Shader Object (Shado)

Shader Object is a packed-data and rendering toolkit for Babylon.js. Define a GPU struct once, then use the same layout for TypeScript objects, packed arenas, AssemblyScript reducers, Babylon shader inputs, and instanced rendering.

It is intentionally a library rather than a game engine. The higher-level rendering helpers are optional and the core schema/arena APIs can be used on their own.

Install

npm install shader-object @babylonjs/core

Install the optional peers required by the features you use:

npm install @babylonjs/loaders @babylonjs/serializers
npm install --save-dev assemblyscript binaryen

Babylon loaders are needed for model preprocessing and scene-loader examples. AssemblyScript and Binaryen are only needed for runtime compilation or the shader-object/asc APIs; precompiled reducers do not require them at runtime.

Define a packed struct

import { Shado, field, gpuStruct } from 'shader-object';

@gpuStruct({ name: 'ActorPool', useWasm: false })
class ActorPool extends Shado {
  @field('mat4') transform!: Float32Array;
  @field('vec4') color!: Float32Array;
  @field({ arrayOf: 'vec3' }) velocities!: Float32Array;
}

await ActorPool.initialize(engine, { backend: 'datatex', wasm: false });

const pool = new ActorPool(engine);
pool.color = new Float32Array([1, 0.4, 0.1, 1]);
pool.setVarArray('velocities', [0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0]);

backend: 'datatex' works on WebGL and WebGPU. Storage-backed layouts are also available when the target renderer supports them.

Precompiled WASM

await ActorPool.initialize(engine, {
  backend: 'datatex',
  wasm: {
    mode: 'precompiled',
    module: await fetch('/actor-pool.wasm').then(response => response.arrayBuffer()),
  },
});

Model preprocessing

The CLI can package a Babylon-readable model, bake dual-quaternion VAT data, emit schema wrappers, and build a manifest for runtime loading.

npx shado pack models --config ./shado.config.mjs
npx shado wrappers build --config ./shado.config.mjs
npx shado manifest models --config ./shado.config.mjs

At runtime, compressed artifacts can be fetched directly from a CDN or GitHub:

import { deserializeShadoModel } from 'shader-object/preprocess/runtime';

const model = await deserializeShadoModel(
  {
    manifestUrl: 'https://example.com/shado/models.json',
    modelName: 'actor',
  },
  { animation: true, vat: 'auto' }
);

Package entry points

• shader-object — schemas, arenas, backings, decorators, Babylon helpers, and actor instancing.
• shader-object/babylon — Babylon peer exports and resolution helpers.
• shader-object/asc — optional AssemblyScript compilation helpers.
• shader-object/msdf — MSDF shader registration and nameplate helpers.
• shader-object/render — lean dynamic-entity containers, renderers, atlases, reducers, and picking.
• shader-object/preprocess — Node-side model and shader preprocessing.
• shader-object/preprocess/runtime — browser-safe artifact loading and decompression.

Examples and development

• sandbox/ is the full React/Vite validation app. It covers WebGL/WebGPU, DQ/VAT actor rendering, preprocessed assets, WASM reducers, picking, MSDF nameplates, and lean dynamic entities.
• playground/ contains a paste-ready Babylon.js Playground example that imports the npm package and downloads its model/VAT artifacts from raw GitHub URLs.

npm install
npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run build

cd sandbox
npm install
npm run build
npm run dev

See RELEASE_NOTES.md for the 1.0 release and upgrade notes.

License

MIT