GPU functions (gpu)

This module provides access to materials GLSL shaders.

Intro

Module to provide functions concerning the GPU implementation in Blender, in particular the GLSL shaders that blender generates automatically to render materials in the 3D view and in the game engine.

Warning

The API provided by this module should be consider unstable. The data exposed by the API are are closely related to Blender’s internal GLSL code and may change if the GLSL code is modified (e.g. new uniform type).

Constants

GLSL data type

Type of GLSL data. For shader uniforms, the data type determines which glUniform function variant to use to send the uniform value to the GPU. For vertex attributes, the data type determines which glVertexAttrib function variant to use to send the vertex attribute to the GPU.

See export_shader

gpu.GPU_DATA_1I

one integer

Value :1
gpu.GPU_DATA_1F

one float

Value :2
gpu.GPU_DATA_2F

two floats

Value :3
gpu.GPU_DATA_3F

three floats

Value :4
gpu.GPU_DATA_4F

four floats

Value :5
gpu.GPU_DATA_9F

matrix 3x3 in column-major order

Value :6
gpu.GPU_DATA_16F

matrix 4x4 in column-major order

Value :7
gpu.GPU_DATA_4UB

four unsigned byte

Value :8

GLSL uniform type

Constants that specify the type of uniform used in a GLSL shader. The uniform type determines the data type, origin and method of calculation used by Blender to compute the uniform value.

The calculation of some of the uniforms is based on matrices available in the scene:

mat4_cam_to_world

Model matrix of the camera. OpenGL 4x4 matrix that converts camera local coordinates to world coordinates. In blender this is obtained from the ‘matrix_world’ attribute of the camera object.

Some uniform will need the mat4_world_to_cam matrix computed as the inverse of this matrix.

mat4_object_to_world

Model matrix of the object that is being rendered. OpenGL 4x4 matric that converts object local coordinates to world coordinates. In blender this is obtained from the ‘matrix_world’ attribute of the object.

Some uniform will need the mat4_world_to_object matrix, computed as the inverse of this matrix.

mat4_lamp_to_world

Model matrix of the lamp lighting the object. OpenGL 4x4 matrix that converts lamp local coordinates to world coordinates. In blender this is obtained from the ‘matrix_world’ attribute of the lamp object.

Some uniform will need the mat4_world_to_lamp matrix computed as the inverse of this matrix.

gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_OBJECT_VIEWMAT

The uniform is a 4x4 GL matrix that converts world coordinates to camera coordinates (see mat4_world_to_cam). Can be set once per frame. There is at most one uniform of that type per shader.

Value :1
gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_OBJECT_MAT

The uniform is a 4x4 GL matrix that converts object coordinates to world coordinates (see mat4_object_to_world). Must be set before drawing the object. There is at most one uniform of that type per shader.

Value :2
gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_OBJECT_VIEWIMAT

The uniform is a 4x4 GL matrix that converts coordinates in camera space to world coordinates (see mat4_cam_to_world). Can be set once per frame. There is at most one uniform of that type per shader.

Value :3
gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_OBJECT_IMAT

The uniform is a 4x4 GL matrix that converts world coodinates to object coordinates (see mat4_world_to_object). Must be set before drawing the object. There is at most one uniform of that type per shader.

Value :4
gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_OBJECT_COLOR

The uniform is a vector of 4 float representing a RGB color + alpha defined at object level. Each values between 0.0 and 1.0. In blender it corresponds to the ‘color’ attribute of the object. Must be set before drawing the object. There is at most one uniform of that type per shader.

Value :5
gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_LAMP_DYNVEC

The uniform is a vector of 3 float representing the direction of light in camera space. In Blender, this is computed by

mat4_world_to_cam * (-vec3_lamp_Z_axis)

as the lamp Z axis points to the opposite direction of light. The norm of the vector should be unity. Can be set once per frame. There is one uniform of that type per lamp lighting the material.

Value :6
gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_LAMP_DYNCO

The uniform is a vector of 3 float representing the position of the light in camera space. Computed as

mat4_world_to_cam * vec3_lamp_pos

Can be set once per frame. There is one uniform of that type per lamp lighting the material.

Value :7
gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_LAMP_DYNIMAT

The uniform is a 4x4 GL matrix that converts vector in camera space to lamp space. Computed as

mat4_world_to_lamp * mat4_cam_to_world

Can be set once per frame. There is one uniform of that type per lamp lighting the material.

Value :8
gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_LAMP_DYNPERSMAT

The uniform is a 4x4 GL matrix that converts a vector in camera space to shadow buffer depth space. Computed as

mat4_perspective_to_depth * mat4_lamp_to_perspective * mat4_world_to_lamp * mat4_cam_to_world.

mat4_perspective_to_depth is a fixed matrix defined as follow:

0.5 0.0 0.0 0.5
0.0 0.5 0.0 0.5
0.0 0.0 0.5 0.5
0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0

This uniform can be set once per frame. There is one uniform of that type per lamp casting shadow in the scene.

Value :9
gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_LAMP_DYNENERGY

The uniform is a single float representing the lamp energy. In blender it corresponds to the ‘energy’ attribute of the lamp data block. There is one uniform of that type per lamp lighting the material.

Value :10
gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_LAMP_DYNCOL

The uniform is a vector of 3 float representing the lamp color. Color elements are between 0.0 and 1.0. In blender it corresponds to the ‘color’ attribute of the lamp data block. There is one uniform of that type per lamp lighting the material.

Value :11
gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_SAMPLER_2DBUFFER

The uniform is an integer representing an internal texture used for certain effect (color band, etc).

Value :12
gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_SAMPLER_2DIMAGE

The uniform is an integer representing a texture loaded from an image file.

Value :13
gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_SAMPLER_2DSHADOW

The uniform is an integer representing a shadow buffer corresponding to a lamp casting shadow.

Value :14

GLSL attribute type

Type of the vertex attribute used in the GLSL shader. Determines the mesh custom data layer that contains the vertex attribute.

gpu.CD_MTFACE

Vertex attribute is a UV Map. Data type is vector of 2 float.

There can be more than one attribute of that type, they are differenciated by name. In blender, you can retrieve the attribute data with:

mesh.uv_textures[attribute["name"]]
Value :5
gpu.CD_MCOL

Vertex attribute is color layer. Data type is vector 4 unsigned byte (RGBA).

There can be more than one attribute of that type, they are differenciated by name. In blender you can retrieve the attribute data with:

mesh.vertex_colors[attribute["name"]]
Value :6
gpu.CD_ORCO

Vertex attribute is original coordinates. Data type is vector 3 float.

There can be only 1 attribute of that type per shader. In blender you can retrieve the attribute data with:

mesh.vertices
Value :14
gpu.CD_TANGENT

Vertex attribute is the tangent vector. Data type is vector 4 float.

There can be only 1 attribute of that type per shader. There is currently no way to retrieve this attribute data via the RNA API but a standalone C function to compute the tangent layer from the other layers can be obtained from blender.org.

Value :18

Functions

gpu.export_shader(scene, material)

Extracts the GLSL shader producing the visual effect of material in scene for the purpose of reusing the shader in an external engine. This function is meant to be used in material exporter so that the GLSL shader can be exported entirely. The return value is a dictionary containing the shader source code and all associated data.

Parameters:
Returns:

the shader source code and all associated data in a dictionary

Return type:

dictionary

The dictionary contains the following elements:

  • [“fragment”] : string

    fragment shader source code.

  • [“vertex”] : string

    vertex shader source code.

  • [“uniforms”] : sequence

    list of uniforms used in fragment shader, can be empty list. Each element of the sequence is a dictionary with the following elements:

  • [“attributes”] : sequence

    list of attributes used in vertex shader, can be empty. Blender doesn’t use standard attributes except for vertex position and normal. All other vertex attributes must be passed using the generic glVertexAttrib functions. The attribute data can be found in the derived mesh custom data using RNA. Each element of the sequence is a dictionary containing the following elements:

    • [“varname”] : string

      name of the uniform in the vertex shader. Always of the form ‘att<number>’.

    • [“datatype”] : integer

      data type of vertex attribute, can be one of the following:

    • [“number”] : integer

      generic attribute number. This is provided for information only. Blender doesn’t use glBindAttribLocation to place generic attributes at specific location, it lets the shader compiler place the attributes automatically and query the placement with glGetAttribLocation. The result of this placement is returned in this element.

      When using this shader in a render engine, you should either use glBindAttribLocation to force the attribute at this location or use glGetAttribLocation to get the placement chosen by the compiler of your GPU.

    • [“type”] : integer

      type of the mesh custom data from which the vertex attribute is loaded. See attribute-type.

    • [“name”] : string or integer

      custom data layer name, used for attribute type gpu.CD_MTFACE and gpu.CD_MCOL.

Example:

import gpu
# get GLSL shader of material Mat.001 in scene Scene.001
scene = bpy.data.scenes["Scene.001"]
material = bpy.data.materials["Mat.001"]
shader = gpu.export_shader(scene,material)
# scan the uniform list and find the images used in the shader
for uniform in shader["uniforms"]:
    if uniform["type"] == gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_SAMPLER_2DIMAGE:
        print("uniform {0} is using image {1}".format(uniform["varname"], uniform["image"].filepath))
# scan the attribute list and find the UV Map used in the shader
for attribute in shader["attributes"]:
    if attribute["type"] == gpu.CD_MTFACE:
        print("attribute {0} is using UV Map {1}".format(attribute["varname"], attribute["name"]))

Notes

  1. Calculation of the mat4_lamp_to_perspective matrix for a spot lamp.

    The following pseudo code shows how the mat4_lamp_to_perspective matrix is computed in blender for uniforms of gpu.GPU_DYNAMIC_LAMP_DYNPERSMAT type:

    .. code-block:: python

    #Get the lamp datablock with: lamp = bpy.data.objects[uniform[“lamp”]].data

    # Compute the projection matrix: # You will need these lamp attributes: # lamp.clipsta : near clip plane in world unit # lamp.clipend : far clip plane in world unit # lamp.spotsize : angle in degree of the spot light

    # The size of the projection plane is computed with the usual formula: wsize = lamp.clista * tan(lamp.spotsize/2)

    #And the projection matrix: mat4_lamp_to_perspective = glFrustum(-wsize, wsize, -wsize, wsize, lamp.clista, lamp.clipend)

  2. Creation of the shadow map for a spot lamp.

    The shadow map is the depth buffer of a render performed by placing the camera at the spot light position. The size of the shadow map is given by the attribute lamp.bufsize : shadow map size in pixel, same size in both dimensions.

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