Realtime shaders are a fully integrated set of Autodesk Softimage shaders that allow you to use the render tree to build and control the realtime rendering pipeline. You can connect these shaders together to achieve a multitude of sophisticated rendering effects, from basic surface shading to complex texture blending and reflection.
Realtime shaders are designed primarily for games and interactive media development. Using realtime shaders allows artists to apply in-game shading and effects to characters and environments from directly within the Softimage interface, without having to involve developers.
Two sets of realtime shaders are provided with Softimage—one designed to operate with an OpenGLŪ display and the other designed to operate with a DirectX display.
The extent to which you can use realtime shaders depends on the graphics card and/or drivers on your machine. For a list of graphics cards that are certified for use with Softimage, see the graphics cards certification page at www.softimage.com.
This section does not discuss either type of realtime shader in depth. It is intended to provide an overview of working with realtime shaders in the Softimage interface. It also discusses some concepts and features that are common to both OpenGL and DirectX realtime shaders.
• Realtime Shaders vs. Mental Ray Shaders
• Building Realtime Shader Trees
• Applying and Editing Realtime Shaders
• Blending with Realtime Shaders
• Displaying and Rendering OpenGL Shadow Maps
• Viewing Realtime Shader Effects
• Rendering Realtime Effects to File
• Creating Your Own Realtime Shaders
Autodesk Softimage v.7.5