I have a quadro fx 500 and a basic opengl 1.1 engine. I downloaded the glslang spec and I’m reading it now.
where do you suggest I start learning about writing and integrating shaders into my current engine?
do I compile shader programs seperately?
I have so many questions but what I really wanna know is, where do I start?
I should note that I would prefer to stick to things directly portable to linux. I’m using vis c++ and glut now but I’m going to try to get the nvidia cg linux sdk up and running tonight.
[This message has been edited by BlackSoftware (edited 07-07-2003).]
Scan through the extensions from (older to newer) GL_NV_vertex_program and GL_ARB_vertex_program, GL_NV_fragment_program and GL_ARB_fragment_program to get a grip what the GPU assembly instructions look like.
Search for simple tutorials on verttex and fragment programs on the developer sites.
Get all NVIDIA SDK files and read the presentations you can find.
Play around with simpler shaders and change parameters and formulas to get used to the idea.
Understand how higher level shading languages abstract the assembly code and define the interfaces between them. You need that to feed the shaders correctly from your apps.
Autodidactive tutorial: Plan a specific shader effect, write down the necessary computations on paper, implement it first in assembly and then in Cg and compare the output.