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Author Topic: Wave Shader  (Read 5602 times)

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Foaly

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Wave Shader
« on: October 14, 2012, 02:08:17 pm »
Hi I would like to apply a wave shader (just like the one in the examples) to a texture. But since a texture only has 4 vertices I don't think I can use the one from the examples. I'm not very good at shader programming, so I don't really know how to implement the effect as a fragment shader... can anybody help me out?

Another small question: What's the name of the blur effect that is used in the example?

Laurent

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Re: Wave Shader
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2012, 03:32:36 pm »
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But since a texture only has 4 vertices
Texture and geometry are two different things. You can map a texture on a 4-vertex sprite, but also on a subdivided quad with a lot more vertices.

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What's the name of the blur effect that is used in the example?
What do you mean?
Laurent Gomila - SFML developer

Foaly

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Re: Wave Shader
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2012, 03:41:05 pm »
Yes but to do that I would have to either use a geometry shader to subdivide my rendertexture or I would have to implement a class that displays a texture, but has a lot more quads. To specify my question: Does anybody know how to achieve the effect with a fragment shader?

What do you mean?
Well what kind of a blur is it? (i.e.: gaussian blur,...?)

Laurent

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Re: Wave Shader
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2012, 03:47:18 pm »
Why do you think it is so complicated? Just create your own vertex array, with all the vertices you need in it, and map your texture on it. Very easy.

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Does anybody know how to achieve the effect with a fragment shader?
When you compute pixel (x, y) in your shader, instead of looking up pixel (x, y) in the source texture, lookup pixel (x + a, y + b) where (a, b) are coefficients that simulate a wave.

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Well what kind of a blur is it? (i.e.: gaussian blur,...?)
Yes, a Gaussian blur.
Laurent Gomila - SFML developer

Foaly

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Re: Wave Shader
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2012, 10:36:36 pm »
Ok thanks. I'll try and implement a fragment shader myself. But I got another question: in your vertex shader, why do you use cos(calculations) and add sin(calculations) * 0.3 to it?

Yes, a Gaussian blur.
Great, thanks. Is it a vertical and a horizontal gaussian blur? And if it is are the step after each other or is it a bilinear gaussian blur?

Laurent

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Re: Wave Shader
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2012, 11:09:53 pm »
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But I got another question: in your vertex shader, why do you use cos(calculations) and add sin(calculations) * 0.3 to it?
That's the wave equation. Can you be more specific?

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Great, thanks. Is it a vertical and a horizontal gaussian blur? And if it is are the step after each other or is it a bilinear gaussian blur?
Why are you asking so many questions? ;D
The code reads neighbour pixels, and makes a weighted average of them. I just used coefficients that made it look ok. There's really nothing else to know.
Laurent Gomila - SFML developer

Foaly

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Re: Wave Shader
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2012, 08:11:28 am »
I'm sorry I didn't mean to bother or annoy you. It's just that I haven't worked with blur before and your Gaussian blur shader looks different from the other implementations that I've seen. Like this one http://www.gamerendering.com/2008/10/11/gaussian-blur-filter-shader/ for example. So I was wondering what type it is and why it looks different.

About the wave equation. It's pretty much the same thing. I haven't worked with a wave shader before. The only explanation I found was this one http://www.gamedev.net/topic/607082-sine-wave-shader/ (scroll to the bottom). And that one only uses sin. So I was wondering why yours uses sine and cosine. Could you explain that to me?

Thanks for the help!

Laurent

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Re: Wave Shader
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2012, 08:41:33 am »
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I'm sorry I didn't mean to bother or annoy you
You don't :)

I just mean that you should probably look at my shaders (they are really simple to understand) and start experimenting with your own formulas, rather than asking so many questions first. I can't answer all your questions, because when I wrote these shaders I just did a lot of tests and adjustements to make them look good. I didn't try to understand what kind of Gaussian blur or wave equation I used.

Don't take these formulas too seriously, they are just hacks. The important thing to remember is that:
- a blur effect works by taking a weighted average of neighbour pixels
- a wave formula is made of one or more cos/sin terms (using more terms makes the wave less "symetric")

Which coefficients you use is really up to you, and are generally found by testing and hacking.
Laurent Gomila - SFML developer

Foaly

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Re: Wave Shader
« Reply #8 on: October 15, 2012, 10:44:13 pm »
Thanks that's exactly what I needed to know. When I start on a new topic, I usually look at existing code. That's why I looked at the examples. I didn't understand if you implemented a certain algorithm or if you where just hacking till it looked good. That's why I was asking.
Thanks for clearing it up and the useful information. I will read some more about blur techniques then and experiment with the sin equation then.
On thing I still don't understand and I couldn't find an explanation on the internet for. How does adding a cosine wave make the wave less "symetric"?

Laurent

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Re: Wave Shader
« Reply #9 on: October 15, 2012, 11:00:39 pm »
cos and sin are the same, they are just offseted by Pi/2, so it doesn't make a big difference here. What's important is the number of coefficients: the more sin/cos terms you add to the equation, the less it looks like a regular sine curve.
Laurent Gomila - SFML developer