Well I just played with Xcode and shader builder at the local reseller. GLSL is now in 10.4 but only works through software rendering... I still don't see the shader_language_100 extension as of yet. But the code I through at shader builder ran fine so you can play around with GLSL at least for now, just don't expect to run it in your games I guess, or be optimal speed conditions.

wait, you were able to type stuff into the OpenGL shader builder without it crashing?

OMG!

OneSadCookie Wrote:wait, you were able to type stuff into the OpenGL shader builder without it crashing?

OMG!

Yes I am!! Yeah you can select between vertex program, vertex shader, fragment program, ati fragment program, fragment shader. And no crashes!! I even coded up some per pixel lighting quick!!

GLSL? I hope this isn't a cruel tease... Tease, fine. Cruel, bad.

Tiger's software renderer does GLSL. It seems to work OK. OpenGL Shader Builder crashes left right and center, just as always.

Whew! Sounds like it's just a tease then. This is my first official word, since my copy is still on the way and I don't get dev seeds. I'll take it as good bad news that Shader Builder does GLSL, but doesn't work.

I know the hardware vendors are hard at work at it, but I obviously can't talk their plans.

All of this fuss just makes me happy that my most recent purchase was a PC with a nice graphics card

Sad to hear. I had GLSL as my primary plan for learning shader programming. So what should I use then? Some other language? Or should I learn GLSL on the "dark side" and bring it to the Mac once Apple get their act together?

Mars_999 Wrote:Well I just played with Xcode and shader builder at the local reseller.

Argh! Wish I could've played with Xcode at the Apple store. I asked one of the workers if any of the machines had the developer tools installed, and he just gave me a blank look and said "uhh, no" like "what are you smoking?"

Oh well, Tiger coming tomorrow for home...

Sucks about the GLSL stuff... I've been wanting to play with that a bit too. And yeah, it seems like Apple is always behind on the 3D support compared to Windows, perhaps due to the non-emphasis on games (or is this just my imagination?). I suspect (hope) that sooner or later they'll turn their guns that direction and will be technologically ahead in 3D once again.

The reason that GLSL didn't make full spec in 10.4 is that they had trouble making it fast enough, so they focused on Core Image/Video (since that is what most people will use anyway). So, I'd expect it to be supported in a not-too-distant future.

I still find that the ARB_vertex_program and ARB_fragment_program are still the easiest cross-platform way to get shaders done. You have to write in assembly, but it's incredibly easy.

Other than the obvious advantage of using a high-level language, is there anything you can do in the shader language you can't with the assembler programs?


P.S. Ingemar, you rock.

Eh, if you really want to learn shaders, get a decent PC and play with FX Composer... It's ridiculously easy to use.

*cries* I have to wait till the end of summer for me to get Tiger... (Along with a G5 ). I was hoping to learn shaders using GLSL...

Puzzler183, FX Composer is HLSL only, right? I know little about HLSL, but I want GLSL, since it is the open standard and what is likely to be supported on all platforms (eventually). (I assume that HLSL and GLSL are not compatible.) After all, I want to use it for Mac games.

Are there similar tools for GLSL, for Windows or Linux (while I wait for the Mac solution)?

PS: Thanks, phydeaux! :-)