What if I want to create an ASCII shader, and only want to convert certain pixels to ASCII (because replacing each pixel with a character would result in a huge mess). How would I pick them spaced out and input the text spaced out?
#ASCII Shader
slim grove
I tried doing it through a script and using the canvas, but it's absurdly inefficient
this is the type of effect I am going for
inner crane
- Round the UV to the center of its grid position, and sample at that position, so each fragment in the grid square has the same position.
- Remap the UV from the local grid position to the position in the text texture but offset by the (1.) position, then sample the the text.
slim grove
1. Round the UV to the center of its grid position, and sample at that position,...
what is the center of its grid position?
inner crane
┌───────────────────┐
│...................│
│...................│
│...................│
│.........x.........│
│...................│
│...................│
│...................│
└───────────────────┘
Every . should sample from the X so they all get the same value from the scene. You've got to divide the UV into the grid where the letters will be and area needs to sample its center
slim grove
so each pixel would be the same color
in that area
would it work for all the.to be filtered out and then only the X color remains. And then go through all of the pixels that have the color and then put an image of a character with its center over the X
inner crane
Shaders don't work that way
each fragment is unique and doesn't know about the things around it
slim grove
oh ok i see
inner crane
which is why each fragment has to look for the value it should represent so each grid shows the same letter
if they didn't all sample the center position then each pixel might show a different letter which would just come out as a garbled mess
slim grove
so every . pixel can see what the X pixel is
inner crane
it can only see what the input is, which is presumably the camera's color
slim grove
ohh wait so all the . look at the input from the X position, so all of them are the same color?
but once all the pixels are the same color in that area, how do you convert it into a letter?
i'm one step closer
HELLO
inner crane
but once all the pixels are the same color in that area, how do you convert it i...
you create a second UV grid that samples the letters
Remap the UV from the local grid position to the position in the text texture but offset by the rounded position, then sample the the text.
slim grove
omg for each pixel in the square do i check the corresponding pixel in the image of the character