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> If we do this project right, developers could use open-source crates that provide the graphical effects needed to create beautiful experiences. Instead of sha

by bogwog 6y ago

> If we do this project right, developers could use open-source crates that provide the graphical effects needed to create beautiful experiences. Instead of sharing snippets of code on forum posts, they could simply add the right crates. That’s not a very compelling value proposition. You don’t need to switch languages to use a package manager. Plus, not all engines have the same data layout, so an “effect crate” would either require your engine to work a very specific way, or would require integration work that would probably defeat the purpose of using a package manager in the first place. And what does Rust itself add that GLSL/HLSL don’t offer? It can’t be worth the headaches, especially when you consider how a TON of devices still only support OpenGL, which not only requires runtime compilation of shaders (so only GLSL unless your app ships a cross compiler), but different drivers behave differently, requiring ugly hacks for the sack of performance in some cases.

chungus_khan 6y ago
The project actually says it compiles to SPIR-V (Vulkan's standard intermediate representation), so driver/GPU support really shouldn't be too much of an issue so long as the target is one that supports Vulkan.
- flohofwoe 6y ago
  SPIRV can also be used as intermediate format and converted to various target shader languages: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/SPIRV-Cross https://github.com/KhronosGroup/SPIRV-Cross
pcwalton 6y ago
> Plus, not all engines have the same data layout, so an “effect crate” would either require your engine to work a very specific way, or would require integration work that would probably defeat the purpose of using a package manager in the first place. You could say the same thing about nodes in shader graph systems, but in practice they work quite well. > It can’t be worth the headaches, especially when you consider how a TON of devices still only support OpenGL, which not only requires runtime compilation of shaders (so only GLSL unless your app ships a cross compiler) You can AOT compile SPIR-V to GLSL with SPIRV-Cross.

by bogwog 6y ago

chungus_khan 6y ago

The project actually says it compiles to SPIR-V (Vulkan's standard intermediate representation), so driver/GPU support really shouldn't be too much of an issue so long as the target is one that supports Vulkan.

flohofwoe 6y ago
SPIRV can also be used as intermediate format and converted to various target shader languages: https://github.com/KhronosGroup/SPIRV-Cross https://github.com/KhronosGroup/SPIRV-Cross

pcwalton 6y ago

> Plus, not all engines have the same data layout, so an “effect crate” would either require your engine to work a very specific way, or would require integration work that would probably defeat the purpose of using a package manager in the first place. You could say the same thing about nodes in shader graph systems, but in practice they work quite well. > It can’t be worth the headaches, especially when you consider how a TON of devices still only support OpenGL, which not only requires runtime compilation of shaders (so only GLSL unless your app ships a cross compiler) You can AOT compile SPIR-V to GLSL with SPIRV-Cross.