Overview#
Yotsuba Shader is a shader framework and compiler for C#. Your team writes shaders using the types, structures and libraries of its own project, described with attributes. The compiler interprets their interfaces and stages, lowers them to a shared intermediate representation, and generates output for the selected backend.
The syntax you write with does not determine the output target. HLSL, GLSL, MSL, SPIR-V and WGSL provide equivalent authoring vocabularies; choose the one your team knows best.
Topics#
Start here#
Understanding Yotsuba Shader
Discover how a C# class becomes a shader: the language, the intermediate representation and the compiler.
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Writing your first shader
Declare vertex inputs and outputs, then write a vertex stage and a fragment stage that pass a color through.
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Reusing your types and libraries
Annotate compatible project types and understand the current limits of referenced shader libraries.
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Types for engines and frameworks
Current vector, matrix, texture, and sampler declarations for engine authors.
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Typed shader parameters for your engine
A clearly separated engine-side design example, without assuming a generated runtime parameter API.
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Choosing a syntax
The HLSL, GLSL, MSL, SPIR-V and WGSL syntaxes express the same intent. Pick the one your team knows.
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Stages and interfaces#
Shader stages
Mark methods with [ShaderStage] to declare vertex, fragment and compute entry points.
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Interface slots and locations
Describe how data flows into and out of a stage with [Location] and built-in attributes.
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Resources and types#
Uniforms and storage buffers
Declare buffers and bindings using the resource namespaces and constructors that exist today.
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Textures and samplers
Declare textures and samplers, describe exactly what kind of image each one is, and bind them in the syntax you write in.
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Vectors, matrices and arrays
Use scalars, vectors, matrices, structs and arrays in a shader, and learn how each C# type becomes a GPU type.
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In your game#
Compilation#
Compilation pipeline
Current compilation stages and the boundaries between implemented APIs and planned build integration.
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Generating shader binaries
Intended shader build workflow and the current availability of binary generation.
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Shader diagnostics in your IDE
Available C# checks and exceptions, with planned IDE shader diagnostics identified explicitly.
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Transpiling from SPIR-V
Use the actual Parser and backend compiler classes of YotsubaShaderCross. WGSL remains planned.
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Attribute reference#
Built-in values across syntaxes
The same built-in value, spelled in the HLSL, GLSL, MSL, SPIR-V and WGSL syntaxes.
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Resource attributes across syntaxes
Uniform buffers, storage buffers, textures, samplers and binding slots in each syntax.
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HLSL syntax attributes
Every attribute of the HLSL syntax: system-value semantics such as SV_Position and numthreads, plus cbuffer and register for resources.
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GLSL syntax attributes
Every attribute of the GLSL syntax: gl_* built-ins, layout(set, binding), uniform and buffer.
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MSL syntax attributes
Every attribute of the MSL syntax: attribute names from MSL such as position, vertex_id and thread_position_in_grid, plus buffer(n), texture(n) and sampler(n).
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SPIR-V syntax attributes
Every attribute of the SPIR-V syntax: SPIR-V BuiltIn names (BuiltIn_Position), DescriptorSet and Binding.
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WGSL syntax attributes
Every attribute of the WGSL syntax: the @builtin(...), @group and @binding vocabulary of WebGPU, written with @ identifiers that remain valid C#.
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