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Shader Reference

Global Variables

These variables can be called anywhere in the global namespace.

Data Type Name Description
float g_flTime Current time
float g_flViewportMinZ Near clip plane
float g_flViewportMaxZ Far clip plane
float2 g_vViewportSize Viewport size in pixels
float2 g_vInvViewportSize 1 divided by g_vViewportSize
float2 g_vViewportOffset The offset of the viewport in pixels
float2 g_vRenderTargetSize The absolute size of the current render target
float3 g_vCameraPositionWs Camera position in world space
float3 g_vCameraDirWs Camera direction in world space
float4x4 g_matViewToProjection
float4x4 g_matWorldToView
float4x4 g_matProjectionToWorld
float4x4 g_matWorldToProjection

Variables

Variables will show up in Material Editor. They're defined like this.

float3 g_vColorTint < UiType( Color ); Default3( 1.0, 1.0, 1.0 ); UiGroup( "Color,10/20" ); >; float2 g_vTexCoordScale < UiType( Slider ); UiStep( 1 ); Default2( 1.0, 1.0 ); UiGroup( "Texture Coordinates,10/21" ); >; Float3Attribute( g_vColorTint, g_vColorTint ); // Only needed if your variable is not showing up in the material editor Float2Attribute( g_vTexCoordScale, g_vTexCoordScale);

A list of attributes you can expose can be seen below

Data Type Attribute Function
bool BoolAttribute
int/uint IntAttribute
float FloatAttribute
float2 Float2Attribute
float3 Float3Attribute
float4 Float4Attribute
float/float2/float3/float4 TextureAttribute

UiType

Describes how the variable should be represented in the editor.

Name Description
VectorText Text boxes and sliders (this is the default)
Slider A slider type. Usually combined with a Range setting.
Color A Color picker, works on float3 or float4.
Texture A texture picker
CheckBox On or off, generally used on bool

UiStep

UiStep lets you set the amount of each interval or step that the value increases or decreases by.

Default

The Default lets you specify the default value for the variable. If you're filling a float2, it should be Default2, if you're filling a float4 it should be Default4 etc.

Range

The Range lets you cap the variable to a specific range. If you're filling a float2, it should be Range2, if you're filling a float4 it should be Range4 etc.

float g_flAlphaTestReference < Range(0.01, 0.99); UiType(Slider); >; float2 g_vTexCoordScrollSpeed < Range2(-10, -10, 10, 10); UiType(VectorText); >;

UiGroup

The UiGroup is used to sort the variable into a group, subgroup and define its order. So for example, given this..

float4 BorderColorL < UiType( Color ); Default4( 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0 ); UiGroup( "Border,10/Colors,10/1" ); >; float4 BorderColorT < UiType( Color ); Default4( 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0 ); UiGroup( "Border,10/Colors,10/2" ); >; float4 BorderColorR < UiType( Color ); Default4( 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0 ); UiGroup( "Border,10/Colors,10/3" ); >; float4 BorderColorB < UiType( Color ); Default4( 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0 ); UiGroup( "Border,10/Colors,10/4" ); >;

You end up with this

image.png

The format is:

Heading,Order / Group,Order / VariableOrder

Expression

Expression is used to evaluate an expression on the variable, using the Dynamic Expressions language. A good reason for their use is to save GPU instructions, since they get evaluated on the CPU prior to rendering.

The expression can refer to: the variable itself with this, as well as to any other variables or features.

float3 g_vColorTint < Default3(1, 1, 1); UiType(Color); Expression(SrgbGammaToLinear(this)); >; float4 g_vTexCoordXform < Expression(g_flTexCoordRotation*3.14159)/180); >; int g_nFoliageAnimationMode < Expression(F_FOLIAGE_ANIMATION); >;

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