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pluginagentmarketplace/custom-plugin-game-developer/shader-techniques

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PublishedOctober 20, 2026 at 06:34 PM

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name: shader-techniques version: "2.0.0" description: | Advanced shader programming, visual effects, custom materials, and rendering optimization for stunning game graphics. sasmp_version: "1.3.0" bonded_agent: 03-graphics-rendering bond_type: PRIMARY_BOND

parameters:

name: shader_type

type: string required: false validation: enum: [surface, unlit, post_process, compute, particle]

name: platform

type: string required: false validation: enum: [pc, console, mobile, vr]

retry_policy: enabled: true max_attempts: 3 backoff: exponential

observability: log_events: [start, complete, error, compile] metrics: [shader_variants, compile_time, gpu_time_ms]

Shader Techniques

Shader Pipeline Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    RENDERING PIPELINE                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  CPU (Game Logic)                                            │
│       ↓                                                      │
│  VERTEX SHADER                                               │
│  ├─ Transform vertices to clip space                        │
│  ├─ Calculate normals, tangents                             │
│  └─ Pass data to fragment shader                            │
│       ↓                                                      │
│  RASTERIZATION (Fixed function)                              │
│  ├─ Triangle setup                                          │
│  ├─ Pixel coverage                                          │
│  └─ Interpolation                                           │
│       ↓                                                      │
│  FRAGMENT/PIXEL SHADER                                       │
│  ├─ Sample textures                                         │
│  ├─ Calculate lighting                                      │
│  └─ Output final color                                      │
│       ↓                                                      │
│  OUTPUT (Framebuffer)                                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Basic Shader Structure

hlsl

// ✅ Production-Ready: Basic Surface Shader (Unity HLSL)
Shader "Custom/BasicSurface"
{
    Properties
    {
        _MainTex ("Albedo", 2D) = "white" {}
        _Color ("Color Tint", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
        _Metallic ("Metallic", Range(0,1)) = 0.0
        _Smoothness ("Smoothness", Range(0,1)) = 0.5
        _NormalMap ("Normal Map", 2D) = "bump" {}
        _NormalStrength ("Normal Strength", Range(0,2)) = 1.0
    }
 
    SubShader
    {
        Tags { "RenderType"="Opaque" "Queue"="Geometry" }
        LOD 200
 
        CGPROGRAM
        #pragma surface surf Standard fullforwardshadows
        #pragma target 3.0
 
        sampler2D _MainTex;
        sampler2D _NormalMap;
        half4 _Color;
        half _Metallic;
        half _Smoothness;
        half _NormalStrength;
 
        struct Input
        {
            float2 uv_MainTex;
            float2 uv_NormalMap;
        };
 
        void surf(Input IN, inout SurfaceOutputStandard o)
        {
            // Albedo
            half4 c = tex2D(_MainTex, IN.uv_MainTex) * _Color;
            o.Albedo = c.rgb;
 
            // Normal mapping
            half3 normal = UnpackNormal(tex2D(_NormalMap, IN.uv_NormalMap));
            normal.xy *= _NormalStrength;
            o.Normal = normalize(normal);
 
            // PBR properties
            o.Metallic = _Metallic;
            o.Smoothness = _Smoothness;
            o.Alpha = c.a;
        }
        ENDCG
    }
    FallBack "Diffuse"
}

Advanced Effects

Toon/Cel Shading

hlsl

// ✅ Production-Ready: Toon Shader
Shader "Custom/Toon"
{
    Properties
    {
        _MainTex ("Texture", 2D) = "white" {}
        _Color ("Color", Color) = (1,1,1,1)
        _RampTex ("Ramp Texture", 2D) = "white" {}
        _OutlineColor ("Outline Color", Color) = (0,0,0,1)
        _OutlineWidth ("Outline Width", Range(0, 0.1)) = 0.02
    }
 
    SubShader
    {
        Tags { "RenderType"="Opaque" }
 
        // Outline Pass
        Pass
        {
            Cull Front
 
            CGPROGRAM
            #pragma vertex vert
            #pragma fragment frag
 
            struct appdata
            {
                float4 vertex : POSITION;
                float3 normal : NORMAL;
            };
 
            struct v2f
            {
                float4 pos : SV_POSITION;
            };
 
            float _OutlineWidth;
            float4 _OutlineColor;
 
            v2f vert(appdata v)
            {
                v2f o;
                // Expand vertices along normals
                float3 scaled = v.vertex.xyz + v.normal * _OutlineWidth;
                o.pos = UnityObjectToClipPos(float4(scaled, 1.0));
                return o;
            }
 
            half4 frag(v2f i) : SV_Target
            {
                return _OutlineColor;
            }
            ENDCG
        }
 
        // Main Toon Pass
        Pass
        {
            CGPROGRAM
            #pragma vertex vert
            #pragma fragment frag
 
            sampler2D _MainTex;
            sampler2D _RampTex;
            float4 _Color;
 
            struct appdata
            {
                float4 vertex : POSITION;
                float3 normal : NORMAL;
                float2 uv : TEXCOORD0;
            };
 
            struct v2f
            {
                float4 pos : SV_POSITION;
                float2 uv : TEXCOORD0;
                float3 worldNormal : TEXCOORD1;
            };
 
            v2f vert(appdata v)
            {
                v2f o;
                o.pos = UnityObjectToClipPos(v.vertex);
                o.uv = v.uv;
                o.worldNormal = UnityObjectToWorldNormal(v.normal);
                return o;
            }
 
            half4 frag(v2f i) : SV_Target
            {
                // Sample albedo
                half4 col = tex2D(_MainTex, i.uv) * _Color;
 
                // Calculate diffuse with ramp
                float3 lightDir = normalize(_WorldSpaceLightPos0.xyz);
                float NdotL = dot(i.worldNormal, lightDir) * 0.5 + 0.5;
                float3 ramp = tex2D(_RampTex, float2(NdotL, 0.5)).rgb;
 
                col.rgb *= ramp;
                return col;
            }
            ENDCG
        }
    }
}

Dissolve Effect

hlsl

// ✅ Production-Ready: Dissolve Shader
Shader "Custom/Dissolve"
{
    Properties
    {
        _MainTex ("Texture", 2D) = "white" {}
        _NoiseTex ("Noise Texture", 2D) = "white" {}
        _DissolveAmount ("Dissolve Amount", Range(0, 1)) = 0
        _EdgeColor ("Edge Color", Color) = (1, 0.5, 0, 1)
        _EdgeWidth ("Edge Width", Range(0, 0.2)) = 0.05
    }
 
    SubShader
    {
        Tags { "RenderType"="Opaque" }
 
        Pass
        {
            CGPROGRAM
            #pragma vertex vert
            #pragma fragment frag
 
            sampler2D _MainTex;
            sampler2D _NoiseTex;
            float _DissolveAmount;
            float4 _EdgeColor;
            float _EdgeWidth;
 
            struct v2f
            {
                float4 pos : SV_POSITION;
                float2 uv : TEXCOORD0;
            };
 
            v2f vert(appdata_base v)
            {
                v2f o;
                o.pos = UnityObjectToClipPos(v.vertex);
                o.uv = v.texcoord;
                return o;
            }
 
            half4 frag(v2f i) : SV_Target
            {
                half4 col = tex2D(_MainTex, i.uv);
                float noise = tex2D(_NoiseTex, i.uv).r;
 
                // Discard dissolved pixels
                clip(noise - _DissolveAmount);
 
                // Add edge glow
                float edge = 1 - smoothstep(0, _EdgeWidth, noise - _DissolveAmount);
                col.rgb = lerp(col.rgb, _EdgeColor.rgb, edge);
 
                return col;
            }
            ENDCG
        }
    }
}

Post-Processing Effects

hlsl

// ✅ Production-Ready: Screen-Space Vignette
Shader "PostProcess/Vignette"
{
    Properties
    {
        _MainTex ("Texture", 2D) = "white" {}
        _Intensity ("Intensity", Range(0, 1)) = 0.5
        _Smoothness ("Smoothness", Range(0.01, 1)) = 0.5
    }
 
    SubShader
    {
        Pass
        {
            CGPROGRAM
            #pragma vertex vert_img
            #pragma fragment frag
 
            sampler2D _MainTex;
            float _Intensity;
            float _Smoothness;
 
            half4 frag(v2f_img i) : SV_Target
            {
                half4 col = tex2D(_MainTex, i.uv);
 
                // Calculate vignette
                float2 center = i.uv - 0.5;
                float dist = length(center);
                float vignette = smoothstep(0.5, 0.5 - _Smoothness, dist);
                vignette = lerp(1, vignette, _Intensity);
 
                col.rgb *= vignette;
                return col;
            }
            ENDCG
        }
    }
}

Shader Optimization

OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  PRECISION:                                                  │
│  • Use half instead of float where possible                 │
│  • Mobile: Always prefer half/fixed                         │
│  • PC: float for positions, half for colors                │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  TEXTURE SAMPLING:                                           │
│  • Minimize texture samples                                 │
│  • Use texture atlases                                      │
│  • Avoid dependent texture reads                            │
│  • Use lower mipmap for distant objects                     │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  MATH OPERATIONS:                                            │
│  • Replace div with mul (x/2 → x*0.5)                       │
│  • Use MAD operations (a*b+c)                               │
│  • Avoid branching in fragment shaders                      │
│  • Pre-compute constants                                    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  VARIANTS:                                                   │
│  • Minimize shader keywords                                 │
│  • Use multi_compile_local                                  │
│  • Strip unused variants                                    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 
COST COMPARISON (Relative):
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Operation          │ Cost  │ Notes                         │
├─────────────────────┼───────┼───────────────────────────────┤
│  Add/Multiply       │ 1x    │ Baseline                      │
│  Divide             │ 4x    │ Avoid in loops                │
│  Sqrt               │ 4x    │ Use rsqrt when possible       │
│  Sin/Cos            │ 8x    │ Use lookup tables on mobile   │
│  Texture Sample     │ 4-8x  │ Varies by hardware            │
│  Pow                │ 8x    │ Use exp2(x*log2(y))          │
│  Normalize          │ 4x    │ Pre-normalize in vertex      │
└─────────────────────┴───────┴───────────────────────────────┘

🔧 Troubleshooting

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PROBLEM: Shader not compiling                               │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ SOLUTIONS:                                                   │
│ → Check for syntax errors (missing semicolons)              │
│ → Verify all variables are declared                         │
│ → Check target platform compatibility                       │
│ → Look for mismatched semantics                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PROBLEM: Pink/magenta material                              │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ SOLUTIONS:                                                   │
│ → Shader failed to compile - check console                  │
│ → Missing shader on target platform                         │
│ → Add fallback shader                                       │
│ → Check render pipeline compatibility                       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PROBLEM: Shader too slow                                    │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ SOLUTIONS:                                                   │
│ → Profile with GPU debugger (RenderDoc)                     │
│ → Reduce texture samples                                    │
│ → Use lower precision                                       │
│ → Simplify math operations                                  │
│ → Move calculations to vertex shader                        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PROBLEM: Too many shader variants                           │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ SOLUTIONS:                                                   │
│ → Use shader_feature instead of multi_compile               │
│ → Strip unused variants in build settings                   │
│ → Combine keywords where possible                           │
│ → Use material property blocks                              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Shader Languages by Engine

Engine	Language	Notes
Unity URP/HDRP	HLSL + ShaderGraph	Visual + code
Unity Built-in	CG/HLSL	Legacy surface shaders
Unreal	HLSL + Material Editor	Node-based preferred
Godot	Godot Shading Language	Similar to GLSL
OpenGL	GLSL	Cross-platform
DirectX	HLSL	Windows/Xbox
Vulkan	SPIR-V (from GLSL)	Low-level

Use this skill: When creating custom visuals, optimizing rendering, or implementing advanced effects.

All versions