Packageflash.display3D
Classpublic final class Program3D
InheritanceProgram3D Inheritance Object

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 2

The Program3D class represents a pair of rendering programs (also called "shaders") uploaded to the rendering context.

Programs managed by a Program3D object control the entire rendering of triangles during a Context3D drawTriangles() call. Upload the binary bytecode to the rendering context using the upload method. (Once uploaded, the program in the original byte array is no longer referenced; changing or discarding the source byte array does not change the program.)

Programs always consist of two linked parts: A vertex and a fragment program.

  1. The vertex program operates on data defined in VertexBuffer3D objects and is responsible for projecting vertices into clip space and passing any required vertex data, such as color, to the fragment shader.
  2. The fragment shader operates on the attributes passed to it by the vertex program and produces a color for every rasterized fragment of a triangle, resulting in pixel colors. Note that fragment programs have several names in 3D programming literature, including fragment shader and pixel shader.

Designate which program pair to use for subsequent rendering operations by passing the corresponding Program3D instance to the Context3D setProgram() method.

You cannot create a Program3D object directly; use the Context3D createProgram() method instead.

See also

Context3D.createProgram()
Context3D.setProgram()


Public Properties
 PropertyDefined by
 Inheritedconstructor : Object
A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance.
Object
 Inheritedprototype : Object
[static] A reference to the prototype object of a class or function object.
Object
Public Methods
 MethodDefined by
  
Frees all resources associated with this object.
Program3D
 Inherited
Indicates whether an object has a specified property defined.
Object
 Inherited
Indicates whether an instance of the Object class is in the prototype chain of the object specified as the parameter.
Object
 Inherited
Indicates whether the specified property exists and is enumerable.
Object
 Inherited
Sets the availability of a dynamic property for loop operations.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the string representation of this object, formatted according to locale-specific conventions.
Object
 Inherited
Returns the string representation of the specified object.
Object
  
upload(vertexProgram:ByteArray, fragmentProgram:ByteArray):void
Uploads a pair of rendering programs expressed in AGAL (Adobe Graphics Assembly Language) bytecode.
Program3D
 Inherited
Returns the primitive value of the specified object.
Object
Method detail
dispose()method
public function dispose():void

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 3

Frees all resources associated with this object. After disposing a Program3D object, calling upload() and rendering using this object will fail.

upload()method 
public function upload(vertexProgram:ByteArray, fragmentProgram:ByteArray):void

Language version: ActionScript 3.0
Runtime version: AIR 3

Uploads a pair of rendering programs expressed in AGAL (Adobe Graphics Assembly Language) bytecode.

Program bytecode can be created using the Pixel Bender 3D offline tools. It can also be created dynamically. The AGALMiniAssembler class is a utility class that compiles AGAL assembly language programs to AGAL bytecode. The class is not part of the runtime. When you upload the shader programs, the bytecode is compiled into the native shader language for the current device (for example, OpenGL or Direct3D). The runtime validates the bytecode on upload.

The programs run whenever the Context3D drawTriangles() method is invoked. The vertex program is executed once for each vertex in the list of triangles to be drawn. The fragment program is executed once for each pixel on a triangle surface.

The "variables" used by a shader program are called registers. The following registers are defined:

Name Number per Fragment program Number per Vertex program Purpose
Attribute n/a 8 Vertex shader input; read from a vertex buffer specified using Context3D.setVertexBufferAt().
Constant 28 128 Shader input; set using the Context3D.setProgramConstants() family of functions.
Temporary 8 8 Temporary register for computation, not accessible outside program.
Output 1 1 Shader output: in a vertex program, the output is the clipspace position; in a fragment program, the output is a color.
Varying 8 8 Transfer interpolated data between vertex and fragment shaders. The varying registers from the vertex program are applied as input to the fragment program. Values are interpolated according to the distance from the triangle vertices.
Sampler 8 n/a Fragment shader input; read from a texture specified using Context3D.setTextureAt()

A vertex program receives input from two sources: vertex buffers and constant registers. Specify which vertex data to use for a particular vertex attribute register using the Context3D setVertexBufferAt() method. You can define up to eight input registers for vertex attributes. The vertex attribute values are read from the vertex buffer for each vertex in the triangle list and placed in the attribute register. Specify constant registers using the Context3D setProgramConstantsFromMatrix() or setProgramConstantsFromVector() methods. Constant registers retain the same value for every vertex in the triangle list. (You can only modify the constant values between calls to drawTriangles().)

The vertex program is responsible for projecting the triangle vertices into clip space (the canonical viewing area within ±1 on the x and y axes and 0-1 on the z axis) and placing the transformed coordinates in its output register. (Typically, the appropriate projection matrix is provided to the shader in a set of constant registers.) The vertex program must also copy any vertex attributes or computed values needed by the fragment program to a special set of variables called varying registers. When a fragment shader runs, the value supplied in a varying register is linearly interpolated according to the distance of the current fragment from each triangle vertex.

A fragment program receives input from the varying registers and from a separate set of constant registers (set with setProgramConstantsFromMatrix() or setProgramConstantsFromVector()). You can also read texture data from textures uploaded to the rendering context using sampler registers. Specify which texture to access with a particular sampler register using the Context3D setTextureAt() method. The fragment program is responsible for setting its output register to a color value.

Parameters
vertexProgram:ByteArray — AGAL bytecode for the Vertex program. The ByteArray object must use the little endian format.
 
fragmentProgram:ByteArray — AGAL bytecode for the Fragment program. The ByteArray object must use the little endian format.

Throws
TypeError — Null Pointer Error: if vertexProgram or fragmentProgram is null.
 
Error — Object Disposed: if the Program3D object was disposed either directly by a call to dispose(), or indirectly by calling the Context3D dispose() or because the rendering context was disposed because of device loss.
 
ArgumentError — Agal Program Too Small: when either program code array is smaller than 31 bytes length. This is the size of the shader bytecode of a one-instruction program.
 
ArgumentError — Program Must Be Little Endian: if either of the program byte code arrays is not little endian.
 
Error — Native Shader Compilation Failed: if the output of the AGAL translator is not a compilable native shader language program. This error is only thrown in release players.
 
Error — Native Shader Compilation Failed OpenGL: if the output of the AGAL translator is not a compilable OpengGL shader language program, and includes compilation diagnostics. This error is only thrown in debug players.
 
Error — Native Shader Compilation Failed D3D9: if the output of the AGAL translator is not a compilable Direct3D shader language program, and includes compilation diagnostics. This error is only thrown in debug players.

The following errors are thrown when the AGAL bytecode validation fails:

 
Error — Not An Agal Program: if the header "magic byte" is wrong. The first byte of the bytecode must be 0xa0. This error can indicate that the byte array is set to the wrong endian order.
 
Error — Bad Agal Version: if the AGAL version is not supported by the current SWF version. The AGAL version must be set to 1 for SWF version 13.
 
Error — Bad Agal Program Type: if the AGAL program type identifier is not valid. The third byte in the byte code must be 0xa1. This error can indicates that the byte array is set to the wrong endian order.
 
Error — Bad Agal Shader Type: if the shader type code is not either fragment or vertex (1 or 0).
 
Error — Invalid Agal Opcode Out Of Range: if an invalid opcode is encountered in the token stream.
 
Error — Invalid Agal Opcode Not Implemented: if an invalid opcode is encountered in the token stream.
 
Error — Agal Opcode Only Allowed In Fragment Program: if an opcode is encountered in the token stream of the vertex program that is only allowed in fragment programs, such as KIL or TEX.
 
Error — Bad Agal Source Operands: if both source operands are constant registers. You must compute the result outside the shader program and pass it in using a single constant register.
 
Error — Both Operands Are Indirect Reads: if both operands are indirect reads.
 
Error — Opcode Destination Must Be All Zero: if a token with an opcode (such as KIL) that has no destination sets a non-zero value for the destination register.
 
Error — Opcode Destination Must Use Mask: if an opcode that produces only a 3 component result is used without masking.
 
Error — Too Many Tokens: if there are too many tokens (more than 200) in an AGAL program.
 
Error — Fragment Shader Type: if the fragment program type (byte 6 of fragmentProgram parameter) is not set to 1.
 
Error — Vertex Shader Type: if the vertex program type (byte 6 of vertexProgram parameter) is not set to 0.
 
Error — Varying Read But Not Written To: if the fragment shader reads a varying register that was never written to by the vertex shader.
 
Error — Varying Partial Write: if a varying register is only partially written to. All components of a varying register must be written to.
 
Error — Fragment Write All Components: if a fragment color output is only partially written to. All four components of the color output must be written to.
 
Error — Vertex Write All Components: if a vertex clip space output is only partially written to. All components of the vertex clip space output must be written to.
 
Error — Unused Operand: if an unused operand in a token is not set to all zero.
 
Error — Sampler Register Only In Fragment: if a texture sampler register is used in a vertex program.
 
Error — Sampler Register Second Operand: if a sampler register is used as a destination or first operand of an AGAL token.
 
Error — Indirect Only Allowed In Vertex: if indirect addressing is used in a fragment program.
 
Error — Indirect Only Into Constant Registers: if indirect addressing is used on a non-constant register.
 
Error — Indirect Source Type: if the indirect source type is not attribute, constant or temporary register.
 
Error — Indirect Addressing Fields Must Be Zero: if not all indirect addressing fields are zero for direct addressing.
 
Error — Varying Registers Only Read In Fragment: if a varying register is read in a vertex program. Varying registers can only be written in vertex programs and read in fragment programs.
 
Error — Attribute Registers Only Read In Vertex: if an attribute registers is read in a fragment program. Attribute registers can only be read in vertex programs.
 
Error — Can Not Read Output Register: if an output (position or color) register is read. Output registers can only be written to, not read.
 
Error — Temp Register Read Without Write: if a temporary register is read without being written to earlier.
 
Error — Temp Register Component Read Without Write: if a specific temporary register component is read without being written to earlier.
 
Error — Sampler Register Cannot Be Written To: if a sampler register is written to. Sampler registers can only be read, not written to.
 
Error — Varying Registers Write: if a varying register is written to in a fragment program. Varying registers can only be written in vertex programs and read in fragment programs.
 
Error — Attribute Register Cannot Be Written To: if an attribute register is written to. Attribute registers are read-only.
 
Error — Constant Register Cannot Be Written To: if a constant register is written to inside a shader program.
 
Error — Destination Writemask Is Zero: if a destination writemask is zero. All components of an output register must be set.
 
Error — AGAL Reserved Bits Should Be Zero: if any reserved bits in a token are not zero. This indicates an error in creating the bytecode (or malformed bytecode).
 
Error — Unknown Register Type: if an invalid register type index is used.
 
Error — Sampler Register Out Of Bounds: if an invalid sampler register index is used.
 
Error — Varying Register Out Of Bounds: if an invalid varying register index is used.
 
Error — Attribute Register Out Of Bounds: if an invalid attribute register index is used.
 
Error — Constant Register Out Of Bounds: if an invalid constant register index is used.
 
Error — Output Register Out Of Bounds: if an invalid output register index is used.
 
Error — Temporary Register Out Of Bounds: if an invalid temporary register index is used.
 
Error — Cube Map Sampler Must Use Clamp: if a cube map sampler does not set the wrap mode to clamp.
 
Error — Unknown Sampler Dimension: if a sample uses an unknown sampler dimension. (Only 2D and cube textures are supported.)
 
Error — Unknown Filter Mode: if a sampler uses an unknown filter mode. (Only nearest neighbor and linear filtering are supported.)
 
Error — Unknown Mipmap Mode: if a sampler uses an unknown mipmap mode. (Only none, nearest neighbor, and linear mipmap modes are supported.)
 
Error — Unknown Wrapping Mode if a sampler uses an unknown wrapping mode. (Only clamp and repeat wrapping modes are supported.)
 
Error — Unknown Special Flag: if a sampler uses an unknown special flag.
 
Error — Output Color Not Maskable: You cannot mask the color output register in a fragment program. All components of the color register must be set.
 
Error — Second Operand Must Be Sampler Register: The AGAL tex opcode must have a sampler as the second source operand.
 
Error — Indirect Not Allowed: indirect addressing used where not allowed.
 
Error — Swizzle Must Be Scalar: swizzling error.
 
Error — Cant Swizzle 2nd Source: swizzling error.
 
Error — Second Use Of Sampler Must Have Same Params: all samplers that access the same texture must use the same dimension, wrap, filter, special, and mipmap settings.
 
Error — 3768: The Stage3D API may not be used during background execution.

See also