shader_info.txt

Rendered Object Types:
L = static lighting, I = indirect lighting, D = dynamic lighting, S = shadows, K = smoke, F = fog, * = shader
Cobjs: LIDSK*
Mesh: LDsF
Tiled Mesh: LsF*
Water: LDF
Tree Leaves: LDsF*
Tree Branches: LDK*
Grass: LDSF*
Plants: LsF*
Scenery: LsF
Dynamic Objs: LIDSF
Snow: LIDSF*
Particles: LIDSF
Smoke/Gas: LIDsK*
Fires: K*
Weapons: LIDs*


Shaders:

Completed:
2. Leaf Transparency: VS
9. Snowflakes: GS using billboards
11. Per-Pixel Lighting: FS
12. Infinite Terrain Tiles - Underwater Attenuation: VS
13. Grass Moving in Wind: VS
14. Full Scene Smoke Effects: VS/FS - progressive upload, per-fragment smoke integration with clipping in VS
10a. Fires/Scorch Marks Smoke Effects: VS/FS - see 14
10b. Smoke Puffs Smoke Effects: VS/FS - OK with smaller smoke puffs
17. Dynamic Lighting of Cobjs: FS
16a. Static Light Sources for Cobjs: FS - specular in nicer
12b. Terrain Tile Water Env Reflection
16b. Static Light Sources/Shadows for Cobjs (+ shadow map)
15. Planet Cloud Cover (Universe Mode): FS
5. Ship Rendering: VS/FS
6. Water Reflections: VS/FS

Not Implementable/Too Difficult or Inefficient
3. Grass Effects/Regen (crush, burn, cut, update z): GS - requires state
7. Mesh Texturing: FS - too complex and inefficient, not worth the memor savings (for now)
8. Mesh Underwater Caustics: FS - requires global solution, dependent on other effects
1. Leaf Wind: GS - state too difficult, too slow, can't use quads, fill rate of 2x too high if using triangles for leaves

Todo:
10. Smoke/Clouds/Fires: VS/FS, or GS using billboards
* Render smoke and cloud particles and/or fires faster or with better
quality/blending/lighting
+ Lots of possibilities here, plenty of research done on this topic
- Not sure what to do yet, or if the improvements would be significant

17b. Dynamic Light Occlusion/Shadows: FS
+ Looks more correct
- Visual artifacts due to high frequency sampling on an integer grid
- Not enough grid resolution for small occluders
- Slow (per pixel per light source)