Visual Shader plugins

Visual Shader plugins are used to create custom VisualShader nodes in GDScript.

The creation process is different from usual editor plugins. You do not need to create a plugin.cfg file to register it; instead, create and save a script file and it will be ready to use, provided the custom node is registered with class_name.

This short tutorial will explain how to make a Perlin-3D noise node (original code from this GPU noise shaders plugin.

Create a Sprite and assign a ShaderMaterial to its material slot:

Assign VisualShader to the shader slot of the material:

Don’t forget to change its mode to “CanvasItem” (if you are using a Sprite):

Create a script which derives from VisualShaderNodeCustom. This is all you need to initialize your plugin.

# PerlinNoise3D.gd

tool
extends VisualShaderNodeCustom
class_name VisualShaderNodePerlinNoise3D

func _get_name():
    return "PerlinNoise3D"

func _get_category():
    return "MyShaderNodes"

func _get_description():
    return "Classic Perlin-Noise-3D function (by Curly-Brace)"

func _get_return_icon_type():
    return VisualShaderNode.PORT_TYPE_SCALAR

func _get_input_port_count():
    return 4

func _get_input_port_name(port):
    match port:
        0:
            return "uv"
        1:
            return "offset"
        2:
            return "scale"
        3:
            return "time"

func _get_input_port_type(port):
    match port:
        0:
            return VisualShaderNode.PORT_TYPE_VECTOR
        1:
            return VisualShaderNode.PORT_TYPE_VECTOR
        2:
            return VisualShaderNode.PORT_TYPE_SCALAR
        3:
            return VisualShaderNode.PORT_TYPE_SCALAR

func _get_output_port_count():
    return 1

func _get_output_port_name(port):
    return "result"

func _get_output_port_type(port):
    return VisualShaderNode.PORT_TYPE_SCALAR

func _get_global_code(mode):
    return """
        vec3 mod289_3(vec3 x) {
            return x - floor(x * (1.0 / 289.0)) * 289.0;
        }

        vec4 mod289_4(vec4 x) {
            return x - floor(x * (1.0 / 289.0)) * 289.0;
        }

        vec4 permute(vec4 x) {
            return mod289_4(((x * 34.0) + 1.0) * x);
        }

        vec4 taylorInvSqrt(vec4 r) {
            return 1.79284291400159 - 0.85373472095314 * r;
        }

        vec3 fade(vec3 t) {
            return t * t * t * (t * (t * 6.0 - 15.0) + 10.0);
        }

        // Classic Perlin noise
        float cnoise(vec3 P) {
            vec3 Pi0 = floor(P); // Integer part for indexing.
            vec3 Pi1 = Pi0 + vec3(1.0); // Integer part + 1.
            Pi0 = mod289_3(Pi0);
            Pi1 = mod289_3(Pi1);
            vec3 Pf0 = fract(P); // Fractional part for interpolation.
            vec3 Pf1 = Pf0 - vec3(1.0); // Fractional part - 1.0.
            vec4 ix = vec4(Pi0.x, Pi1.x, Pi0.x, Pi1.x);
            vec4 iy = vec4(Pi0.yy, Pi1.yy);
            vec4 iz0 = vec4(Pi0.z);
            vec4 iz1 = vec4(Pi1.z);

            vec4 ixy = permute(permute(ix) + iy);
            vec4 ixy0 = permute(ixy + iz0);
            vec4 ixy1 = permute(ixy + iz1);

            vec4 gx0 = ixy0 * (1.0 / 7.0);
            vec4 gy0 = fract(floor(gx0) * (1.0 / 7.0)) - 0.5;
            gx0 = fract(gx0);
            vec4 gz0 = vec4(0.5) - abs(gx0) - abs(gy0);
            vec4 sz0 = step(gz0, vec4(0.0));
            gx0 -= sz0 * (step(0.0, gx0) - 0.5);
            gy0 -= sz0 * (step(0.0, gy0) - 0.5);

            vec4 gx1 = ixy1 * (1.0 / 7.0);
            vec4 gy1 = fract(floor(gx1) * (1.0 / 7.0)) - 0.5;
            gx1 = fract(gx1);
            vec4 gz1 = vec4(0.5) - abs(gx1) - abs(gy1);
            vec4 sz1 = step(gz1, vec4(0.0));
            gx1 -= sz1 * (step(0.0, gx1) - 0.5);
            gy1 -= sz1 * (step(0.0, gy1) - 0.5);

            vec3 g000 = vec3(gx0.x, gy0.x, gz0.x);
            vec3 g100 = vec3(gx0.y, gy0.y, gz0.y);
            vec3 g010 = vec3(gx0.z, gy0.z, gz0.z);
            vec3 g110 = vec3(gx0.w, gy0.w, gz0.w);
            vec3 g001 = vec3(gx1.x, gy1.x, gz1.x);
            vec3 g101 = vec3(gx1.y, gy1.y, gz1.y);
            vec3 g011 = vec3(gx1.z, gy1.z, gz1.z);
            vec3 g111 = vec3(gx1.w, gy1.w, gz1.w);

            vec4 norm0 = taylorInvSqrt(vec4(dot(g000, g000), dot(g010, g010), dot(g100, g100), dot(g110, g110)));
            g000 *= norm0.x;
            g010 *= norm0.y;
            g100 *= norm0.z;
            g110 *= norm0.w;
            vec4 norm1 = taylorInvSqrt(vec4(dot(g001, g001), dot(g011, g011), dot(g101, g101), dot(g111, g111)));
            g001 *= norm1.x;
            g011 *= norm1.y;
            g101 *= norm1.z;
            g111 *= norm1.w;

            float n000 = dot(g000, Pf0);
            float n100 = dot(g100, vec3(Pf1.x, Pf0.yz));
            float n010 = dot(g010, vec3(Pf0.x, Pf1.y, Pf0.z));
            float n110 = dot(g110, vec3(Pf1.xy, Pf0.z));
            float n001 = dot(g001, vec3(Pf0.xy, Pf1.z));
            float n101 = dot(g101, vec3(Pf1.x, Pf0.y, Pf1.z));
            float n011 = dot(g011, vec3(Pf0.x, Pf1.yz));
            float n111 = dot(g111, Pf1);

            vec3 fade_xyz = fade(Pf0);
            vec4 n_z = mix(vec4(n000, n100, n010, n110), vec4(n001, n101, n011, n111), fade_xyz.z);
            vec2 n_yz = mix(n_z.xy, n_z.zw, fade_xyz.y);
            float n_xyz = mix(n_yz.x, n_yz.y, fade_xyz.x);
            return 2.2 * n_xyz;
        }
    """

func _get_code(input_vars, output_vars, mode, type):
    return output_vars[0] + " = cnoise(vec3((%s.xy + %s.xy) * %s, %s)) * 0.5 + 0.5" % [input_vars[0], input_vars[1], input_vars[2], input_vars[3]]

Save it and open the Visual Shader. You should see your new node type within the member’s dialog (if you can’t see your new node, try restarting the editor):

Place it on a graph and connect the required ports:

That is everything you need to do, as you can see it is easy to create your own custom VisualShader nodes!