Along with the rapidity of development in computer graphics (CG) area, the quality of computer generated animation and interactive programs like games have been evolved to life-like.

The most significant change in polygon rasterization graphics pipeline is the implementation of programmable graphics processing units (GPU). The vertices and pixels (together called “primitives”) of a 3D model now are not processed by fixed functions inside the graphics processor, but are passed to some sections of short machine code (called “shaders”) to be processed in a programmable way. By processing primitives in this way, graphics programmers can gain high flexibility in writing graphics effects.

The ShaderStudio MAX was designed entirely based on programming graphics pipeline. The primary goals of ShaderStudio MAX are simple: for experienced programmers, it will help them to translate their projects from fixed function pipeline to fully adopt the programmable graphics pipeline and take such advantages to create high quality graphics programs. For graphics programmers who just start to learn writing graphics effects, it will help them to learn the programmable graphics pipeline in a well structured way with the help of examples and templates.

The ShaderStudio MAX IDE is a convenient development environment for graphics programmers to write and fine-tune their graphics effects. Through the sections in user reference, how to use the ShaderStudio MAX IDE will be fully described with the aid of examples and detailed instructions.

The Visual C++ project export functionality of ShaderStudio MAX is a power utility to export the ShaderStudio MAX scene directly to a VC++ project. This makes the ShaderStudio MAX a convenient RAD tool for rapid games and graphics applications development.

Before using the ShaderStudio MAX to create your own virtual world, we hope that you can enjoy using it and learn some useful graphics knowledge.