Apply same effect multiple times? - xna

I have encountered a problem which I can't solve. I have to draw a texture while using the same effect multiple times. I am trying to achieve something like this:
spriteBatch.Begin();
// Use the effect multiple times with a different parameter:
lightEffect.Parameters["parameter"].SetValue(value1);
lightEffect.CurrentTechnique.Passes[0].Apply();
lightEffect.Parameters["parameter"].SetValue(value2);
lightEffect.CurrentTechnique.Passes[0].Apply();
spriteBatch.Draw(texture, new Vector2(0, 0), Color.White);
spriteBatch.End();
Only the second effect is used. That is why I decided to redraw the RenderTarget to itself multiple times using the effect each time, but that also fails miserably, because "The render target must not be set on the device when it is used as a texture".
graphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget(tempRenderTarget);
spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.Immediate, BlendState.AlphaBlend);
spriteBatch.Draw(texture, new Vector2(0,0), Color.White);
spriteBatch.End();
foreach (Value value in values)
{
spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.Immediate, BlendState.AlphaBlend);
lightEffect.Parameters["paramter"].SetValue(value);
lightEffect.CurrentTechnique.Passes[0].Apply();
spriteBatch.Draw(tempRenderTarget, new Vector2(0, 0), Color.White);
spriteBatch.End();
}

You have to use two alternating render targets:
RenderTarget input;
RenderTarget output;
for (int i = 0; i < numberOfPasses; i++)
{
// Bind the target that is currently the output
graphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget(output);
// Use the current input target as texture in your effect
// ...
// Swap input and output
RenderTarget temp = input;
input = output;
output = temp;
}

Related

Draw permanently on PGraphics (Processing)

I would like to create a brush for drawing on a PGraphics element with Processing. I would like past brush strokes to be visible. However, since the PGraphics element is loaded every frame, previous brush strokes disappear immediatly.
My idea was then to create PGraphics pg in setup(), make a copy of it in void(), alter the original graphic pg and update the copy at every frame. This produces a NullPointerException, most likely because pg is defined locally in setup().
This is what I have got so far:
PGraphics pg;
PFont font;
void setup (){
font = createFont("Pano Bold Kopie.otf", 600);
size(800, 800, P2D);
pg = createGraphics(800, 800, P2D);
pg.beginDraw();
pg.background(0);
pg.fill(255);
pg.textFont(font);
pg.textSize(400);
pg.pushMatrix();
pg.translate(width/2, height/2-140);
pg.textAlign(CENTER, CENTER);
pg.text("a", 0 , 0);
pg.popMatrix();
pg.endDraw();
}
void draw () {
copy(pg, 0, 0, width, height, 0, 0, width, height);
loop();
int c;
loadPixels();
for (int x=0; x<width; x++) {
for (int y=0; y<height; y++) {
pg.pixels[mouseX+mouseY*width]=0;
}
}
updatePixels();
}
My last idea, which I have not attempted to implement yet, is to append pixels which have been touched by the mouse to a list and to draw from this list each frame. But this seems quite complicated to me as it might result into super long arrays needing to be processed on top of the original image. So, I hope there is another way around!
EDIT: My goal is to create a smudge brush, hence a brush which kind of copies areas from one part of the image to other parts.
There's no need to manually copy pixels like that. The PGraphics class extends PImage, which means you can simply render it with image(pg,0,0); for example.
The other thing you could do is an old trick to fade the background: instead of clearing pixels completely you can render a sketch size slightly opaque rectangle with no stroke.
Here's a quick proof of concept based on your code:
PFont font;
PGraphics pg;
void setup (){
//font = createFont("Pano Bold Kopie.otf", 600);
font = createFont("Verdana",600);
size(800, 800, P2D);
// clear main background once
background(0);
// prep fading background
noStroke();
// black fill with 10/255 transparnecy
fill(0,10);
pg = createGraphics(800, 800, P2D);
pg.beginDraw();
// leave the PGraphics instance transparent
//pg.background(0);
pg.fill(255);
pg.textFont(font);
pg.textSize(400);
pg.pushMatrix();
pg.translate(width/2, height/2-140);
pg.textAlign(CENTER, CENTER);
pg.text("a", 0 , 0);
pg.popMatrix();
pg.endDraw();
}
void draw () {
// test with mouse pressed
if(mousePressed){
// slowly fade/clear the background by drawing a slightly opaque rectangle
rect(0,0,width,height);
}
// don't clear the background, render the PGraphics layer directly
image(pg, mouseX - pg.width / 2, mouseY - pg.height / 2);
}
If you hold the mouse pressed you can see the fade effect.
(changing transparency to 10 to a higher value with make the fade quicker)
Update To create a smudge brush you can still sample pixels and then manipulate the read colours to some degree. There are many ways to implement a smudge effect based on what you want to achieve visually.
Here's a very rough proof of concept:
PFont font;
PGraphics pg;
int pressX;
int pressY;
void setup (){
//font = createFont("Pano Bold Kopie.otf", 600);
font = createFont("Verdana",600);
size(800, 800, P2D);
// clear main background once
background(0);
// prep fading background
noStroke();
// black fill with 10/255 transparnecy
fill(0,10);
pg = createGraphics(800, 800, JAVA2D);
pg.beginDraw();
// leave the PGraphics instance transparent
//pg.background(0);
pg.fill(255);
pg.noStroke();
pg.textFont(font);
pg.textSize(400);
pg.pushMatrix();
pg.translate(width/2, height/2-140);
pg.textAlign(CENTER, CENTER);
pg.text("a", 0 , 0);
pg.popMatrix();
pg.endDraw();
}
void draw () {
image(pg,0,0);
}
void mousePressed(){
pressX = mouseX;
pressY = mouseY;
}
void mouseDragged(){
// sample the colour where mouse was pressed
color sample = pg.get(pressX,pressY);
// calculate the distance from where the "smudge" started to where it is
float distance = dist(pressX,pressY,mouseX,mouseY);
// map this distance to transparency so the further the distance the less smudge (e.g. short distance, high alpha, large distnace, small alpha)
float alpha = map(distance,0,30,255,0);
// map distance to "brush size"
float size = map(distance,0,30,30,0);
// extract r,g,b values
float r = red(sample);
float g = green(sample);
float b = blue(sample);
// set new r,g,b,a values
pg.beginDraw();
pg.fill(r,g,b,alpha);
pg.ellipse(mouseX,mouseY,size,size);
pg.endDraw();
}
As the comments mention, one idea is to sample colour on press then use the sample colour and fade it as your drag away from the source area. This shows simply reading a single pixel. You may want to experiment with sampling/reading more pixels (e.g. a rectangle or ellipse).
Additionally, the code above isn't optimised.
A few things could be sped up a bit, like reading pixels, extracting colours, calculating distance, etc.
For example:
void mouseDragged(){
// sample the colour where mouse was pressed
color sample = pg.pixels[pressX + (pressY * pg.width)];
// calculate the distance from where the "smudge" started to where it is (can use manual distance squared if this is too slow)
float distance = dist(pressX,pressY,mouseX,mouseY);
// map this distance to transparency so the further the distance the less smudge (e.g. short distance, high alpha, large distnace, small alpha)
float alpha = map(distance,0,30,255,0);
// map distance to "brush size"
float size = map(distance,0,30,30,0);
// extract r,g,b values
int r = (sample >> 16) & 0xFF; // Like red(), but faster
int g = (sample >> 8) & 0xFF;
int b = sample & 0xFF;
// set new r,g,b,a values
pg.beginDraw();
pg.fill(r,g,b,alpha);
pg.ellipse(mouseX,mouseY,size,size);
pg.endDraw();
}
The idea is to start simple with clear, readable code and only at the end, if needed look into optimisations.

How to create Paint-like app with XNA?

The issue of programmatically drawing lines using XNA has been covered here. However, I want to allow a user to draw on a canvas as one would with a drawing app such as MS Paint.
This of course requires each x and/or y coordinate change in the mouse pointer position to result in another "dot" of the line being drawn on the canvas in the crayon color in real time.
In the mouse move event, what XNA API considerations come into play in order to draw the line point by point? Literally, of course, I'm not drawing a line as such, but rather a sequence of "dots". Each "dot" can, and probably should, be larger than a single pixel. Think of drawing with a felt tip pen.
The article you provided suggests a method of drawing lines with primitives; vector graphics, in other words. Applications like Paint are mostly pixel based (even though more advanced software like Photoshop has vector and rasterization features).
Bitmap editor
Since you want it to be "Paint-like" I would definitely go with the pixel based approach:
Create a grid of color values. (Extend the System.Drawing.Bitmap class or implement your own.)
Start the (game) loop:
Process input and update the color values in the grid accordingly.
Convert the Bitmap to a Texture2D.
Use a sprite batch or custom renderer to draw the texture to the screen.
Save the bitmap, if you want.
Drawing on the bitmap
I added a rough draft of the image class I am using here at the bottom of the answer. But the code should be quite self-explanatory anyways.
As mentioned before you also need to implement a method for converting the image to a Texture2D and draw it to the screen.
First we create a new 10x10 image and set all pixels to white.
var image = new Grid<Color>(10, 10);
image.Initilaize(() => Color.White);
Next we set up a brush. A brush is in essence just a function that is applied on the whole image. In this case the function should set all pixels inside the specified circle to a dark red color.
// Create a circular brush
float brushRadius = 2.5f;
int brushX = 4;
int brushY = 4;
Color brushColor = new Color(0.5f, 0, 0, 1); // dark red
Now we apply the brush. See this SO answer of mine on how to identify the pixels inside a circle.
You can use mouse input for the brush offsets and enable the user to actually draw on the bitmap.
double radiusSquared = brushRadius * brushRadius;
image.Modify((x, y, oldColor) =>
{
// Use the circle equation
int deltaX = x - brushX;
int deltaY = y - brushY;
double distanceSquared = Math.Pow(deltaX, 2) + Math.Pow(deltaY, 2);
// Current pixel lies inside the circle
if (distanceSquared <= radiusSquared)
{
return brushColor;
}
return oldColor;
});
You could also interpolate between the brush color and the old pixel. For example, you can implement a "soft" brush by letting the blend amount depend on the distance between the brush center and the current pixel.
Drawing a line
In order to draw a freehand line simply apply the brush repeatedly, each time with a different offset (depending on the mouse movement):
Custom image class
I obviously skipped some necessary properties, methods and data validation, but you get the idea:
public class Image
{
public Color[,] Pixels { get; private set; }
public Image(int width, int height)
{
Pixels= new Color[width, height];
}
public void Initialize(Func<Color> createColor)
{
for (int x = 0; x < Width; x++)
{
for (int y = 0; y < Height; y++)
{
Pixels[x, y] = createColor();
}
}
}
public void Modify(Func<int, int, Color, Color> modifyColor)
{
for (int x = 0; x < Width; x++)
{
for (int y = 0; y < Height; y++)
{
Color current = Pixels[x, y];
Pixels[x, y] = modifyColor(x, y, current);
}
}
}
}

DrawUserPrimitives<VertexPositionTexture> complains about Color0 missing for vertex shader

First of all, I am new to XNA and the way GPU works and how it cooperates with the XNA (or DirectX) API.
I have a polygon to draw using the SpriteBatch. I'm triangulating the polygon, and creating a VertexPositionTexture array to hold the vertices. I set the vertices (and just for simplicity, set the texture offset vector to zero), and try to draw the primitives, but I get this error:
The current vertex declaration does not include all the elements required by the current vertex shader. Color0 is missing.
Here is my code, I've double checked my vectors from triangulation, they are fine:
VertexPositionTexture[] vertices = new VertexPositionTexture[triangulationResult.Count * 3];
int ctr = 0;
foreach (var item in triangulationResult)
{
foreach (var point in item.Vertices)
{
vertices[ctr++] = new VertexPositionTexture(new Vector3(point.X, point.Y, 0), Vector2.Zero);
}
}
sb.GraphicsDevice.DrawUserPrimitives<VertexPositionTexture>(PrimitiveType.TriangleList, vertices, 0, triangulationResult.Count);
What am I possibly doing wrong here?
Your shader is expecting a Color in the vertex stream.... so you have to use VertexPositionColorTexture or change your shader.
It seems that you are not using any shader. If the active shader is the one used with spritebatch you won't be able to draw it right.
VertexPositionColorTexture[] vertices = new VertexPositionColorTexture[triangulationResult.Count * 3];
int ctr = 0;
foreach (var item in triangulationResult)
{
foreach (var point in item.Vertices)
{
vertices[ctr++] = new VertexPositionColorTexture(new Vector3(point.X, point.Y, 0), Color.White, Vector2.Zero);
}
}
sb.GraphicsDevice.DrawUserPrimitives<VertexPositionColorTexture>(PrimitiveType.TriangleList, vertices, 0, triangulationResult.Count);
Use BasicEffect if you are drawing polygons (MSDN tutorial). You should only use SpriteBatch for sprite drawing (ie: using its Draw methods).
The vertex element type that BasicEffect requires will depend on what settings you apply to it.
To use a vertex element type without a colour component (like VertexPositionTexture), set BasicEffect.VertexColorEnabled to false.
Or alternately, use a vertex element type that supplies a colour, such as VertexPositionColorTexture.
If you want to create a BasicEffect that has the same coordinate system as SpriteBatch, see this answer or this blog post.

DirectX: How to apply an Effect to a texture drawn with ID3DXSprite.Draw(..)

I want to write a very simple Effect for a DirectX program which uses the ID3DXSprite interface to draw a 2D-Hud. In XNA I simply called
spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteBlendMode.AlphaBlend, SpriteSortMode.Immediate, SaveStateMode.None);
effect.Begin();
effect.CurrentTechnique.Passes[0].Begin();
spriteBatch.Draw(texture, new Rectangle(0, 0, 300, 300), Color.White);
effect.CurrentTechnique.Passes[0].End();
effect.End();
spriteBatch.End();
But in C++, nearly the same code doesnt work
pSprite->Begin(D3DXSPRITE_ALPHABLEND | D3DXSPRITE_DONOTSAVESTATE | D3DXSPRITE_SORT_TEXTURE);
anEffect->SetTechnique(technique);
anEffect->Begin(&passes, 0);
anEffect->BeginPass(0);
pSprite->Draw(pTexture, NULL, NULL, &position, 0xFFFFFFFF);
anEffect->EndPass();
anEffect->End();
pSprite->End();
NOTE: The effect is loaded correctly!
Well, first of all the XNA code you have is for XNA 3.1, and it's wrong. This blog post explains how to do it for both XNA 3.1 and 4.0 (the API changes in between).
In XNA 3.1, when using SpriteSortMode.Immediate, SpriteBatch will set up its shaders and other device state in the Begin call, instead of in the End call. This gives you the opportunity to replace parts of the device state before drawing actually takes place (in Draw or End, depending on when it flushes). And then you are supposed to End your effect after you End the sprite batch (so everything gets drawn first).
Now, in DirectX, I would suggest that the same incorrect ordering of your End calls is to blame. Specifically refer to this part of the documentation for the second parameter to ID3DXEffect::Begin
determines if state modified by an effect is saved and restored. The default value 0 specifies that ID3DXEffect::Begin and ID3DXEffect::End will save and restore all state modified by the effect
The upshot is that, when you End the effect, it is resetting the device back to normal sprite drawing, before you call End on the ID3DXSprite, which is what is actually sending your sprite batch to be drawn.
I would guess that the reason your incorrectly-ordered code works on XNA is that XNA is probably doing the equivalent of passing D3DXFX_DONOTSAVESTATE, when beginning the effect, under the hood.
Usage of Sprite with HLSL Effect: (for C++ Game Developers)
Below is the sample code which explains how sprite draw can work with HLSL effect files
Pseudo Code:
ID3DXEffect* g_pEffect = NULL; // D3DX effect interface
void loadTextureEffect() {
D3DXCreateTextureFromFile(gD3dDevice,L"image.png",&gTextureBackdrop);
DWORD dwShaderFlags = D3DXFX_NOT_CLONEABLE;
D3DXCreateEffectFromFile( gD3dDevice, "shader.fx", NULL, NULL, dwShaderFlags,
NULL, &g_pEffect, NULL );
}
void Render()
{
unsigned int passes;
gD3dDevice->Clear(0, 0, D3DCLEAR_TARGET | D3DCLEAR_ZBUFFER, 0x00000000, 1.0f, 0);
gD3dDevice->BeginScene();
gSprite->Begin(0);
g_pEffect->SetTechnique("PostProcess");
g_pEffect->SetTexture( "Tex0", gTextureBackdrop );
float blurFactor = 25;
g_pEffect->SetValue("TextureBlur",&blurFactor ,sizeof(float));
g_pEffect->Begin(&passes, 0);
for(unsigned int pass = 0; pass < passes; ++pass)
{
g_pEffect->BeginPass(pass);
D3DXVECTOR3 spritePos(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
gD3dDevice->SetTexture(0,gTextureBackdrop);
gSprite->Draw(gTextureBackdrop, 0, 0, &spritePos, 0xffffffff);
gSprite->End();
g_pEffect->CommitChanges();
g_pEffect->EndPass();
}
g_pEffect->End();
gD3dDevice->EndScene();
gD3dDevice->Present(NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL);
}

XNA Alpha Blending to make part of a texture transparent

What I am trying to do is use alpha blending in XNA to make part of a drawn texture transparent. So for instance, I clear the screen to some color, lets say Blue. Then I draw a texture that is red. Finally I draw a texture that is just a radial gradient from completely transparent in the center to completely black at the edge. What I want is the Red texture drawn earlier to be transparent in the same places as the radial gradient texture. So you should be able to see the blue back ground through the red texture.
I thought that this would work.
GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);
spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteBlendMode.None);
spriteBatch.Draw(bg, new Vector2(0, 0), Color.White);
spriteBatch.End();
spriteBatch.Begin(SpriteBlendMode.None);
GraphicsDevice.RenderState.AlphaBlendEnable = true;
GraphicsDevice.RenderState.AlphaSourceBlend = Blend.One;
GraphicsDevice.RenderState.AlphaDestinationBlend = Blend.Zero;
GraphicsDevice.RenderState.SourceBlend = Blend.Zero;
GraphicsDevice.RenderState.DestinationBlend = Blend.One;
GraphicsDevice.RenderState.BlendFunction = BlendFunction.Add;
spriteBatch.Draw(circle, new Vector2(0, 0), Color.White);
spriteBatch.End();
GraphicsDevice.RenderState.AlphaBlendEnable = false;
But it just seems to ignore all my RenderState settings. I also tried setting the SpriteBlendMode to AlphaBlend. It blends the textures, but that is not the effect I want.
Any help would be appreciated.
What you're trying to to is alpha channel masking.The easiest way is to bake the alpha channel using the content pipeline. But if for some reason you want to do it at runtime here's how (roughly) using a render target (A better and faster solution would be to write a shader)
First create a RenderTarget2D to store and intermediate masked texture
RenderTarget2D maskRenderTarget = GfxComponent.CreateRenderTarget(GraphicsDevice,
1, SurfaceFormat.Single);
Set the renderTarget, and device state
GraphicsDevice.SetRenderTarget(0, maskRenderTarget);
GraphicsDevice.RenderState.AlphaBlendEnable = true;
GraphicsDevice.RenderState.DestinationBlend = Blend.Zero;
GraphicsDevice.RenderState.SourceBlend = Blend.One;
Set the channels to write to the R, G, B channels and draw the first texture using a sprite batch
GraphicsDevice.RenderState.ColorWriteChannels = ColorWriteChannels.Red | ColorWriteChannels.Green | ColorWriteChannels.Blue;
spriteBatch.Draw(bg, new Vector2(0, 0), Color.White);
Set channels to alpha only, and draw the alpha mask
GraphicsDevice.RenderState.ColorWriteChannels = ColorWriteChannels.Alpha;
spriteBatch.Draw(circle, new Vector2(0, 0), Color.White);
you can now restore the render target to the back buffer and draw your texture using alpha blending.
maskedTexture = shadowRenderTarget.GetTexture();
...
Also don't forget to restore the state:
GraphicsDevice.RenderState.ColorWriteChannels = ColorWriteChannels.All;
...

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