weird shader application i just thought up

[xyzzy]

this would be even more awesome if it was possible to apply multiple shaders to an object (or layer)

basically, it's a shader that doesn't actually perform any graphical function (so i'm guessing it wouldn't have any or much of a performance impact in that area); instead of that, its sole purpose is to store values... so imagine a shader that (if there aren't limitations on this) can store, for example:

50 integers and/or
50 floats and/or
50 flags and/or
other things like color selector values

obviously you could use whatever amounts of the above you needed

some uses:

• the value set could be added/removed during runtime (dunno if MMF would like this or not)
• you could apply this shader to a layer, giving not only the layer but the frame a set of values
• each object instance can have its own "extended" value set
• auto-calculate values; plug one number in, automatically get another one out

it'd be a mess in the object properties (unless you didn't need presets), but during runtime it should work quite well

EDIT: i put together a ten-value test shader, but for some reason EffectParam isn't working for me. but this DOES work when applied to layers:

XML file
FX file
Example MFA retrieving values from layer 1

thoughts?

[LazyCoder]

I thought it cleared out the values created in the shader after every pixel it loops through...

[xyzzy]

I thought it cleared out the values created in the shader after every pixel it loops through...

i dunno, it should work, because EffectParam would be kinda useless otherwise

... however, EffectParam keeps returning 0 for ANY shader's parameters i try, which is kinda weird (yes i am changing the variable it's trying to read)

EDIT: i applied a test shader and it works for layers... wonder what's up with EffectParam