Engineering II - Assignment 6 - Asset Building and Precompiling Shaders

Assignment 6 - Asset Building and Precompiling Shaders

ZIP Link

Assignment6Debug.zip
Assignment6Release.zip

Write-Up

The basics of this assignment were to complete builder functions using the GenericBuilder project information from Assignment 4. The other portion of this homework is to compile the shaders prior to the build stage.

I included the debug and release versions of the data files and executable, so you can see the difference formats the hlsl files are compiled as. The debug format stores more information, while the release format is storing as little additional information as possible.

Technical Write-Up

For the current homework to precompile the shaders, fragment and vertex shaders, the LUA file that is read needs to define what executable files to run. I have altered the AssetsToBuild.lua file as shown below:

This is separating tables for generic assets and then different shaders, such as fragment shaders and vertex shaders. It is easily readable and provides simple understanding for the next section.

The initial step was to confirm that the files copied straight from source to the target folder. I focused on using the simpler reading of the file, which is the primary focus for the AssetsToBuild.lua file show in the previous image.

Realized Learning Moments

All of these shader files will be precompiled prior to the run sequence, meaning that the build step will require more time to set up all of these compiled files, but is faster than having the run step handle these 'build step' sequences. This then only requires the build sequence to build the required assets on the build sequence.

*The current state of this build is not using the 3D cube and movement from Assignment 5, and is focusing purely on the 2D square from prior assignments.

Time Used

Reading: 3 hours
Write-Up: 1.0 hour
Technical Write-Up: 1.0 hour
Coding: 4  hours