High-Level Shading Language

Cg (short for C for Graphics) and High-Level Shading Language (HLSL) are two names given to a high-level shading language developed by Nvidia and Microsoft for programming shaders. Cg/HLSL is based on the C programming language and although they share the same core syntax, some features of C were modified and new data types were added to make Cg/HLSL more suitable for programming graphics processing units.[1][2]

Cg/HLSL
A scene containing several different 2D HLSL shaders. Distortion of the statue is achieved purely physically, while the texture of the rectangular frame beside it is based on color intensity. The square in the background has been transformed and rotated. The partial transparency and reflection of the water in the foreground are added by a shader applied finally to the entire scene.
Familyshading language
DevelopernVIDIA, Microsoft
Websitemsdn.microsoft.com
Dialects
Cg, HLSL, Playstation Shading Language
Influenced by
C, RenderMan Shading Language
Influenced
GLSL

Two main branches of the Cg/HLSL language exist: the Nvidia Cg compiler (cgc) which outputs DirectX or OpenGL and the Microsoft HLSL which outputs DirectX shaders in bytecode format.[3][4] Nvidia's cgc was deprecated in 2012, with no additional development or support available.[5]

HLSL shaders can enable many special effects in both 2D and 3D computer graphics. The Cg/HLSL language originally only included support for vertex shaders and pixel shaders, but other types of shaders were introduced gradually as well:

  • DirectX 10 (Shader Model 4) and Cg 2.0 introduced geometry shaders.[6]
  • DirectX 11 (Shader Model 5) introduced compute shaders (GPGPU) and tessellation shaders (hull and domain). The latter is present in Cg 3.1.
  • DirectX 12 (Shader Model 6.3) introduced ray tracing shaders (ray generation, intersection, bit /closest hit / miss).

Background

Due to technical advances in graphics hardware, some areas of 3D graphics programming have become quite complex. To simplify the process, new features were added to graphics cards, including the ability to modify their rendering pipelines using vertex and pixel shaders.

In the beginning, vertex and pixel shaders were programmed at a very low level with only the assembly language of the graphics processing unit. Although using the assembly language gave the programmer complete control over code and flexibility, it was fairly hard to use. A portable, higher level language for programming the GPU was needed, so Cg was created to overcome these problems and make shader development easier.

Some of the benefits of using Cg over assembly are:

  • High level code is easier to learn, program, read, and maintain than assembly code.
  • Cg code is portable to a wide range of hardware and platforms, unlike assembly code, which usually depends on hardware and the platforms it's written for.
  • The Cg compiler can optimize code and do lower level tasks automatically, which are hard to do and error prone in assembly.

Language

Data types

Cg has six basic data types. Some of them are the same as in C, while others are especially added for GPU programming. These types are:

  • float - a 32bit floating point number
  • half - a 16bit floating point number
  • int - a 32bit integer
  • fixed - a 12bit fixed point number
  • bool - a boolean variable
  • sampler* - represents a texture object

Cg also features vector and matrix data types that are based on the basic data types, such as float3 and float4x4. Such data types are quite common when dealing with 3D graphics programming. Cg also has struct and array data types, which work in a similar way to their C equivalents.

Operators

Cg supports a wide range of operators, including the common arithmetic operators from C, the equivalent arithmetic operators for vector and matrix data types, and the common logical operators.

Functions and control structures

Cg shares the basic control structures with C, like if/else, while, and for. It also has a similar way of defining functions.

Preprocessor

Cg implements many C preprocessor directives and its macro expansion system. It implements #include.[7]

HLSL features
  • Namespace
  • Annotation

Environment

Compilation targets

Cg programs are built for different shader profiles that stand for GPUs with different capabilities.[8] These profiles decide, among others, how many instructions can be in each shader, how many registers are available, and what kind of resources a shader can use. Even if a program is correct, it might be too complex to work on a profile.[7]

As the number of profile and shader types cropped up, Microsoft has switched to use the term "Shader Model" to group a set of profiles found in a generation of GPUs.[9] Cg supports some of the newer profiles up to Shader Model 5.0 as well as translation to glsl or hlsl.[8]

Comparison of HLSL pixel shaders
Pixel shader version 1.0 to 1.3[10] 1.4[10]2.0[10][11]2.0a[10][11][12]2.0b[10][11][13]3.0[10][14]4.0[15]
4.1[16]
5.0[17]
Dependent texture limit 468Unlimited8UnlimitedUnlimited
Texture instruction limit 46*232UnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited
Position register NoNoNoNoNoYesYes
Instruction slots 8+48+432 + 64512512≥ 512≥ 65536
Executed instructions 8+46*2+8*232 + 6451251265536Unlimited
Texture indirections 444Unlimited4UnlimitedUnlimited
Interpolated registers 2 + 42 + 62 + 82 + 82 + 81032
Instruction predication NoNoNoYesNoYesNo
Index input registers NoNoNoNoNoYesYes
Temp registers 2612 to 322232324096
Constant registers 8832323222416×4096
Arbitrary swizzling NoNoNoYesNoYesYes
Gradient instructions NoNoNoYesNoYesYes
Loop count register NoNoNoNoNoYesYes
Face register (2-sided lighting) NoNoNoNoYesYesYes
Dynamic flow control NoNoNoNoNoYes (24)Yes (64)
Bitwise Operators NoNoNoNoNoNoYes
Native Integers NoNoNoNoNoNoYes
  • PS 1.0 — Unreleased 3dfx Rampage, DirectX 8.
  • PS 1.1 — GeForce 3, DirectX 8.
  • PS 1.2 — 3Dlabs Wildcat VP, DirectX 8.0a.
  • PS 1.3 — GeForce 4 Ti, DirectX 8.0a.
  • PS 1.4 — Radeon 8500-9250, Matrox Parhelia, DirectX 8.1.
  • Shader Model 2.0 — Radeon 9500-9800/X300-X600, DirectX 9.
  • Shader Model 2.0a — GeForce FX/PCX-optimized model, DirectX 9.0a.
  • Shader Model 2.0b — Radeon X700-X850 shader model, DirectX 9.0b.
  • Shader Model 3.0 — Radeon X1000 and GeForce 6, DirectX 9.0c.
  • Shader Model 4.0 — Radeon HD 2000 and GeForce 8, DirectX 10.
  • Shader Model 4.1 — Radeon HD 3000 and GeForce 200, DirectX 10.1.
  • Shader Model 5.0 — Radeon HD 5000 and GeForce 400, DirectX 11.
  • Shader Model 5.1 — GCN 1+, Fermi+, DirectX 12 (11_0+) with WDDM 2.0.
  • Shader Model 6.0 — GCN 1+, Kepler+, DirectX 12 (11_0+) with WDDM 2.1.
  • Shader Model 6.1 — GCN 1+, Kepler+, DirectX 12 (11_0+) with WDDM 2.3.
  • Shader Model 6.2 — GCN 1+, Kepler+, DirectX 12 (11_0+) with WDDM 2.4.
  • Shader Model 6.3 — GCN 1+, Kepler+, DirectX 12 (11_0+) with WDDM 2.5.
  • Shader Model 6.4 — GCN 1+, Kepler+, Skylake+, DirectX 12 (11_0+) with WDDM 2.6.
  • Shader Model 6.5 — GCN 1+, Kepler+, Skylake+, DirectX 12 (11_0+) with WDDM 2.7.

"32 + 64" for Executed Instructions means "32 texture instructions and 64 arithmetic instructions."

Comparison of HLSL Vertex shaders
Vertex shader version VS 1.1[18] VS 2.0[11][18][19]VS 2.0a[11][18][19]VS 3.0[14][18]VS 4.0[15]
VS 4.1[20]
VS 5.0[17]
# of instruction slots 128256256≥ 512≥ 65536
Max # of instructions executed 12810246553665536Unlimited
Instruction predication NoNoYesYesYes
Temp registers 121216324096
# constant registers ≥ 96≥ 256256≥ 25616×4096
Static flow control NoYesYesYesYes
Dynamic flow control NoNoYesYesYes
Dynamic flow control depth N/AN/A242464
Vertex texture fetch NoNoNoYesYes
# of texture samplers N/AN/AN/A4128
Geometry instancing support NoNoNoYesYes
Bitwise operators NoNoNoNoYes
Native integers NoNoNoNoYes

The standard library

As in C, Cg/HLSL features a set of functions for common tasks in GPU programming. Some of the functions have equivalents in C, like the mathematical functions abs and sin, while others are specialized in GPU programming tasks, like the texture mapping functions tex1D and tex2D.

The Cg runtime library

Cg programs are merely vertex and pixel shaders, and they need supporting programs that handle the rest of the rendering process. Cg can be used with two graphics APIs: OpenGL or DirectX. Each has its own set of Cg functions to communicate with the Cg program, like setting the current Cg shader, passing parameters, and such tasks.

In addition to being able to compile Cg source to assembly code, the Cg runtime also has the ability to compile shaders during execution of the supporting program. This allows the runtime to compile the shader using the latest optimizations available for hardware that the program is currently executing on. However, this technique requires that the source code for the shader be available in plain text to the compiler, allowing the user of the program to access the source-code for the shader. Some developers view this as a major drawback of this technique.

To avoid exposing the source code of the shader, and still maintain some of the hardware specific optimizations, the concept of profiles was developed. Shaders can be compiled to suit different graphics hardware platforms (according to profiles). When executing the supporting program, the best/most optimized shader is loaded according to its profile. For instance there might be a profile for a graphics card that supports complex pixel shaders, and another profile for one that supports only minimal pixel shaders. By creating a pixel shader for each of these profiles a supporting program enlarges the number of supported hardware platforms without sacrificing picture quality on powerful systems.'

Compilers and dialects

The Cg dialect has only ever had one compiler, in the form of Nvidia's Cg toolkit.

Microsoft has released two compilers for HLSL. The original compiler was the closed-source FXC (Effect Compiler), supported until 2015. It was deprecated in favor of the open-source LLVM-based DXC (DirectXShaderCompiler) with support for newer HLSL features.[21] Both compilers generate bytecode: while the older FXC used DXBC, DXC now uses DXIL. DXC can also emit SPIR-V bytecode.[22]

The Khronos Group has also written a LLVM-based HLSL compiler, in the form of a frontend for glslang, their GLSL-to-SPIR_V compiler. Support for SPIR-V means that the shaders can be cross-platform, no longer limiting them to a DirectX stack.[23] This task was previously performed by source-level converters like HLSL2GLSL, but the resulting code is often bloated.[24]

Derived languages

The PlayStation Shading Language is based on Cg/HLSL.[25]

The ReshadeFX shading language is also based on Cg/HLSL. Shaders written in ReshadeFX are compiled to OpenGL, DX, or Vulkan and injected into games to act as post-processing filters.[26]

Examples

A sample Cg vertex shader

 
// input vertex
struct VertIn {
  float4 pos   : POSITION;
  float4 color : COLOR0;
};

// output vertex
struct VertOut {
  float4 pos   : POSITION;
  float4 color : COLOR0;
};

// vertex shader main entry
VertOut main(VertIn IN, uniform float4x4 modelViewProj) {
  VertOut OUT;
  OUT.pos     = mul(modelViewProj, IN.pos); // calculate output coords
  OUT.color   = IN.color; // copy input color to output
  OUT.color.z = 1.0f; // blue component of color = 1.0f
  return OUT;
}

Applications and games that use Cg or HLSL

See also

References
  1. "Fusion Industries :: Cg and HLSL FAQ ::". 24 August 2012. Archived from the original on 24 August 2012.
  2. "The Cg Tutorial - Chapter 1. Introduction". developer.download.nvidia.cn.
  3. "Writing HLSL Shaders in Direct3D 9 (Windows)". msdn.microsoft.com.
  4. "Cg FAQ". NVIDIA DesignWorks. 8 March 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  5. "Cg Toolkit | NVIDIA Developer". 8 March 2011.
  6. https://developer.download.nvidia.com/cg/Cg_2.0/2.0.0012/Cg-2.0_Jan2008_ReleaseNotes.pdf
  7. Mark J. Kilgard, Cg in Two Pages, 2003.
  8. "Cg Profile Documentation". Nvidia developer.
  9. "Shader Models vs Shader Profiles - Win32 apps". docs.microsoft.com.
  10. "Pixel Shader Differences". msdn.microsoft.com. 2011-02-08.
  11. Peeper, Craig (2004-03-15). "Microsoft DirectX High Level Shader Language (HLSL)" (PPT). microsoft.com. pp. 5–8, 24–25.
  12. Shimpi, Anand Lal. "NVIDIA Introduces GeForce FX (NV30)".
  13. Wilson, Derek. "ATI Radeon X800 Pro and XT Platinum Edition: R420 Arrives".
  14. Shader Model 3.0, Ashu Rege, NVIDIA Developer Technology Group, 2004.
  15. The Direct3D 10 System, David Blythe, Microsoft Corporation, 2006.
  16. "Registers - ps_4_1 (Windows)". msdn.microsoft.com.
  17. "Registers - ps_5_0 (Windows)". msdn.microsoft.com.
  18. "Vertex Shader Differences". msdn.microsoft.com. 2011-02-08.
  19. Shimpi, Anand Lal. "NVIDIA Introduces GeForce FX (NV30)".
  20. "Registers - vs_4_1 (Windows)". msdn.microsoft.com.
  21. "Porting from FXC to DXC". GitHub.
  22. "microsoft/DirectXShaderCompiler: This repo hosts the source for the DirectX Shader Compiler which is based on LLVM/Clang". Microsoft. 21 October 2020.
  23. "glslang: Khronos-reference front end for GLSL/ESSL, partial front end for HLSL, and a SPIR-V generator". The Khronos Group. 21 October 2020.
  24. Matt Turner. Video on YouTube.
  25. Stenson, Richard; Ho, Chris. "PlayStation Shading Language for PS4". GDC Europe 2013.
  26. "ReShade FX shading language". GitHub.
  27. "Maya Cg Plug-in | NVIDIA".
  28. "LightWave - 11.6 Features Overview".
  29. "Unity - Manual: Writing Shaders".

Further reading
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