Shader Showcase 00003

Welcome to the third shader showcase which will focus on *originalnicodr* and his CanvasFog shader. 
Sponza: Sand box that shader devs use to test things.

Q: Please tell us a little about yourself and your repo.

Hi, my name is Nicolás and I am a computer science student. I know
reshade from some years now, but I got more into it when I started
getting involved in the screenshotting hobby. I wanted a shader that would let me apply a gradient to the sky to make a shot's background more interesting, but there wasn't anything like that, so one day I decided
to play around with the code of a shader called SunsetFilter and managed
to implement something in that afternoon, which led to two weeks of
making the shader I wanted to use instead of studying for my finals
(don't worry I passed).

Fortunately, after that, I had a project for a course in which I could
choose the topic, so I did something with colors and blending modes in
order to study something that I could later use in shaders, and here we
are.

My repo is more screenshotting orientated since that's my focus when
writing shaders, but I have seen people using them in gameplay
situations too. I do believe Reshade has a lot of untapped potential
regarding post-processing of static scenes (maybe even photos), and
that's what I try to expand on with these shaders.

Q: Why did you pick CanvasFog for this showcase?

I picked it not only because it's my first shader (and through which I
learned a ton of stuff), but also because it's the one I have seen people
have the most fun with (see url=https://twitter.com/NattyDread011]Dreads[/url work for example). It's
also the shader I spent the most time working on.

Q: What is the best use case for this shader and how would you use it?

That is a tough one. As I mentioned, I wrote the shader initially
because I wanted to play with gradients, but then people started using
it for generating abstract shapes to put behind characters or sceneries.
I am always amazed by the uses people find for these
shaders, you never know what cool tricks they might come up with.

I wouldn't say there is a “best” use-case because of the freedom one has
using this shader, but if you need any kind of gradient in a background
or a character then you may find CanvasFog useful.

Q: Any tips for first-time users?

Yes, actually. People often feel overwhelmed by the number of parameters the shader has, but it's not by any means complicated. I wrote the shader intending to give the user as much control as
possible, but since I am not good at interfaces it came at the cost of
an awful user-experience, which I am looking forward to improving.

So if you have never used CanvasFog I would suggest you take the time to play with each of the parameters individually and try to understand what they do. I promise they aren't hard to grasp.

Q: Do you have any questions or words for the community?

Sure. I always try to improve or add features in the shaders based on
what people want to do or what they think would be useful, so if you
have an idea don't hesitate in contacting me. I also wouldn't mind if you have recommendations regarding the interface of these shaders
.

Also, since I don't think other shader devs are interested in per-scene
shaders, feel free to suggest what you would like to see in reshade that
could improve screenshotting, I am always willing to help bring new
possibilities to the table

Q: What might we see from you in the future? What are you working on?

The last few weeks I have been working on a shader that cast shadows in
the scene based on an imaginary point of light, so that way one can
create more interesting setups for shots. I found it especially
interesting since it involves a lot of stuff that I have already done in
other shaders and new stuff that I have been studying. I think you guys
will like it.

Hopefully, I can find some time in the future and keep working on it.
Even though it's still not ready I have been having a lot of fun working
on it, and I want to thank all the devs who helped me with this shader
so far as well as the previous ones I made, you are all amazing.

Sponza: Sand box that shader devs use to test things.

I am happy we where able to give this view into originalnicodr’s
foggy world of CanvasFog. Please enjoy this Post, Shader, and the Shader
dev. Check out his work with the links below.

Links:  
github.com/originalnicodr/CorgiFX
www.reddit.com/r/ReShade/
reshade.me/

Users who worked on this post are: 
-BlueSkyDefender
-Originalnicod
-CeeJay.dk