Smithed Summit was an in game convention where I presented a talk on Core Shaders. The talk was about the unsupported feature unlocking the VFX world.

The presentation was about the potential of core shaders in Minecraft, and how they can be used to create stunning visual effects. Talking about a that large subject was trhilling but having only one hour to introduce a bit of everything has been a true challenge!

So if you enjoyed the presentation, or are looking for more details here is your Round 2!

The Talk

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Howdy howdy! If you've found your way here, you're probably looking for more information. I've got you covered! Here are some notes from the presentation:

Resources

Vanilla Shaders

• The community documentation https://github.com/McTsts/Minecraft-Shaders-Wiki. Not always up to date, because mojang can change things without notice.
• The official minecraft wiki has a great page https://minecraft.wiki/w/Shader
• The vanila "vanilla shaders" https://github.com/misode/mcmeta/tree/assets/assets/minecraft/shaders

Project Examples

Don't hesitate to look at other projects to see how they did things! Here is a small list of people who have some shaders repos public on gihub:

• https://github.com/bradleyq
• https://github.com/McTsts
• https://github.com/JNNGL
• https://github.com/HalbFettKaese
• https://github.com/Godlander
• https://github.com/BalintCsala

Shaders in general

Do not underestimate this section, it is extremly hard to do vanilla shaders if you are not familiar with shaders in general.

Tools

• Shadertoy (I really recommend this one to experiment stuff!) https://www.shadertoy.com/
• Desmos https://www.desmos.com/calculator
• GraphToy https://graphtoy.com (compare to desmos)
• RenderDoc https://renderdoc.org/ (for live debugging) (⚠️ advanced)
• Nvidia Nsight https://developer.nvidia.com/nsight-graphics (for debugging too) (⚠️ advanced)

Learning

• Inigo Quilez's website https://iquilezles.org/articles/
• The book of shaders https://thebookofshaders.com/
• OpenGL tutorials https://learnopengl.com/
  • Vector math https://learnopengl.com/Getting-started/Transformations (a bit intimidating at first, but it's a great resource)
  • Coordinate systems https://learnopengl.com/Getting-started/Coordinate-Systems (note that in vanilla shaders, the camera is always at the center of the world)
• The Open GL Wiki https://www.khronos.org/opengl/wiki/Main_Page
• GLSL reference https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/specs/gl/GLSLangSpec.3.30.pdf (good to CTRL+F!)

Discord servers

• ShaderLABS, a server dedicated to minecraft shaders in general. Mainly for modded shaders, but there is a dedicated channel for vanilla shaders.