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Graphic Shaders are used throughout the game and movie industry to improve onscreen graphics. They are versatile, doing important tasks like making computer rendered aliens look realistic, providing the ripples on a background lake or growing fur on the latest Pixar monster. In the PC world, programmers are often delighted to find that shaders are nothing more than a miniature program that is optimized to run on the computers GPU. This happiness fades when they start exploring the strange programming model underlying shaders however. Because shaders are strung together in an unusual fashion and run on a massive parallel processer developers shouldn t use their traditional OO or procedural approach to writing code. Writing effective shaders requires a mind shift regarding how to craft a useful algorithm. To top it off, shaders are written in a unfamiliar C-like language. In the Microsoft DirectX world the dominant language is High Level Shader Language or HLSL.
List of contents
Preface;
Who This Book Is For;
What You Need to Use This Book;
Contents of This Book;
Conventions Used in This Book;
Using Code Examples;
Safari® Books Online;
How to Contact Us;
Acknowledgments;
Foreword;
Chapter 1: Shader 101;
1.1 Why Should XAML Developers Learn HLSL?;
1.2 The Tale of the Shader;
1.3 HLSL and DirectX;
1.4 Understanding the Graphics Pipeline;
1.5 XAML and Shaders;
1.6 Summary;
Chapter 2: Getting Started;
2.1 Setting Up Your Development Computer;
2.2 Choosing a Shader Compiler;
2.3 Other Tools to Consider;
2.4 A First Shader Project;
2.5 Custom Shader;
2.6 Summary;
Chapter 3: Commonplace Pixel Shaders;
3.1 A Word About Pseudocode;
3.2 Color Modification;
3.3 Distortion and Displacement;
3.4 Blurs;
3.5 Generative Effects;
3.6 Multiple Inputs;
3.7 Sampler Transition;
3.8 Texture Map;
3.9 Color Combination;
3.10 Practical Uses for Shader Effects;
3.11 Summary;
Chapter 4: How WPF and Silverlight Use Shaders;
4.1 Framework Effects;
4.2 Nested Effects;
4.3 Expression Blend Effects;
4.4 Custom Effects;
4.5 Summary;
Chapter 5: Using Expression Blend and Visual Studio with Shaders;
5.1 Creating a Project;
5.2 Visual Studio Editor;
5.3 Using Custom Effects in Blend;
5.4 Transition Effects in Blend;
5.5 Summary;
Chapter 6: Using the Shazzam Shader Editor;
6.1 UI Tour;
6.2 Create a Custom Shader;
6.3 Summary;
Chapter 7: HLSL in Detail;
7.1 Parallel Processing in Shaders;
7.2 The Relationship Between DirectX and the GPU;
7.3 Understanding Registers;
7.4 Basic Structure of an HLSL Program;
7.5 Type Casting;
7.6 Shader Inputs;
7.7 Other Code Constructs;
7.8 Built-in Functions;
7.9 Summary;
Chapter 8: The Zen of Shader Programming;
8.1 Zen of Pixel Programming;
8.2 Colors;
8.3 Summary;
Resources;
Books;
Programming;
Premultiplied Alpha Blending;
Convolution;
Noise;
Tools;
Shazzam Settings;
About the author
Walt Ritscher has trained thousands of corporate developers during the last fourteen years. An active speaker, his teaching schedule has taken him throughout the world providing developer training at corporations, universities, and software conferences. He has collaborated on several books and videos.
Summary
Graphic Shaders are used throughout the game and movie industry to improve onscreen graphics. They are versatile, doing important tasks like making computer rendered aliens look realistic, providing the ripples on a background lake or growing fur on the latest Pixar monster.
