Model-Based Rendering link

Models, Renders, and Drawing Operations link

The fundamental thing that Ren'Py draws to the screen is a Model. A model consists of the following things:

• A Mesh of one or more triangles. A triangle consists of three vertices (corners), each of which contains a position in two or three-dimensional space, and may contain additional information, most commonly texture coordinates.
• Zero or more textures, with the precise number allowed being limited by the GPUs your game can run on. All GPUs should support at least three textures per model. A texture is a rectangle containing image data that's been loaded on the GPU, either directly or using a render-to-texture operation.
• A list of shader part names. Ren'Py uses these shader parts to created shaders, which are programs that are run on the GPU to render the model. Shader part names can be prefixed with a "-" to prevent that shader part from being used.
• Uniform values. A uniform is additional data that is the same throughout the model. For example, when a model represents a solid color, the color is a uniform.
• GL properties. GL properties are flags that further control how things are rendered, such as the minification/magnification modes and the color mask.

As Ren'Py usually draws more than one thing to the screen, it creates a tree of Render objects. These Render objects may have Models or other Renders as children. (A Render object can also be turned into a Model. as described below.) A Render contains:

• A list of children, including a 2-dimensional offset that is applied to each child.
• A Matrix that describes how the children are transformed in three-dimensional space.
• Lists of shader part names, uniforms, and GL properties that are applied to the Models when being drawn.
• Flags that determine if the drawable-space clipping polygon should be updated.

Ren'Py draws the screen by performing a depth-first walk through the tree of Renders, until a Model is encountered. During this walk, Ren'Py updates a matrix transforming the location of the Model, a clipping polygon, and lists of shader parts, uniforms, and gl properties. When a Model is encountered as part of this walk, the appropriate shader program is activated on the GPU, all information is transferred, and a drawing operation occurs.

Where Models are Created link

Ren'Py creates Models automatically as part of its normal operation. The main reason to understand where models are created is that models correspond to drawing operations, and hence are the units that shaders are applied to.

Images and Image Manipulators

These create a model with a mesh containing two triangles that cover the rectangle of the image. The mesh contains texture coordinates. The model uses the "renpy.texture" shader.

Solid()

The Solid displayable creates a mesh containing two triangles, and no texture coordinates. The model uses the "renpy.solid" shader, with the color placed in the u_renpy_solid_color uniform.

Dissolve(), ImageDissolve(), AlphaDissolve(), Pixellate(), AlphaMask(), Flatten()

Each of these transforms and displayables creates a Model with a mesh, shaders, and uniforms as is needed for its purposes.

Live2D

Live2D displayables may created multiple Models when rendered, generally one Model for each layer.

Transform() and ATL

A Transform creates a model if mesh is true, or if blur is being used. In this case, the children of the Transform are rendered to textures, with the mesh of the first texture being used for the mesh associated with the model.

Not every transform creates a Model. Some transforms will simply add shaders and uniforms to a Render (such as transforms that use blur or alpha). Other transforms simply affect geometry.

Render

A Transform creates a model if its mesh attribute is True. is being used. In this case, the children of the Render are rendered to textures, with the mesh of the first texture being used for the mesh associated with the model.

It's expected that Ren'Py will add more ways of creating models in the future.

Shader Program Generation link

Ren'Py generates a shader program by first assembling a list of shader part names. This list consists of "renpy.geometry", the list of shader parts taken from Renders, and the list of shader parts found in the Model being drawn.

The shader parts are then deduplicated. If a shader part begins with "-", it is removed from the list, as is the rest of that part without the leading "-". (So "-renpy.geometry" will cause itself and "renpy.geometry" to be removed.)

Ren'Py then takes the list of shader parts, and retrieves lists of variables, functions, vertex shade parts, and fragment shader parts. These are, in turn, used to generate the source code for shaders, with the parts of the vertex and fragement shaders being included in low-number to high-number priority order.

Ren'Py keeps a cache of all combinations of shader parts that have ever been used in game/cache/shaders.txt, and loads them at startup. If major changes in shader use occur, this file should be edited or deleted so it can be re-created with valid data.

Creating a Custom Shader link

New shader parts can be created by calling the renpy.register_shader function and supplying portions of GLSL shaders.

Generally, shader parts should be of the form "namespace.part", such as "mygame.recolor" or "mylibrary.warp". Names beginning with "renpy." or "live2d." are reserved for Ren'Py, as are names beginning with _.

renpy.register_shader(name, **kwargs) link

This registers a shader part. This takes name, and then keyword arguments.

name

A string giving the name of the shader part. Names starting with an underscore or "renpy." are reserved for Ren'Py.

variables

The variables used by the shader part. These should be listed one per line, a storage (uniform, attribute, or varying) followed by a type, name, and semicolon. For example:

variables='''
uniform sampler2D tex0;
attribute vec2 a_tex_coord;
varying vec2 v_tex_coord;
'''

vertex_functions

If given, a string containing functions that will be included in the vertex shader.

fragment_functions

If given, a string containing functions that will be included in the fragment shader.

Other keyword arguments should start with vertex_ or fragment_, and end with an integer priority. So "fragment_200" or "vertex_300". These give text that's placed in the appropriate shader at the given priority, with lower priority numbers inserted before higher priority numbers.

Ren'Py supports only the following variable types:

• float (a Python float)
• vec2 (a tuple of 2 floats)
• vec3 (a tuple of 3 floats)
• vec4 (a tuple of 4 floats)
• mat4 (a Matrix)
• sampler2D (supplied by Ren'Py)

Uniform variables should begin with u_, attributes with a_, and varying variables with v_. Names starting with u_renpy_, a_renpy, and v_renpy are reserved, as as the standard variables given below.

As a general sketch for priority levels, priority 100 sets up geometry, priority 200 determines the initial fragment color (gl_FragColor), and higher-numbered priorities can apply effects to alter that color.

Here's an example of a custom shader part that applies a gradient across each model it is used to render:

init python:

    renpy.register_shader("example.gradient", variables="""
        uniform vec4 u_gradient_left;
        uniform vec4 u_gradient_right;
        uniform vec2 u_model_size;
        varying float v_gradient_done;
        attribute vec4 a_position;
    """, vertex_300="""
        v_gradient_done = a_position.x / u_model_size.x;
    """, fragment_300="""
        gl_FragColor *= mix(u_gradient_left, u_gradient_right, v_gradient_done);
    """)

The custom shader can then be applied using a transform:

transform gradient:
    shader "example.gradient"
    u_gradient_left (1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0)
    u_gradient_right (0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0)

show eileen happy at gradient

There is a variable that can help in debugging custom shaders:

define config.log_gl_shaders = False link

If true, source code for the GLSL shader programs will be written to log.txt on start.

Transforms and Model-Based Rendering link

Model-Based rendering adds the following properties to ATL and Transform():

mesh link

Type:	None or True or tuple
Default:	None

If not None, this Transform will be rendered as a model. This means:

• A mesh will be created. If this is a 2-component tuple, it's taken as the number of points in the mesh, in the x and y directions. (Eacn dimension must be at least 2.) If True, the mesh is taken from the child.
• The child of this transform will be rendered to a texture.
• The renpy.texture shader will be added.

mesh_pad link

Type:	None or tuple
Default:	None

If not None, this can either be a 2 or 4 component tuple. If mesh is true and this is given, this applies padding to the size of the textues applied to the the textures used by the mesh. A two component tuple applies padding to the right and bottom, while a four component tuple applies padding to the left, top, right, and bottom.

This can be used, in conjunction with the pixel_perfect property, to render text into a mesh. In Ren'Py, text is rendered at the screen resoltution, which might overflow the boundaries of the texture that will be applied to the mesh. Adding a few pixels of padding makes the texture bigger, which will display all pixels. For example:

transform adjust_text:
    mesh True
    mesh_pad (10, 0)
    gl_pixel_perfect True
    shader "shaders.adjust_text"

will ensure that the texture passed to the shader contains all of the pixels of the text.

shader link

Type:	None or str or list of str
Default:	None

If not None, a shader part name or list of shader part names that will be applied to the this Render (if a Model is created) or the Models reached through this Render.

blend link

Type:	None or str
Default:	None

if not None, this should be a string. This string is looked up in config.gl_blend_func to get the value for the gl_blend_func property. It's used to use alternate blend modes.

The default blend modes this supports are "normal", "add", "multiply", "min", and "max".

In addition, uniforms that start with u_ and not u_renpy are made available as Transform properties. GL properties are made available as transform properties starting with gl_. For example, the color_mask property is made available as gl_color_mask.

Blend Functions link

define config.gl_blend_func = { ... } link

A dictionaryt used to map a blend mode name to a blend function. The blend modes are suppled to the blend func property, given below.

The default blend modes are:

gl_blend_func["normal"] = (GL_FUNC_ADD, GL_ONE, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA, GL_FUNC_ADD, GL_ONE, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA)
gl_blend_func["add"] = (GL_FUNC_ADD, GL_ONE, GL_ONE, GL_FUNC_ADD, GL_ZERO, GL_ONE)
gl_blend_func["multiply"] = (GL_FUNC_ADD, GL_DST_COLOR, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA, GL_FUNC_ADD, GL_ZERO, GL_ONE)
gl_blend_func["min"] = (GL_MIN, GL_ONE, GL_ONE, GL_MIN, GL_ONE, GL_ONE)
gl_blend_func["max"] = (GL_MAX, GL_ONE, GL_ONE, GL_MAX, GL_ONE, GL_ONE)

Uniforms and Attributes link

The following uniforms are made available to all Models.

vec2 u_model_size

The width and height of the model.

float u_lod_bias

The level of detail bias to apply to texture lookups. This may be set in a Transform. The default value, taken from config.gl_lod_bias and defaulting to -0.5, biases Ren'Py to always pick the next bigger level and scale it down.

mat4 u_transform

The transform used project virtual pixels to the OpenGL viewport.

float u_time

The time of the frame. The epoch is undefined, so it's best to treat this as a number that increases by one second a second. The time is modulo 86400, so it will reset to 0.0 once a day.

vec4 u_random

Four random numbers between 0.0 and 1.0 that are (with incredibly high likelyhood) different from frame to frame.

sampler2D tex0, sampler2D tex1, sampler2D tex2

If textures are available, the corresponding samplers are placed in this variable.

vec2 res0, vec2 res1, vec2 res2

If textures are available, the size of the textures are placed in these variables. When the texture is loaded from disk, this is the size of the image file. After a render to texture, it's the number of drawable pixels the rendered texture covered.

The following attributes are available to all models:

vec4 a_position

The position of the vertex being rendered.

If textures are available, so is the following attribute:

vec2 a_tex_coord

The coordinate that this vertex projects to inside the textures.

GL Properties link

GL properties change the global state of OpenGL, or the Model-Based renderer. These properties can be used with a Transform, or with the Render.add_property() function.

gl_anisotropic

If supplied, this determines if the textures applied to a mesh are created with anisotropy. Anisotropy is a feature that causes multiple texels (texture pixels) to be sampled when a texture is zoomed by a different amount in X and Y.

This defaults to true. Ren'Py sets this to False for certain effects, like the Pixellate transition.

gl_blend_func

If present, this is expected to be a six-component tuple, which is used to set the equation used to blend the pixel being drawn with the pixel it is being drawn to, and the parameters to that equation.

Specifically, this should be (rgb_equation, src_rgb, dst_rgb, alpha_equation, src_alpha, dst_alpha). These will be used to call:

glBlendEquationSeparate(rgb_equation, alpha_equation)
glBlendFuncSeparate(src_rgb, dst_rgb, src_alpha, dst_alpha)

Please see the OpenGL documentation for what these functions do. OpenGL constants can be imported from renpy.uguu:

init python:
    from renpy.uguu import GL_ONE, GL_ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA

The blend transform property is generally an easy way to use this.

gl_color_masks

This is expecting to be a 4-tuple of booleans, corresponding to the four channels of a pixel (red, green, blue, and alpha). If a given channel is true, the draw operation will write to that pixel. Otherwise, it will not.

gl_depth

If true, this will clear the depth buffer, and then enable depth rendering for this displayable and the children of this displayable.

gl_mipmap

If supplied, this determines if the textures supplied to a mesh are created with mipmaps. This defaults to true.

gl_pixel_perfect

This only makes sense to set when a mesh is being created. When True, Ren'Py will move the mesh such that the first vertex is aligned with a pixel on the screen. This is mostly used in conjunction with text, to ensure that the text remains sharp.

gl_texture_wrap

When supplied, this determines how the textures applied to a mesh are wrapped. This expects a 2-component tuple, where the first component is used to set GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_S and the second component is used to set GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_T, which conventionally are the X and Y axes of the created textyure.

The values should be OpenGL constants imported from renpy.uguu:

init python:
    from renpy.uguu import GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE, GL_MIRRORED_REPEAT, GL_REPEAT

Model Displayable link

The Model displayable acts as a factory to created models for use with the model-based renderer.

transform dt(delay=1.0, new_widget=None, old_widget=None):
    delay delay
    Model().texture(old_widget).child(new_widget)
    shader [ 'renpy.dissolve' ]

    u_renpy_dissolve 0.0
    linear delay u_renpy_dissolve 1.0

Default Shader Parts link

uniform mat4 u_transform;
attribute vec4 a_position;

gl_Position = u_transform * a_position;

uniform sampler2D tex0;
attribute vec2 a_tex_coord;
varying vec2 v_tex_coord;
uniform float u_renpy_blur_log2;

v_tex_coord = a_tex_coord;

gl_FragColor = vec4(0.);
float renpy_blur_norm = 0.;

for (float i = -5.; i < 1.; i += 1.) {
    float renpy_blur_weight = exp(-0.5 * pow(u_renpy_blur_log2 - i, 2.));
    renpy_blur_norm += renpy_blur_weight;
}

gl_FragColor += renpy_blur_norm * texture2D(tex0, v_tex_coord.xy, 0.);

for (float i = 1.; i < 14.; i += 1.) {

    if (i >= u_renpy_blur_log2 + 5.) {
        break;
    }

    float renpy_blur_weight = exp(-0.5 * pow(u_renpy_blur_log2 - i, 2.));
    gl_FragColor += renpy_blur_weight * texture2D(tex0, v_tex_coord.xy, i);
    renpy_blur_norm += renpy_blur_weight;
}

gl_FragColor /= renpy_blur_norm;

uniform float u_lod_bias;
uniform sampler2D tex0;
uniform sampler2D tex1;
uniform float u_renpy_dissolve;
attribute vec2 a_tex_coord;
varying vec2 v_tex_coord;

v_tex_coord = a_tex_coord;

vec4 color0 = texture2D(tex0, v_tex_coord.st, u_lod_bias);
vec4 color1 = texture2D(tex1, v_tex_coord.st, u_lod_bias);

gl_FragColor = mix(color0, color1, u_renpy_dissolve);

uniform float u_lod_bias;
uniform sampler2D tex0;
uniform sampler2D tex1;
uniform sampler2D tex2;
uniform float u_renpy_dissolve_offset;
uniform float u_renpy_dissolve_multiplier;
attribute vec2 a_tex_coord;
varying vec2 v_tex_coord;

v_tex_coord = a_tex_coord;

vec4 color0 = texture2D(tex0, v_tex_coord.st, u_lod_bias);
vec4 color1 = texture2D(tex1, v_tex_coord.st, u_lod_bias);
vec4 color2 = texture2D(tex2, v_tex_coord.st, u_lod_bias);

float a = clamp((color0.a + u_renpy_dissolve_offset) * u_renpy_dissolve_multiplier, 0.0, 1.0);
gl_FragColor = mix(color1, color2, a);

uniform vec4 u_renpy_solid_color;

gl_FragColor = u_renpy_solid_color;

uniform float u_lod_bias;
uniform sampler2D tex0;
attribute vec2 a_tex_coord;
varying vec2 v_tex_coord;

v_tex_coord = a_tex_coord;

gl_FragColor = texture2D(tex0, v_tex_coord.xy, u_lod_bias);

uniform mat4 u_renpy_matrixcolor;

gl_FragColor = u_renpy_matrixcolor * gl_FragColor;

uniform float u_renpy_alpha;
uniform float u_renpy_over;

gl_FragColor = gl_FragColor * vec4(u_renpy_alpha, u_renpy_alpha, u_renpy_alpha, u_renpy_alpha * u_renpy_over);