any suggestions, spot any mistakes, need help or come across any errors, feel free to comment about it here, or e-mail me :). I’m hoping to update Shader Sandwich every couple of weeks, so bug fixes should come pretty quickly. Thanks :).
Thanks :). There isn’t a demo/free version yet, although I was thinking of making one. It’d be pretty limited, however it’d show off the general workflow well :). I’ll try and get one out soon. In case you were wondering about demo shaders, you can find the hologram one here on my website, I released it for free :).
As for videos, I actually made a few video tutorials using an older version, but my annoying voice ruined them. I’ve bought a new microphone which helps smooth it out a bit, so I’ll get to work making new ones right now :).
Sorry for taking so long to get this done, but here’s the first of the three beginner tutorials in video form! Hopefully my voice isn’t too annoying haha :).
If you have any feedback, please leave a comment and I’ll try and take it into account for the next two parts :). I’m also working on the two advanced tutorials, they’ll be out within a week.
In regards to Shader Sandwich itself, I’ve been a bit slack on development, but I’m now working on adding tessellation again, it should be in the next version :). I’m also hoping to make masks a more general purpose thing - like the ability to use them as inputs- and add/expand a few more effects before the next version, it’ll probably be out next month unless some bad bugs pop up . Finally, I’ve been working on a general road-map of features, but I’m thinking of scrapping it in favor of a dynamically generated one based on the bug/feature report system. I’ll probably have that up within a week or so as well :).
Tessellation’s almost finished, was way easier than I anticipated . Here’s a quick video showcasing it:
Still got a few bugs to iron out, but after that it’ll be done :). I might be able to push the release date up by a week if the rest of the new features go this well, but I’ll definitely be testing my luck there XD.
Also, I forgot to mention this but I think feature requests are pretty important, so if there’s a feature you want please leave a comment and I’ll try to get it in. Thanks :).
From /r/UnityAssets. Absolutely must have asset! The author is super nice and very responsive to requests and questions! Also very active on reddit! Thank you for making and sharing the asset! ~ /u/loolo78
That fur and tessellation certainly looks nice. I think you need to do a demo or at least a video showing a rotating object with some of the more complicated shaders you can make with this though for promotion. Looking at this asset at the moment it looks like all your tutorials aren’t finished yet. It looks like you are designing it to be easy for anyone to be able to make custom complexed shaders which is great but then don’t seem to show what is possible with it.
You need a video showing off the effects it can do so that people can quickly tell whether it is worth their time learning how to use this as oppose to buying some ready made shaders. A demo would be even better because then people could gauge how good the performance of the shaders are.
Also if I make a shader with it can I include it in another asset store package ? I was considering making a substance engine 2 package for unity 5.2 when it releases but need a pom shader to link it to in some examples scenes I want to include with the asset.
I already own some shader packages with pom in them such as the ubber package but don’t think I would be able to include that one on its own in my asset. Am I write in thinking that I can with shader sandwich ?
Also can you modify a shader with shader sandwitch after it has been compiled so they can be tweaked at a later date ? For example if I made a shader in shader sandwich and then send the shader to someone else who also owned shader sandwich could they import that shader and modify it further ? I am assuming if they didn’t own it then they could still use the actual shader but just wouldn’t be able to modify it.
Thanks for the detailed comment!
Yeah, I haven’t done particularly much when it comes to marketing it, I’ll try making a “trailer”, or whatever it’d be called for software . I’ve also wanted to make those tutorials more frequently, just life has been pretty hectic recently and I haven’t had access to my computer, so I figured I’d spend time making updates instead of tutorials. I’ll try and focus my efforts on tutorials now :). As for a demo, I’m definitely planning on releasing something like that soon, just not sure what features to include; I’ll try and get one out next week.
Anyway, you can use the shaders you make for whatever you want, including selling them or including them in other packages. I’m hoping no-one makes a shader pack out of the example shaders or anything, but yeah, the shaders can be used for anything :). Shader Sandwich also generates full source code shaders (that are commented!), so you can edit the shaders directly in a text editor. So even if other members of your team don’t have Shader Sandwich they can still edit the shaders themselves.
As promised, here’s the trailer! Took a little longer than expected (what a surprise, more technical issues…), but it’s done!
Now that that’s done I’ll make a few of the advanced tutorials. I’ve also managed to find a few bugs and regressions that sneaked into the new version (which still hasn’t been published…), so once the new update goes through I’ll get those fixed too :). Also, Shader Sandwich has been accepted into the September 24 Hour Deals, and will be 50% off in a few days! If you’ve been thinking of getting Shader Sandwich then that’ll be a good time :).
Nice looking trailer. I will be sure to pick it up in the sale. Also out of interest is it possible to adjust the accuracy of the pom shader for example how many steps it does to balance it between performance and quality ? Also if you could put together a quick example scene perhaps showing a rotating parallax cube above some of your dynamic water where you can see the cube reflected in the water it would probably help with promotion even more. Also your documentation mentions that it can do depth sorting ? Is that done on a per object per shader basis ? Could you for example make two different glass objects one behind the other and have the transparency look correct between them ? If so you should make a demo of that as well as depth sorting in general seems to be one of unity’s weaknesses.
Alright everyone, Version 1.1 is live! Shader Sandwich is also 50% off for the next 24 hours, so that’s pretty cool .
@IanStanbridge
Thanks :). Yes, you can change the quality of the POM in its panel. As for depth sorting, Shader Sandwich isn’t able to sort the objects itself, but it can help a bit. There are two different ways that it offers.
The first is Full Mode, which Z-Writes the object just before the transparent pass. This fixes any glitchy overlapping parts at the cost of blocking other transparent objects. This still looks good in most cases, and is great for things like ghosts where you don’t want overlapping transparent arms and such. It’s also useful when using image effects like DOF and AO as they’ll treat it as a solid object instead of ignoring it entirely.
The second is Cutout Mode, which creates another pass that uses cut-out alpha. This is good for things like hair, where you can still have a nice fadeout, but a solid center that z-writes correctly. I used this one for the grass, so that the edges remain soft looking but the center still collects and casts shadows.
You can see a little more information and images in the documentation here. Hope that helps :).
If you make a shader that functions the same as the default ones (1 texture, legacy diffuse lighting etc), then its speed will be identical :). Once you start adding more layers and effects Shader Sandwich will internally try to combine them and re-use texture reads etc, so it’s easy to stay within mobile limits (unless you start using really high-end things like parallax occlusion mapping haha ).
Edit: Forgot to mention, it’s also possible to make shaders that perform even better, but look a little different.
Hi
I´m interested(because it´s on sale)! Is there any roadmap ore features that will be integrated in the future?
I would really know about the future plans of your asset, because i have a lot of assets bought, that the creators lost interest in!
But anyway, your product looked like a unique way to create shaders in a simplified way!
Wish you success and (hopefully) a great evolution of Shader Sandwich!
Hi,
Your asset is interesting and I’m wondering how easy would it be to create Toon shaders with it? I have been trying to create it with an other asset but it’s a much more complex tool where as yours is simpler to understand and work with.
Thanks Michael :). I definitely plan on continuing with Shader Sandwich as long as there are new features to add or bugs to fix :). As for a roadmap, I don’t have one finished yet (although I am working on one), however you can have a look at current feature suggestions/planned additions here. My current plan is to add everything that people suggest, so everything on there will come at one point or another.
You can create some pretty interesting toon shaders with it actually :). Basic things like edge outlines and cartoon lighting is really easy, but you can also create inner edges (based on creases in the model) or things like that :). I realize now that I haven’t included any example toon shaders or planned any tutorials, will add one in the next version.
. Finally, I’ve been working on a general road-map of features, but I’m thinking of scrapping it in favor of a dynamically generated one based on the bug/feature report system. I’ll probably have that up within a week or so as well :).
